U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyMD-DE-DC District410-238-4317kries@usgs.gov

StreamStats: Delivering Streamflow

Information to the PublicBy Kernell Ries and Al Rea

Uses of Streamflow Statistics Water resources planning Flood-plain mapping for zoning and insurance Instream flow determinations for pollution and

habitat TMDLs Design and permitting of facilities such as

wastewater-treatment plants, hydropower plants, and water-supply reservoirs

Design of structures such as roads, bridges, culverts, dams, locks, and levees

StreamStats Web Application

Provides estimates of streamflow statistics, basin and climatic characteristics, and other information for user-selected points on ungaged streams

Automatically measures basin and climatic characteristics for ungaged sites using GIS

Provides published streamflow statistics, basin and climatic characteristics, and other information for data-collection stations

StreamStats Benefits

Published statistics are readily available Ungaged site process takes < 10 minutes Large collections of maps, equipment, and software

are not necessary Consistent information delivery Little or no additional error is introduced Only basic understanding of hydrology, computer

science, geographic analysis is needed Reduced information requests

Development Team Jacque Coles (ID District)

ArcIMS Specialist / Site Administrator Al Rea (ID District)

GIS Specialist Pete Steeves (MA-RI District)

GIS Specialist Kernell Ries (OSW / MD-DE-DC District)

Coordinator / Hydrologist Contractors

ESRI, Inc. – Application programming / ArcHydro Aqua Terra Consultants – NFF Program / StreamStatsDB

Massachusetts StreamStats On Web at http://ststdmamrl.er.usgs.gov/

streamstats/ Based on ArcView/ArcViewIMS/Java Available internally Jan. 1999 Available to public

Jan. 2001 Considerable

interest nationally Not easily modified

for use in other areas

National Prototype Objectives

Potential expandability to all States Improved basic functionality Improved statistics database Flexible use of GIS data Potential to add other types of data, such as

sediment, water use

Development Strategy

Initial development on desktop, then move to Web Program based on the ArcGIS Hydro-Data Model and

Tools (http://www.crwr.utexas.edu/giswr/) Standard GIS methods for measuring basin

characteristics will be built into the ArcGIS Hydro Tools Basin characteristics will be pre-processed for

previously determined sub-basins At least initially, all GIS data to reside on local server The National Flood Frequency Program (NFF) will solve

regression equations

User InterfaceStreamflow Statistics Database

Statistics Calculation

ProgramGIS Database

StreamStats Components

At astreamgage

At an ungaged location

User Interface Displays maps and enables site selection Displays default data layers for selected scale ranges

and allows adding/subtracting map layers Zoom and pan to places of interest Zoom to named geographic location or stream Evaluate basin boundaries in the map frame Print maps shown in the map frame Download basin boundary

Statistics Database Includes For data-collection stations:

Previously published streamflow statistics Descriptive information, such as station name and number,

coordinates, period of record Basin characteristics, such as drainage area, total stream

length, mean basin slope For ungaged sites:

Data for solving regression equations in the National Flood Frequency Program (NFF)

Details in following presentation

Statistics Calculation Program

Determines drainage boundaries for user-selected sites

Measures basin characteristics Runs NFF to solve regression equations Delivers results in pop-up browser window

NFF Program User Interface Solves regression equations for StreamStats

Modifications to NFF Ability to solve regression equations for any

flow type Calculation of prediction intervals Calculation of drainage-area ratio estimates

and weighting with regression estimates Solving of region-of-influence equations Adding of data base attributes to allow use

as a subroutine of StreamStats Work done by Aqua Terra Consultants

National Flood Frequency Program Solves regression equations for any flow

type Provides standard errors, equivalent years of

record and/or prediction intervals as indicators of potential errors

Computes of region-of-influence estimates, where available

Urban equations, drainage-area ratio estimates, and weighted estimates not implemented initially in StreamStats

GIS Database Includes

Datasets needed to delineate accurate basin boundaries (DEM derivatives, streams, drainage divides)

Datasets needed to determine basin characteristics (precipitation, land use, soils, DEM, etc.)

Data-collection station locations Basemap datasets (DRG topos, roads, political

boundaries, etc.)

GIS Data

Local map layers used when needed to solve local equations or where resolution is better than available national layers

National map layers used where local layers are not available at higher resolution

Flexibility is key to wide use of application

New User Interface at Startup

Example Point Selection

Drainage Boundaries

1. User selects point on stream2. GIS determines boundary from flow-direction

grid up to points at which the boundary for the new site intersects boundaries in boundary map layer

3. GIS accumulates all upstream areas and dissolves internal boundaries

Example Drainage Boundary

Example Output

Software ESRI ArcGIS with ArcHydro Tools ESRI ArcSDE ESRI ArcIMS Microsoft SQL Server IIS ASP Tomcat

Programming languages

Visual Basic for Applications ArcObjects Javascript XML HTML

System Design

Client

(IE 6.0)

Web

Server

(IIS, ASP)

Map

Server

(ArcIMS)

Application

Server

(ArcMap, NFF)

Data

Server

(ArcSDE)

Database

(SQL Server)

Client

(IE 6.0)

Client

(IE 6.0)

Status and Short-Term Plans

Prototype working in part of Idaho Implement statistics database and rest of

Idaho by 12/03 Implement MA, NH, and VT by 5/04 Partially implement TN by 9/04

Long-Term Plan

Include additional States Add drainage-area ratio estimates Add automated update of non-interpretive

streamflow statistics Add methods for regulated streams Add sediment (and possibly other) data Add internal desktop version with batch processing

State Implementation Process

Done through cooperative agreements between Districts and local agencies

Populate the streamflow statistics database Generate and format any custom GIS data Test accuracy of basin and climatic characteristics and

equation results, and summarize results Potentially develop new equations, using GIS data to

measure basin characteristics USGS OSW and District concurrence to put on Web

State Implementation Options

1. Implement database for data-collection sites first

a. Populate with previously calculated statisticsb. Calculate new statistics

2. Implement regression equations firsta. Implement existing equations onlyb. Develop new equations

3. Implement database and regression equations at the same time

District Responsibilities—What will it take? Building ArcHydro data sets from EDNA

(experienced GIS expert) ~30 min per 8-digit HUC interactive processing 2-4 weeks building global and regional data sets 2+ weeks learning curve for learning to do

networks in GeoDatabase Note: (ID and OR districts have people with

experience, consider farming this out)

District Responsibilities—What will it take? (cont.) ~2 weeks per state to prepare DRGs ~1 week per state to append/prepare NHD Optional “New England Method” Enhanced DEM

processing, 3-6 hrs interactive work per HUC plus (typically overnight) CPU time

Multiply GIS total by ~2X for general data management Multiply GIS total by ~2X—5X for less experienced GIS

staff (AML and Grid experience very desirable) Very fast PC essential for processing District funding of StreamStats team for assistance with

data preparation

District Responsibilities—What will it take? (cont.) Hardware

Server and disk space <= $5K Hardware maintenance plus replacement

every 3 yrs ~$2K/yr External USB 2 Hard Drive ~$400 (will return

to district) Software licensing and site support

Districts will pay for new licenses Probable shared costs w/ OSW for support

District Interest in StreamStats

ID, MA, NH, VT, TN are prototype states CO, CT, KY have ongoing projects KS, PA have related projects At least 12 Districts have cooperators that are

highly interested in StreamStats Less than half of Districts responded to

10/30/2003 query Nine Districts attended a recent data-preparation

workshop held for the SE Region in TN

Funding

Funding from NSIP/Headquarters FY2001 $160,000 FY2002 $200,000 FY2003 $200,000 FY2004 ~ $150,000

State of Idaho/National Forest Service FY2002—3 $75,000

Current ESRI Contract Tasks Current contract for $51K began in September ‘03 Implement ability to solve low-flow equations with NFF Partly resolve issues related to multistate

implementation Implement StreamStatsDB for gage data/stats Partly expand ArcHydro tools to enable easily adding

new basin parameters User ability to edit drainage boundary Some bug fixes, web support, speed enhancement,

documentation

Additional ESRI Work Needed Additional cost ~ $100K Fully resolve issues related to multistate

implementation Fully expand ArcHydro tools to enable easily adding

new basin parameters, including addition of enhanced stream slope measurement

Documentation Implement drainage-area ratio, weighting functionality More bug fixes, web support, speed enhancement Add batch delineation for desktop tool

Issue How do we balance further program development

with the need to support Districts with implementation?

Current $150K budget allows about 0.75 FTE labor plus about $40K for contracts, travel, etc.

As more Districts implement StreamStats, support needs increase but budget is stable

Districts will need to pay for support Are there other approaches?

Summary StreamStats

Is a Web application that provides estimates of streamflow statistics and other information for gaged and ungaged sites

Uses cutting-edge technology to provide the information to the public by running a GIS interactively over the Web

Implementation for States will be done through cooperative funding agreements

Available resources limit functionality and implementation speed

Full implementation will likely take several years

StreamStats Resources

Public informational page: http://water.usgs.gov/osw/programs/streamstats.html

(Major updates coming soon!) NFF Program:

http://water.usgs.gov/osw/programs/nffp.html Proposals, presentations, poster available on

request