1. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
From STORET to WQX New Jersey’s Solution for Integrating Ambient Water Quality, Facility and GIS Information from Federal, State, County & Volunteer Organizations
Harry Chen
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
November 28, 2007
Austin, TX

2. Project Purpose Integrate water quality data
Streamline and simplify data transfer
Provide better, more timely access to water quality data
Aid decision-making
Improve resource efficiency

3. Goals
Develop an up to date, searchable inventory of ambient water quality monitoring in New Jersey
Integrate ambient water quality monitoring data into NJDEP’s enterprise environmental data management system to enable more integrated environmental decisions
Make NJ ambient water quality monitoring data available to the public
Report ambient water quality monitoring data to USEPA

4. Project Partners NJDEP USGS
Bureau of Freshwater and Biological Monitoring
Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring
Bureau of Water Quality Standards and Assessment
Division of Watershed Management
Division of Science, Research, and Technology
USGS
Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS)
County Governments
Volunteer Monitoring Organizations
NJ Water Monitoring Coordinating Council (Inventory)

5. Existing Ambient Water Quality Data Producers

6. Existing NJDEP Data Entry Mechanisms Field Data Staff Staff FIBI dB
Field Form
AMNET
Field/Hab dB
Reformat
Field/Habitat dB
Text file
Existing NJDEP
Data Entry Mechanisms
Keypunch
Field Msr
Habitat
Sample Info
MS Access
Link
Note: Proofreading and correction steps occur for all data, but are not shown due to space limitations.
Bench Sheet
AMNET
Taxa dB
Reformat
Taxa dB
Keypunch
Taxa counts
Text file
Text file
Make
Final dB
Field Form
FIBI dB
Extensive
Manual
Reformat
Of Text
File
Keypunch
Field Msr
Habitat
Taxa counts
Sample Info
Text file
ODBC
Connect
Change
Result Status
To Final
DHSS
Chem
Results
Import e-file
Chem Results
Migrate NJ
STORET
FTP
Oracle
Export
QC Labs
Chem
Results
Lakes dB
Reformat
Lakes dB
Delete
Migration
Import e-file
Chem Results
Text file
Text file
EPA
Field
Staff
Field Form
Data
Staff
Keypunch
Field Msr
Habitat
Sample Info
ODBC
Connect
Corrections Text file
DHSS
Chem
Results
Keypunch
Chem Results
Proofreading dB
Others
Text file
Others
QC Labs
Chem
Results
Keypunch
Chem Results
Other
Projects dBs
Corrections
Proofreading
Reports
Manual
Proofreading
Field Form
Sample Tracking dB
Keypunch
Field Msr
Sample Info

7. Water Quality Data Management Model

8. Core project components
WQX data flow, consisting of the following
Data-in: E2 WQX module with data validation
Data transmission to and from COMPASS
Data-out: NJ Water Monitoring Inventory / Data Portal
Outbound data transmission to EPA CDX

9. High-Level Data Flow
EPA CDX E2
COMPASS
ENDS

10. Data System Integration
COMPASS
ENDS
Data will be transmitted through each component using NJ’s Exchange Network NODE.
Data will be transmitted through each component using NJ’s Exchange Network NODE.

11. Future Ambient Water Quality Data Producers4
EPA
&
USGS
Web
Services

12. Data Submission Options
Comma-Separated Values (or CSV; also known as a comma-separated list or comma-separated variables)

13. GIS Integration Monitoring Inventory Data Reports Link Web-based Maps
NJ is committed to develop a national solution using EN Browser and NJ GeoWeb (iMap)
ECOS: The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) is the national non-profit, non-partisan association of state and territorial environmental agency leaders.

14. GIS Proposals: EN Browser hosted by ECOS, a national solution
NJ-GeoWeb, a NJ solution

15. EN Browser Web services data discovery tool
Allows users to discover and execute Data Requests on Exchange Network Nodes
Offers users the ability to remove (filter) unwanted sections of the XML data set returned from a Data Service
Users have the option of choosing the format that they would like to retrieve the data in
Can integrate with enterprise data reporting tools

16. NJ-GeoWeb
A New Vision for Seeking Spatial Intelligence. Integrating customized GIS and analysis tools with enterprise databases for improved decision-making on the Internet.

17. Live Feeds from State Government
“NJ-GeoWeb”
Permitting
Compliance
Enforcement
Clean & Plentiful Water
Water/Sewer Infrastructure
Water Allocation
Storm Water Runoff
Monitoring
What’s in My Backyard
Surveillance
Inspections
ePermits
Regulated Sites
Incident Mgmt
Flood Mapping
Endangered Species
Data Server
Sustainable Growth
SDE
Data
Taking care of Business
As a GIS grows and agencies begin to understand what data can be used by all departments, the central or foundation data sets will also grow:
The more data made available => the more applications can be derived = the faster the rate of return on investment
All agencies can benefit from GIS and all agencies can enhance the City’s GIS. Coordination is key with OMB’s involvement.
Where departments are slow to open up their data sets (citing privacy, confidential, etc.) the presenter can convey that the departments can keep their data local (until there ready) to their machines while leveraging the data created.
As data moves to a more open process…more departments can increase success and their applications through new data sets that they previously had no access to.
Examples: No more separate database creation & maintenance by the individual departments. An example would be 1) the firemen accessing business license data from HHS or 2) MSDS from OEM to see what chemicals might be involved in a fire.
Align Economic and Env. Goals
Env. Sensitive Areas
Green Technologies
Economic Incentives
Employment Info
Revitalize and Redevelop
Live Feeds from State Government
L.awrence Thornton, NJDEP

18. WQDE Project Challenges
Pulling data from USGS (web services in development)
Pulling data from EPA (web services in development)
Coordinating with a large number of project partners
Requires compromise
Re-engineering current reporting procedures, while designing new WQX reporting procedures
How to teach an old dog new tricks?

19. Project Phases and Tasks:
Business Process Analysis
Functional Requirements Specification and System Design
System Development, Data Preparation and Implementation
Acceptance Testing
User Training, Documentation and Outreach

20. Next Steps Complete System Design Programming and Development
User Acceptance Testing
Documentation and Training
Production Deployment
Send data to EPA
Target Date: October 2008

21. Thanks!
Contact Info: NJDEP- Office of Info Resources Management
Name: Harry Chen
Phone: (609)