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PA Watersheds
Data System
Click here to access the PA Watersheds Data System
PA Watersheds Data System Quick Reference Guide
General Information
Goal #1: Create a warehouse of volunteer data.
Goal #2: Encourage data use!
We’ve spent the first year and a half helping and encouraging volunteer watershed monitors to upload their data into the PA Watersheds Data System. After 11 workshops with over 100 volunteers, we’ve got 49 groups signed on to add data. There are over 600,000 records of data from these groups so far, though this amount will increase as these volunteers continue to add data. The next steps in this project are aimed at those who use watershed data and would find the PA Watersheds Data System a useful resource in their repertoire of data sources.
POWR will begin contacting a range of entities who might use the Data System. In our recent survey and through our time interacting with volunteers, we have learned who they would like to use their data but currently do not. Entities at the local level are often the first answer. Volunteers would like their own township officials or environmental action committees to use their data in zoning or construction decisions. Water companies and water authorities would also find this information useful, as it can help them meet their permit reporting requirements. The same holds true for wastewater companies. Consulting and engineering firms performing stream restorations and dam removals need baseline data to measure an improvement in water quality and change in quantity after restoration work. While we are still working with groups to upload data, we also be reaching out to these entities and others to get data used by folks outside of the watershed group.
We will also be implementing some of the changes that have been requested by volunteers through the workshops. Though they may happen slowly, our in-house IT guru is hard at work coding language used within the Data System. If you have any other ideas for changes, I’m sure John would like to hear about them!
Contact Angie McCracken at POWR if your watershed group would like to begin entering data or if you want some tips on how to see what data have been collected thus far. Angie can be reached at amccracken@pawatersheds.org or 717-234-7910, X3#. Also, check out the Quick Reference Guide (link above) for additional help on entering and viewing data.
What is it? The PA Watersheds Data System is
an on-line warehouse for Pennsylvania water data.
Who can use it? Anyone can view data if they get permission
from the organization that supplied it. Any nonprofit, academic,
or volunteer-based organization can use the System to
store and map their data.
Who maintains it? The Data System was created
by POWR
with support from the Keystone
Watershed Monitoring Network. Programming was done by GeoDecisions.
Data supplied by any particular organization are entered and
maintained by them.
More FAQs:
- Why did you create it? POWR created the PA Watersheds
Data System in response to a request from volunteer monitors
for data management help. Not only did they need storage and
analysis help, but they also wanted access to other watershed
data that are being collected in Pennsylvania.
- What does it do? The PA Watersheds Data System
stores and displays data in tabular and geographical format.
- Who is it for? The PA Watersheds Data System
is for everyone, but especially for watershed monitors.
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PA Watersheds
Data System Information for
Users:
- For Public Users and Data Consumers
The PA Watersheds Data System is an on-line tool for
watershed monitors to store and analyze their data, and for
others to view these data. The Data System now provides
groups with a place to input and store their chemical, biological,
and physical watershed data. Data can be viewed on an interactive
map or by date range. Any metadata, such as a QA/QC plans or
pictures of their monitoring locations, can be uploaded and
viewed as well.
Each group is responsible for deciding who does or does not
view their data. This permission is requested through the subscription
process, described in the On-line Help Guide.
- For Watershed Group Members within the Data System
For those responsible for inputting information into the
Data System for a specific watershed group, below are
some helpful hints and tools that will ease the process.
- Group
Administrator Form (must be signed and returned to POWR before
first Group Administrator can be assigned to group)
- Useful Links (to tools and other databases)
- Helpful Hints (how to make
the PA Watersheds Data System work for you)
- What is the first thing I do? The first thing everyone
will have to do is Register as a New User off the splash screen.
- What do I have to do to view data? After creating a user
e-mail address (aka registering), click on My Watershed Orgs,
then click on Subscribe to Groups. Then check all of the boxes
whose data you would like to view and click Submit.
- What happens next? The Group Administrator for that group
will receive an e-mail indicating that you would like to view
their data. They will either add you as a subscriber to their
group and give you the appropriate permission level, or the Group
Administrator will deny you permission.
- Why are there two maps and what is the difference? The
map on the splash screen (Quick Map) is a map version of the Watershed
Directory, which is a networking tool on POWR’s website.
It provides contact information for watershed groups and service
providers in PA. The Interactive Map is GIS enabled and allows
users to see where data are collected.
 How
does my watershed organization get permission to use the Data
System? Contact Angie McCracken at POWR and request that
your group be activated. Also, sign and provide to POWR a Group
Administrator Verification form. POWR will assign this Group Administrator,
and then you’ll be ready to go! You can then enter data
and subscribers to your group all on your own!
- What kind of quality assurance controls are in place?
It is up to the groups to check their own data entry. We recommend
having someone other than the person who entered the data circle
back on a regular interval and check the data that have been entered.
Another QA technique may be to graph the data over a time range,
and look for any anomalous results. This may indicate that something
was entered incorrectly as well.
- How do I contact POWR with questions or suggestions?
You can either submit a question by clicking on Report a Problem
under Site Tools, or you can contact Angie McCracken directly
at 717-234-7910.
- What if I do not know my lat-long coordinates? If there
are no lat-long coordinates entered, the Data System will
automatically insert “0s”. These points will not show
up on the interactive map, but the data will still be stored with
the Data System, so they will be accessible through My
Watershed Orgs and Data Range.
- Where can I go to find my lat-long coordinates? You
can access
www.topozone.com which is a free mapping site that provides
these coordinates. You can use a 7.5 minute quad map to get the
coordinates. You can also borrow or purchase a hand-held GPS unit
that will use satellites to triangulate the lat-long coordinates.
POWR can assist with any of these methods, so contact us for more
help.
- What if I am not sure what the parameters are or which ones
I am
 monitoring?
Under Site Tools, click on Data Dictionary for descriptions of
the parameters. These descriptions are most useful for biological
parameters, and have the scientific as well as common name for
most. POWR can also change these descriptions as needed, and will
be doing so as the Data System progresses.
- What if my group monitors a parameter that is not on the
list within the Data System? Contact POWR and
we can add the parameter to the list of parameters to choose from.
- Do I have to pay a user fee? Not yet; we are not
requiring a user fee right now, but we are encouraging
users to join POWR to support our programs and take advantage
of our member benefits ($30/year). We will need to implement a
fee structure in the future to cover the costs of maintaining
the System on-line, including hosting and security features.
- Can I include pictures of my monitoring sites?
Yes! You can upload and download pictures just like QA/QC
plans. They will then be accessible through the watershed
organization within the Metadata box.
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