Managing Monitoring Data from Many Sources A New Hampshire Experience

Deb SouleWatershed Management Bureau

New Hampshire Department of Environmental ServicesMay 9, 2006

Items to be covered

• Background on NHDES monitoring data• Development of our own database based on EPA’s

STOrage and RETrieval (STORET) database• Web access to database• Electronic data submittal process• Next steps - Using the Water Quality Exchange Schema

Prior to 2003, how would you obtain NHDES water monitoring data?

• Be on the inside track - know someone who knew where the data was• Sort through paper lab data in file cabinets• Weed through disks and databases of various formats

We looked for a better solution.

•Reviewed commercial databases (we’re too cheap)•Asked other states if we could copy their database (cheap option but not fruitful)•Reviewed STORET (didn’t fit all our needs)•Formed a department wide committee to develop a database (couldn’t get consensus)•Began development of our own database in the bureau

Database development process

• Bureau met every 2 weeks for several months to determine needs/wants

• STORET structure and requirements were used as guidance• Organizations/Programs/Projects/Stations/Activities

• Program needs were incorporated• Business plan was developed

Core database is developed

• Called the Environmental Monitoring Database (EMD), it was built:• by one developer in-house in 4 months• by a total design/development team of 3 people: business

analyst, developer, and database administrator• using Oracle forms 6i with Oracle 8i for the back end• while working on other databases/projects

• Imported almost all old bureau data (in electronic format)

• Has automatic nightly imports of DES State Lab and bureau’s Limnology Lab data

EMD facts

• Went live March 2003• Accepts both field and lab data for air, water, soil,

product etc. • Accepts QA/QC samples and automated data logger

files• Handles physical/chemical data – biological later• Has over 110 projects, 15,000 stations, 241,000

activities, and 1,870,000 results• Contains 64 screens and 48 tables (for main part of

database only)

EMD features

• Contains modules to track complaints, beach inspections and shellfish sanitary surveys

• Fulfills beach reporting requirements (both monitoring and advisory)

• Can be linked to the Assessment Database (ADB) and is used as the basis for developing automated assessments

• Can easily create STORET Import Module (SIM) compatible export files for upload to STORET

The EMD expands within NHDES

• Other bureaus/divisions contribute data• Superfund• Site Remediation• Geology Unit• Wastewater

• Developed direct links between their databases and the EMD

• Developed department wide committee to collectively create changes to the database

The EMD beyond NHDES

• Outside agencies/groups contribute data• University of NH• Several volunteer monitoring groups• Working with other agencies to bring in their data

• We enhance/standardize their data to meet database requirements

• Will upload to STORET for them free of charge• Why do we do this? We want/need data for assessments

and the EMD is the basis for assessment data.

EMD data available on the web

• Went live June 2004• Only “final” data is available• Can query by:

Organization Project Name Station IDStation Type Town CountyState Waterbody Name River NameDesignated River HUC 12 Name AnalyteMedium

• Data returned via email in Excel/pipe delimited file complete with your query parameters

• Data available via: http://www2.des.state.nh.us/OneStop/Environmental_Monitoring_Query.aspx

Electronic data submittal to the EMD via the web

• Needed a way to receive standardized monitoring data electronically from consultants, outside labs, volunteers, cooperating agencies etc.

• Developed Excel spreadsheets to import station and activity data separately (with XML planned for the future).

• Developed web registration and submittal forms with data validation tool.

• Developed interim table to capture what was being submitted, by whom, when etc.

Next steps

• Update EMD to Environmental Sampling, Analysis and Results (ESAR) data standards

• Report data to EPA via Water Quality Data Exchange (WQX)

• Eliminate local copy of STORET• Add biological component to EMD

• eventually eliminate local copy of Ecological Data Application System (EDAS)

• Update web site to include:• graphing capabilities• geographic queries

Questions?

Contact Information:

Deb SouleBusiness Systems Analyst

Watershed Management BureauNew Hampshire Department of Environmental Services

dsoule@des.state.nh.us(603) 271-8863