The Voinovich School developed two innovative online systems used to enter and report data for the Raccoon Creek, Monday Creek, Sunday Creek and Huff Run watershed groups in Southeast Ohio.
A Web-based participatory Geographic Information System (GIS) allows watershed coordinators to enter the location of water-quality sample points and associated data, which immediately become available to the public in the form of maps that can be viewed and printed. While these systems were created at the request of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Mineral Resources Management Division (ODNR-MRM) for watersheds, project manager Darren Cohen said the same technology can be applied for many purposes, such as enabling the public to enter locations of illegal dumping sites or other public health hazards.
Scott Miller, environmental program manager for the Voinovich School, said the greater goal of the applications is to stimulate public communication, with the hope of getting people more involved with local watersheds.
The Voinovich School also developed the Non-point Source (NPS) Monitoring Project, an on-line reporting system used to track environmental changes in the four watersheds. The project, funded by the ODNR-MRM, was created with the intent of achieving goals for Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) contained in Ohio’s NPS Management Plan. As of 2005, 23.3 stream miles have achieved full attainment.
The Web site provides access to a database that allows those working on the watershed projects to input or download data and information for different watershed monitoring stations. Members of the watershed groups can input project status details, maps, graphs, charts, photographs and printable reports. These features allow for the tracking of water-quality and biology changes, such as pH, acidity, fish abundance and diversity and acid load reduction, at the four watersheds.
According to project manager Jen Bowman, one purpose of the Web site is to take scientific data and make it understandable for the general public and the EPA so that they can see how the money was spent.
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