During the month of June 2004, Emery County and its real-time water monitoring network had a variety of visitors from far flung places.

On June 30th, Mark Limbaugh, Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, headquartered in Washington DC, accompanied by Bruce Barrett, Manager of the Provo Area Office, took a short tour of the Emery system. The Emery Water Conservancy District (District) was recently notified that its application for a Department of Interior "Water 2025" challenge grant had been approved. Limbaugh wanted to visit existing and future automation sites, including major features of the Emery County Project: Huntington North Dam, Swasey Diversion, and Joes Valley Dam. Various aspects of the proposed "Water 2025" projects were discussed.

Limbaugh was impressed with the scope and future potential of the District's real-time monitoring system and its ability to help the local water groups better manage their water supply. Over lunch, Jay Humphrey, District manager, demonstrated the capabilities of the network's real-time website: www.ewcd.org. The website provides wide access to the current status of all the County's water resources.

A week earlier, a delegation of 12 from Armenia, Georgia, and Ajerbaijan, all former Soviet Socialist Republics, stopped by for a few hours. They visited several field sites before taking a brief tour of the District's office and communications center. Over lunch they had a chance to interact with many of the local Emery County officials.

The foreign visitors were surprised when Humphrey explained that the Emery real-time network has over 110 field sites monitoring such diverse parameters as: stream flow, canal flow, salinity, hydropower generation, state of gate automation systems, and weather conditions. They were also very interested in the District's creative use of webcams for improving water management and site security.

The group was part of a U.S. State Department-sponsored tour that was examining technological innovations for improving water management. The three countries share two river basins, and could all benefit from better data collection and the sharing of information. The Emery real-time water monitoring network thus provides a possible model for future activities in Eurasia.