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Water Quality Exchange (WQX) Pilot and its Potential Role in NWIS/STORET Coordination October 18, 2005. Topics for Discussion. Goals of WQX Pilot Update NWIS/STORET Coordination Critical Next Steps. Goals of Water Quality Exchange. Leverage data and technology standards
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Water Quality Exchange (WQX) Pilot and its Potential Role in NWIS/STORET CoordinationOctober 18, 2005
Topics for Discussion • Goals of WQX • Pilot Update • NWIS/STORET Coordination • Critical Next Steps
Goals of Water Quality Exchange • Leverage data and technology standards • Reduce the burden on data providers • Provide consistent data delivery format • Ensure appropriate metadata requirements
Summary of OWWQX Pilot • Pilot implementation of the Environmental Sampling Analysis and Results (ESAR) data standard for water • Joint development project between Office of Water and Office of Environmental Information • Scope includes chemical and physical water quality data as well as fish tissue data. • Goal: flow water quality data to EPA through CDX by December, 2005
OWWQX Pilot Pilot exchange partners – Wind River Reservation, Oregon, Texas, and Michigan
Key OWWQX Pilot Milestones Design Development
WQX Next Steps • Review pilot with the Steering Committee • Develop production CDX data flow • Develop ETL to load WQX data into the Central Warehouse • Begin developing XML generation and Web-based data entry tools • Produce Biological data flow
NWIS/STORET MOU - Background • In January of 2003, EPA and USGS signed a Memorandum of Understanding to deliver data from USGS/NWIS (National Water Information System) and EPA/STORET in a common format to federal, state and Tribal organizations as well as to the general public. • The first 2 phases of the MOU have been completed: EPA and NWIS station locations can be now be viewed together in the “Window to My Environment” application.
Parallel the approach of Window to My Environment but provide data at the Result level Each Agency maintains responsibility and control over their own data holdings Included in the existing design for EPA’s Central Warehouse Use the WQX Schema for data integration Leverage existing, standards based (ESAR, WQDE) shared schema rather than creating something new Use the same data format States will use to share data on the Exchange Network Revisiting the STORET/NWIS MOU to Leverage the WQX Schema
Issues to be Resolved • Issue 1. Parameter Codes - Problem: We need a place for the USGS parameter code, and we must make sure the code synchronizes with other elements it defines. The “strong” position would define a set of allowable codes, and specifying one of these codes would set the values of several other elements. The “weak” position would simply provide a user-defined parameter code field, and leave it to the user to correctly specify other elements. • Issue 2. CharacteristicName and ResultValueMeasureUnitCode - Problem A: We need to agree on how to translate USGS parameter names into the SRS; this may require adding names to SRS. We also must translate into any other similar proposed fields in the OWWQX schema. Problem B: How do we deal consistently with units specified with qualifiers like “as N” or “as CaCO3”? Are the qualifiers part of the name or part of the units? • Issue 3. Remark Codes - Problem: The allowable values of ResultDetectionConditionTest leave out critical USGS remark codes. • Issue 4. Field vs. Laboratory Ambiguity - Problem A: The position of the ActivityTypeCode and Result elements can create false distinctions between field vs. laboratory sampling. Problem B: There are situations with histiorical data where this information is simply unknown. • Issue 5. Structure of agency and site - Problem: Multiple agencies sometimes share the sampling activities at a site. How do we avoid making this look like completely separate activities? • Issue 6. Other USGS information - Problem: The schema does not have a place for other information recorded in NWISWeb. Do we need a place for optional information?
NWIS/STORET Coordination Next Steps • November meeting on identified schema issues and gaps • Report back to EPA and USGS management on proposed next steps • Establishment of implementation plan for resolving schema conflicts and deploying Web Services