Dr. Emery T. Cleaves, State Geologist and Director

Maryland Geological Survey, 2300 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-5210

Phone: (410) 554-5503

Environmental issues throughout our nation involve interactions of aquatic resources, land use, atmospheric conditions and geologic framework. Water and its movement is key to understanding such interactions. Streamflow data provided by stream gages is one of the informational keystones. Major institutional challenges at federal, state and local levels revolve around more effective linkages between users of streamflow data and providers of the data and effective long-term funding.

Networks of stream gage stations at the federal, regional, state and local levels are necessary for assessments of surface water resources. These networks are operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) primarily through its Cooperative Water Program. The USGS provides a standard data collection methodology, an effective data distribution network, data comparability, and effective QA/QC.

One federal agency collects and distributes the data to a multitude of users and this has created a "linkage" challenge. We are faced with a "tyranny of the commons": Users rely on the public data provided by an obscure federal bureau in the Department of the Interior, but many users do not directly support data collection and distribution. Many users are unaware of how the networks are funded and that stream gages are becoming an endangered species.

What do we do? We can work through the USGS Cooperative Water Program and its cooperators and data users to reinvigorate the program, or change our current concept and practice and establish independent federal, state and local networks, or some combination of the two. Some states are presently establishing their own networks. USGS, through the Advisory Committee on Water Information, and other avenues, is moving to reinvigorate its gaging program. The Maryland Water Monitoring Council, in collaboration with USGS and Maryland users aims to review and reinvigorate the state gaging networks. These efforts aim to establish effective linkages between provider - cooperator - other users; the goal is to develop long-term institutional, financial and political support for stream gaging networks at the national, state and local levels.

Institutional challenges to effective monitoring abound! They are inherent in important issues such as integrating surface and groundwater monitoring, linking compliance and ambient monitoring, and implementing comparable field methods and comparable laboratory methods. Institutional challenges to effective monitoring exist at the federal level, at the state level, and at the local level, and wherever the three levels seek to interact with each other. Major challenges also emerge as governmental agencies interact with the private sector and with volunteer monitoring groups.

Because water is a keystone resource, these institutional challenges are critical in water quantity and water quality monitoring. Water supplies our cities, our industries and our crops. Without water, there are deserts. To know what water we have, we measure it. We measure the water that rains down on us, that flows in our streams, and that moves through the ground. In particular, we monitor stream flow. We do so in order to predict and respond to emergencies, to describe status and trends, to describe existing and emerging problems, to address design, management and regulatory problems, and to evaluate the effectiveness of programs.

To put a "face" on monitoring challenges, I will use the stream gage which is used to measure the flow of water. In visualizing a stream gage, you probably call to mind the stream gage house. The stream gage house looks remarkably like the outhouse (or backhouse) many of our grandparents used. Both houses protect vital functions. Modern municipal sewer systems and septic tank systems have replaced the outhouse; but, nothing has yet replaced the stream gage.

Why pick the stream gage as an example of institutional challenge? Environmental issues throughout the Nation involve interactions of aquatic resources, land use, atmospheric conditions and geologic framework. Water and its movement is key to understanding such interactions. And, streamflow data provided by stream gages is one of the basic informational keystones.

Streamflow data provided by gages has many uses: water quality evaluation, contaminant load estimation, ecosystem concerns and watershed-based water resource planning and management. Other equally important uses include regional hydrologic assessment, highway and bridge design, model calibration, water supply evaluation and prediction, flood prediction and warning, drought prediction, and recreation—canoeing, boating and fishing.

The networks of gages which provide the streamflow data for these many uses (national, regional, state and local levels) are operated mainly by the U.S. Geological Survey primarily through its Cooperative Water Program. The U.S. Geological Survey operates some 7,000 full-service gages in cooperation with other federal agencies, interstate compacts, state, county and local government agencies, and non-government groups.

The institutional challenge is awesome!: many important uses for the stream data combined with multitudinous customers. We are faced with a "tyranny of the commons." The many users rely on the public data provided by an obscure federal bureau in the Department of the Interior. But, many of these users who depend on the data do not directly support data collection and its distribution. Many users are unaware of how networks are funded and that stream gages are slowly becoming an endangered species.

What can be done?

Do we continue our present system, with the U.S. Geological Survey being the primary surface water data collection agency? There is much favoring such continuation: USGS provides a standard data collection methodology, an effective data distribution network, data comparability and effective QA/QC. However, some states and individual users are developing their own networks, primarily because of perceived cost benefits.

In Maryland, through the Maryland Water Monitoring Council, we are evaluating the state’s stream gaging network with the goal of developing a strategy for collecting and distributing streamflow data and also funding the network. We are analyzing the physical matrix of the network and analyzing the stakeholders who use the network. As an example of institutional challenge, information from a recent "Gaging Station User" questionnaire illustrates the situation.

Maryland currently has a gaging network of 82 full service gages. We have identified 20 different uses for the streamflow data, such as modeling, water supply, baseline water quality data, research, and recreation. To date, 53 stakeholders have responded to the questionnaire. Responders include 10 federal agencies, 12 state units, 10 regional groups, 10 counties and cities, and 11 other groups. Some users utilize flow data from all 82 gaging stations, and a few use information from only one gage. Of the twenty identified uses, eighteen are common to all 82 gages. To emphasize the obvious, Maryland streamflow data has many uses and a broad range of customers.

Financially, however, of the 53 identified customers, only 14 provide funds to support the gaging network. Financial support flows from 2 federal agencies, 3 state units, 3 regional groups, and 6 county/city units. A major objective of the Maryland network analysis is to recommend a strategy relating cost sharing to federal, state, regional and local goals, interests and responsibilities.

With multiple goals, a broad spectrum of customer objectives and a virtual alphabet soup of federal, state, local and other data users, we have little choice but to coordinate, collaborate and communicate if we are to reinvigorate our endangered species, the stream gage. To meet this challenge, we must establish effective linkages between data provider and customer and financial supporter. These efforts aim to develop a rational strategy for the gaging networks; networks that meet the needs for streamflow data, and long-term institutional financial, and political support. This is beginning to happen in Maryland through the Maryland Water Monitoring Council and it is beginning to happen nationally as the U.S. Geological Survey, through the Advisory Council on Water Information, is moving to reinvigorate the national stream gaging network program.