Council, counties partner in water quality data-sharing project

Public also will have easy access to info online

The Metropolitan Council is partnering with two metro counties on a pilot project to share water-quality data and make the information easily available to the public online.

Scott Schneider, a resource conservationist with the Scott County Soil and Water Conservation District, collects a stream sample.

Beginning in May, Scott and Dakota counties will be able to enter and manage their own data using the Council’s water-quality database. And the Council will have access to wider and more detailed water-quality data collected by the two counties.

“The public also will benefit by having access to all this data through the Council’s online environmental monitoring warehouse,” said Steve Kloiber, senior environmental analyst with Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES), who is coordinating the project.

“The partnership will save a lot of money, too,” Kloiber said. “The counties could easily spend tens of thousands of dollars to develop and maintain their own databases. And the Council could spend that much or more if it were to expand its monitoring programs to collect the data the counties already have.”

Water quality data is critical to protecting area waterways

MCES has long maintained a database of river, stream and lake monitoring data in the seven-country metro area. In fact, some river data goes back to the 1920s and 1930s, during the era which spawned the first wastewater treatment facility on the Mississippi in 1938.

In recent years, MCES created a suite of web-based data management tools for entering and reviewing water-quality data. But until now, these tools were only available to Council staff on internal computer systems.

With the new pilot project, the database system will now be available through a password-protected Internet site for Scott and Dakota County staffs. Data from both counties now can be uploaded into the Council’s database, which in turn makes the information available to the public through the web.

A typical water quality monitoring station operated by the Scott County Soil and Water Conservation District is equipped with a datalogger, automated sampler, rain gauge, phone modem, solar panel, and stage sensor.

How is the information used?

Water monitoring data is used by Council staff and policymakers to identify water-related problems, establish goals and measure annual progress toward an overarching goal of protecting and improving regional water resources.

“If the pilot program is successful, we hope to develop a long-term service agreement with the counties to provide the technical support the system needs,” Kloiber said. “We hope this project can serve as a model for using the Internet to improve our work. We’ve already had a number of inquiries from other local governments who are interested in using the new system.”