| Emery Water Conservancy District Hydrologic Web Site System Description | ||
|---|---|---|
| <<< Previous | Next >>> | |
The website is maintained by StoneFly Techonology out of St. George, Utah. The site is designed to serve a wide variety of users with varying purposes regarding the information. In an attempt to meet the different needs, data and information is displayed in a number of ways and in a number of places.
A variety of time-series information is available. One of the most popular displays is of hourly flow data for the previous seven days. Since most of the field sites are solar powered, a display showing battery voltage is critical. A diagnostics section provides this kind of information for troubleshooting purposes as well as maintainance and repair purposes.
In addition to real-time displays, there is also descriptive information posted on the web site. There is an extensive history of what is known as the Emery county Project. This offers details about the county and its political history, its water history, and many more details about the area. There is also a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document for basic help with navigating the site and finding information. The detailed descriptions of the real-time (automation) equipment and a comprehensive list of manufacturers and vendors is also posted on the site.
Web site usage is also monitored. A comprehensive log is maintained, which allows web site designers to assess the utility of the various tables and displays.
There are several real-time data monitoring sensors in place across the county at various sites. The web site makes all of the data these sensors collect easily accessible and interpretable. A user is able to click on the category for which he or she would like to view information and diagrams as well as tables with information are loaded. Generally, at a glance a user can collect a lot of important information about the site. The picture will tell what the sensor is monitoring (i.e. currant flow), the current reading on the sensor along with the units being used, and a color. The color index is a unique way of showing how recently the data being displayed was taken. The color index is used throughout the site to indicate the timeliness of the data.
Currently there are 3 reservoirs with sensors and automation equipment installed; Millsite, Huntington, and Joe's Valley. These monitoring sites have several different sensors installed. Everything from the gate height, to the inflow rate or outflow rate, the reservoir height, the air temperature, etc. can be viewed.
Emery county has three main rivers; the San Rafael, Muddy, and Green rivers. There are several monitoring stations set up along these rivers, with more to be added in the future. Three main canals also provide water to the county, namely the Hungtington, Cottonwood, and Ferron Canal. These canals and their diversions are also monitored at several sites. All of the information can be viewed by clicking on the "Canals" or "Rivers" category from the main menu. The county also has 13 springs that provide water and have monitoring equipment installed.
In addition to the graphical representation of data, all the data can be viewed in tabular form. Data can be found for almost any time period up to two years previous. Graphs are dynamically generated to show the values for the past day, seven days, one month, three months, or nine months. This can be a great tool in recognizing patterns or seeing disturbances in the water flow.
There are currently seven weather stations in Emery county. All are equiped with several sensors. Information collected includes; current temperatures, humidity, precipitation, wind gusts, wind speed, wind direction, panel temperature, soil temperatures, battery voltage, and solar radiation. The weather page also contains information based on averages, mean values, and the data collected for the month or for the day. Some of the calculated or accumulated information includes; total precipitation for the current month, the temperature high and low for the current day, or the largest wind gust. In addition to the weather stations, there is a link to a Php Weather page which displays current weather information for the Price Airport.
The weather page utilizes several simple mathmatical concepts as well as some complicated algorithms to calculate and display other useful information. One of the newest additions to the weather page is the evapotranspiration information. This information is calculated based on the data that is collected. The calculations of the previous day and earlier can be viewed for comparison. This new information is intended to inform users about how much water to use when watering their crops and plants. In addition, reservoir evaporation calculations will soon be displayed. Algorithms use the information the sensors record to calculate the approximate amount of evaporation from the reservoir. More of this type of information or improvements on the delivery of this information will be likely in the future.
There are several other types of information available under the weather section. There are links to the national weather service, which provides updates on current storm warnings, as well as a summary of expected conditions throughout the day in various cities across the state. The Western Regional Climate Center provides information on Snow Pack for many areas of Utah year round. There are five snow pack sensor stations set up in Emery county. More detailed information reguarding the snow pack can be found in the SNOTEL report.
Providing real-time or current data is the highest priority of the website. Due to the vast area and the remote location of some of the sensors, the diagnostics page is one of the most important for site administrators. It helps diagnose what is causing data to remain un-updated. This page is available to everyone, so even users can look and see where the trouble is coming from. Some of the features of this page include battery voltage and the latest data time insertion. In addition to helping with troubleshooting at the stations, the diagnostics page also has links to the web site statistics page mentioned earlier. As stated previously, this helps the developers at StoneFly Technology know what is most often used and concentrate their efforts on updating those areas first.
The site has many other things to offer besides just the display of data collection from sensors, although that is its main purpose. The site hosts a photo gallery containing pictures for almost all of the stations and the equipment used. It also has pictures from the EWCD office and recreational activities that Emery county has to offer. There are also several QRTV 360 degree Panaromas - these allow the user to control the camera and see 360 degrees around the site. It is a virtual pan of the area. There is also a historic map of Emery county and a project description. One of the newest features of the site is weather banners that other web sites can post and the information will automatically update. Webmasters can find these under the "About" section.
| <<< Previous | Home | Next >>> |
| Web Site History | How the Site Works |