ABSTRACT
The learning objective of this chapter is to familiarize ourselves with GIS applications in monitoring data for effective operation and management of water, wastewater, and stormwater systems.
MAJOR TOPICS
LIST OF CHAPTER ACRONYMS
CCTV Closed Circuit Television GML Geography Markup Language HRAP Hydrologic Rainfall Analysis Project (a map projection system) NCDC National Climatic Data Center (U.S.) NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (U.S.) NPDES National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (U.S.) NWS National Weather Service OGC Open GIS Consortium SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems WSR Weather Surveillance Radar
MONITORING REAL TIME RAINFALL AND STREAM-FLOW DATA IN AURORA
The city of Aurora, Colorado, is a community of approximately 247,000 people located in the southeast Denver metro area. The City’s Utilities Department used ESRI’s ArcInfo and ArcView software to analyze and display real time rain-gauge and stream-flow data from the City’s ALERT Flood Warning System. Data were obtained by querying a remote real time data-collection database. The Utilities Department was able to access and analyze both historical and current real time rainfall and streamflow data from an easy-to-use graphical interface. ArcView’s Spatial Analyst Extension was used to develop a continuous areal rainfall surface from the point rainfall data. This allowed a better and clearer understanding of a particular storm and allowed a
more complex analysis of the true impact of the storm event. Applications of this program included studies in emergency flood response, location of flood reports, routine maintenance for storm sewers, and National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) compliance for water quality (Rindahl, 1996).
