New Tribal Water Quality Data Management Projects for Improved Local Decision Making

Tribal Lands and Environment Forum 2015

August 17 – 20, 2015

Mark LeBaron

Introductions

• Welcome• Who’s here?• A little about myself• A little about Gold Systems

Introductions

• Welcome• Who’s here?• A little about myself• A little about Gold Systems

What is AWQMS?• A web-based water quality data management

tool (with batch importing and data entry pages)• Validates WQX Rules, Expected Parameter

Combinations, Expected Parameter Result Value Ranges

• Includes data analysis capabilities (Graphs, Reports, Maps, & Exports)

What is AWQMS?

What is AWQMS?

What is AWQMS?

What is AWQMS?

What is AWQMS? (Continued)• Simple submission to the EPA Water Quality

eXchange (WQX)

• Web services for systems integration• See www.awqms.com for more information.

Introduction/Presentation Goals• Discuss projects we are involved in• Provide new/improved water quality data

management tools• Provide new/improved water quality data

analysis tools• Better-equip tribes to make more informed local

decisions• Facilitate flow of water quality data to EPA

for grant compliance

Major Past Community Efforts• Utah Division of Water Quality• Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council• EPA Region 8• Coalition of Oklahoma AWQMS Tribes

(COAT) – Via Iowa Tribe of OK• Colorado Data Sharing Network (CDSN)

Major Past Community Efforts (Continued)

• Bishop Paiute Tribe• Southern Ute Tribe• Fort Peck Tribes

Major Current Community Efforts• Maryland Department of the Environment• Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council• Region 5 Wild Rice Consortium (via

Fond du Lac)• EPA Region 8• Coalition of Oklahoma AWQMS Tribes

(COAT) – via Otoe Missouria Tribe

Major Current Community Efforts• Native American Environmental

Protection Coalition (NAEPC)• Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas• Bishop Paiute Tribe

New Features in AWQMS 4.0• Released in the Gold Systems Cloud

Environment May 5, 2015• There are a LOT of improvements to

show!• All maintenance or hosting agreement

holders get the new enhancements at no additional charge

Improved System Navigation

Improved System Navigation• Drop-Down Navigation Bar• Follows AWQMS/WQX Work Flow from

Left to Right• Projects and Monitoring Locations are now

under the Meta-data/Lookup Tables menu.• Submit to WQX is now under the

Analyze/Export menu• Import Configurations and Rapid Data

Entry Configurations are under the

Setup menu

Improved System Navigation (Continued)

• Summary of your Activities and Results is now under the Analyze/Export menu

• My Navigation History (with links) is now under the Review/Update menu

• Help Links in Far Right Menu• Log Out Button in Upper Right Corner• Can jump directly to the configuration

for a rapid data entry form

Improved User Interface

• Improved Navigation in Data Analysis Tools (with previews)

• Tabbed List Pages w/Buttons at the Top• Improved Pagination in List Pages• Improved Search by Monitoring Locations

in List Pages• Gradually adding in mouse-over help

Improved User Interface (Continued)

• System messages now appear in pop-up message boxes

• Ability to select a color scheme• Tabbed User Interface in Data Analysis

Tools (with buttons at the top)

Improved User Interface (Continued)

• Drop down lists with Checkboxes• Improved Save/Recall of Search Criteria in

the Data Analysis Tools• Graphs, Reports, and Maps Generated in

the Data Analysis Tools now pop up in a separate window

• (Be sure to disable your browser’s pop-up blocker for the AWQMS URL)

Excel File Import/Export• No more need to save Excel files as text

files when importing• Can import from one or more tabs in a

single Excel file• All exports in the list pages and the data

analysis are now Excel format (no longer CSV)

Update Result Statusfor a Batch of Results

• AWQMS has had one-at-a-time update capability for years.

• But, what if I want to update an entire batch of result status without having to open, change, and save every record in the batch?

Data QA/QC and Cleanup Tools

• AWQMS has had QA/QC parameter consistency checks and warnings for new/incoming data.

• But, what about data already in AWQMS and at WQX/STORET?

Typical Data Consistency/Quality Issues

Correcting these types of issues(Old Way)

• Modify the data (one record at a time) in AWQMS.

or …• Export a batch of data from the system.• Open the exported data in Excel.• Modify the data (row by row).• Save your changes• Re-import all the data back into the system to overwrite

the old data with your new changes.

The New Way (All Within AWQMS)• Review your results (grouped by characteristic,

sample fraction, measurement unit, etc.) to identify inconsistencies

• Select a group of records that need to be corrected

• Make the required changes• Review and confirm your changes• …….All from within AWQMS!

Projects Currently Under Way• AWQMS 4.0 Step by Step “How-To” Videos • AWQMS 4.0 Version of the AWQMS Getting

Started Guide• AWQMS 4.0 Version of the AWQMS Data

Analysis Tutorial• RESTful web services that allow for

interoperability with external software systems

Projects Currently Under Way• Auto-Synchronization of Additional WQX Picklist

Tables in AWQMS• Improved Organizational Administrator Control of

the AWQMS Public Portal Feature• Streamline the Consolidating/Importing of

Probe/Data Logger Data.• Search for Locations (And Associated Activities

and Results) by Watershed Management Unit

Projects Currently Under Way• Search for Locations (and Associated Activities

and Results) by Assessment Unit• Consolidation of Characteristic Results, Metric

Scores, and Index Scores into a Single Concept of a “Parameter"

• Rapid entry form templates and import configuration templates in support of vegetation counts and vegetation individual sample measurements (in support of wetlands).

Upcoming Projects(not necessarily in a particular order):

Continuous Monitoring DataImproved Support

• Data Management & Storage• Data Analysis• Submission to the EPA• Hooked in to national solution

Using AWQMS to Store and Analyze Drinking Water Data

• A “home” for tribal drinking water data• Import, Store, Manage Data• Analyze Data• Flagged so it won’t flow to WQX

Tribal Waters Use-Assessment Tracking

• Set up standards per designated use• Group monitoring stations into “Assessment

Units”• Evaluate stations and assessment units against

standards (per designated use)• Log assessments• Submit assessment data• In line with the national solution

On-The-Fly Water Quality Standards Generation for Metals Parameters

• The “standard” for certain types of parameters depends somewhat on the context at the time of the sample (e.g. the hardness).

• Configure groups of such parameters• For a limited list of parameters, auto-calculate

and store the standard on-the-fly based on other parameter results captured

On-The-Fly Water Quality Standards Generation for Metals Parameters

(Continued)

• Improve data analysis tools to compare parameter results against the calculated standard

Improved Analysis and Reporting of Biological Data

• Current tools were developed for chemical/physical parameters

• Not designed for “counts”• Not designed for metrics• Enhancement will resolve these issues

Auto-Generation of Metrics Based on Macroinvertebrate Counts

• Currently can record metrics but have to calculate them external to AWQMS

• Enhancement will add a limited set of abundance type metrics

• Necessitates addition of an ability to configure a “profile” per taxon

Web Services for Easier Integration with Other Systems such as GIS

• Web service = Software sharing data• EPA Exchange Network is founded on Web

Services• Allow other specialized software such as GIS to

ask AWQMS for data.• AWQMS responds with the requested data.• Seamless / no need to manually export / import

Support for Measures WQ-SP14a and b• SP14a – Identify monitoring stations where

waters are improving• Techically, AWQMS already supports SP14a.• SP14b - Identify monitoring stations on tribal

lands where the waters are meeting tribal water quality objectives.

• Additional functionality needed to better support SP14b “Path A” (statistical analysis)

Support for Measures WQ-SP14a and b• Much of what is needed is in place to do this in

AWQMS. • Need to assist tribes to populate the water

quality objectives tables in AWQMS• Need to provide improved AWQMS navigation

to guide user to existing functionality

Support for Measure WQ-SP14b (Continued)

• Add reports/graphs to evaluate the locations.• Add ability to record the evaluation per

monitoring location.

Finer Control Over What Data “Flows" to EPA

• Only send results for a specific list of parameters• Only send results for a specific list of locations• Analyzing other possible ways to control what

is/isn’t submitted.

Integration of eBeaches Notification Data into AWQMS (for states)

• Record beaches monitoring data in AWQMS• Add support for beach notification data.• Integrate raw results data with notification data

to in maps and reports indicate the need for a potential beach notification action.

• Submit notification data to the EPA Beach Notification data flow.

Integration with the EPA Virtual Node• AWQMS already has a built-in node client• Will allow AWQMS to publish / consume WQX-

formatted data• Hosted in “the cloud”

Other Data Analysis ToolsGraphing & Reporting Enhancements• Better support 106 grant reporting• Leverage our powerful statistical library• Stiff diagrams (Cations & Anions)

Other Software Tools Tribal Environmental Programs Might Find

Useful

LearningZen• www.learningzen.com• Cloud-based training platform• You provide the content• Free if you:

• Don’t care who views/takes your courses• Don’t want to charge for your course• Don’t want to put your own branding on it

Underground Injection Control (UIC)• Fort Peck Tribes Exchange

Network Grant

Underground Injection Control (UIC)

UIC Primary Objectives• Replace Access Database / Web-Based solution• Flow data to the EPA / Virtual Node• Integrate Permit Writer into new system• Eliminate the need to use the U2 application

UIC Secondary Objectives• Mobile application for inspection and mechanical

integrity testing data• Online submission of permit requests• Integrate with other UIC programs, e.g. MT, ND, &

R8 EPA• Prepare a platform for use by other partner

programs• Present project at 2015 and 2016 EN conferences

Underground Injection Control

Underground Injection Control

Underground Injection Control

Thank you!