What and who is the Sevier River Water Users Association?
The Sevier River Water Users Association consists of two river commissioners (state employees under the Utah Division of Water Rights), along with canal companies which are operated out of the homes of their managers, and the employees (i.e. ditch riders, water masters) who are seasonal. Essentially the SRWUA manages and regulates the release of water into canals and other water systems in the Sevier River Basin.
Where is the Sevier River?
The Sevier River is located in the southern part of Utah (United States). The river has two distinct head waters. Mammoth Creek originates near Cedar Breaks National Monument and empties into the south fork of the river, just south of Bryce Canyon National Park. The East Fork of the Sevier (the other main head water) originates in the Fishlake National Forest, which is north of Otter Creek State Park. The basin covers a large area. The Sevier River flows through Garfield, Piute, Sevier, San Pete, Juab, and finally Millard counties. The basin also covers very small areas of Beaver, Kane, Iron, and Tooele counties.
Where does all of this real-time data come from?
There are many data collection stations along the river and at the reservoirs. Each station is equipped with sensors that measure various parameters (i.e. voltage, river flow, temperature). The data is recorded by a commercial datalogger (Campbell Scientific). Some of the stream flow data comes from stations operated by the USGS (United States Geological Survey). Snow pack data is measured at stations operated by the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service).
How often is the data gathered?
Most data is gathered once every hour. Some data, such as images from the cameras, are collected as often as once every 10 minutes.
How does the data get from the Sevier River to my computer?
Each station is equipped with sensors that measure various parameters (i.e. voltage, river flow, temperature). The data is recorded by a commercial datalogger (from Campbell Scientific). Once an hour real-time data is transferred to the system via VHF radio, 900 MHz spread spectrum radio, over the Internet, via land-line telephone, or by cell-phone, where it is stored in a database. Each time you click on the web page, the code for the page instructs the web server to go and find the most recent data. Your browser then displays all the information on a web page.
The USGS stream flow data travels via satellite link and the NRCS SNOTEL data uses a radio transmission system called meteorburst.
Please explain the remotely controlled canal gates.
The canal gates can be programmed to maintain a certain flow out of the reservoir. In addition, the station is equipped with a VHS radio or telephone or cell modem that is used to transmit the data to the server. These, however, are two-way devices, meaning that with the correct login someone can call the station and reset the parameters, such as the gate height or river flow. The sensors tell the program when the gate is meeting the new target height.
What operating systems and programs does your webserver use?
Since 01-May-2010 data is being collected and disseminated by a new software platform named DataCloud. DataCloud is a cloud-based web service built on top of Ruby on Rails, MySQL and a host of Open Source tools.
I can’t find the page I’m looking for but it was there yesterday.
The site is constantly updating, adding, and changing. As technology improves and the users’ needs change, the site evolves to try and meet these needs. Sometimes files get re-named and/or moved. If you are having trouble finding a page try using the “SiteMap” under the “About” link at the top of each page. If you still can’t find the page you are looking for, contact support@exactraq.com.
Where do I get more information on how the site works?
Our system description gives a great overview of the basin and how the site works. It gives more detailed explanations of the system components and where the site is looking to go in the future.
I’ve found an error – who do I report it to?
If you’ve found an error or a page is not working, PLEASE report the problem to support@exactraq.com.