A Draft EPA Strategy for Sharing Continuous Monitoring Data

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has funded work to define a practical strategy for integrating continuous monitoring data into a sensor data sharing network. This effort was undertaken in partnership with other federal agencies, states and tribes. It was also coordinated with the Open Water Data Initiative, a pilot activity being undertaken by the Advisory Committee on Water Information to evaluate the feasibility of integrating water information into a connected national water data framework.The outcome is a strategy document (still in preparation at the time of this writing) outlining steps for implementation of a continuous monitoring data sharing network by EPA. This paper summarizes the research, interview and discussion processes undertaken to provide a basis for development of the strategy, and presents intermediate findings. The strategy will be finalized by September 2015 in time for presentation at WEFTEC, and will be available online for downloading at <linkhref="https://projects.mbakercorp.com/EPAdatasharing/Public">https://projects.mbakercorp.com/EPAdatasharing/Public or by request to the corresponding author (email address above).Implementation of an EPA-supported continuous data sharing network could greatly improve access to continuous water quality data. The approach that EPA is developing will also apply to water quantity data, thereby opening up the opportunity of integrating water quantity and water quality data. This improved access will be valuable in supporting planning-level activities such as water quality assessment, and can also provide valuable support to operational decision- making by utilities.