This being springtime, you might have passed a swollen river or waterway nearby and thought, "Hmm. That's looking bad. Is it going to flood?" A new texting service created by the U.S. Geological Survey can send you a message if it does.
For a while now the federal agency had been collecting detailed water data for more than 9,000 surface water locations across the nation and posting it online here. Proactively delivering that info was the next logical step. The free WaterAlert text service began as a pilot project in the USGS North Carolina office last summer, says Brian McCallum, assistant director for the USGS Georgia Water Science Center and the chair of the development committee for the alert system. When the USGS data chiefs saw how cool the pilot was, they couldn't wait to sign up themselves, McCallum says. After beta testing it this spring, the nationwide service launched yesterday for the public.
WaterAlert has an interactive map with a zoom function so you can find the station you want and the data parameters you're interested in. Each station on the map has instrumentation that can measure things like water level, rainfall, stream flow, and water quality, depending on the site. Then the alert can be customized so you only receive a text for the conditions you pick. Alerts can also be emailed. Water data is transmitted from the instrumentation via satellite to USGS offices, usually hourly or even more frequently during emergency conditions.
"If you're interested in your house flooding and you know the elevation of your slab, find the nearest streamgage" on the interactive map, McCallum says. WaterAlert can text you when the water level nears that point so you can head for higher ground. The alerts aren't just for emergencies, though. Recreationalists can use them for trip planning to make sure they're paddling, rafting, and boating in ideal conditions.
The feds collect so much data that I'm happy to see this kind of info flowing out in a convenient way. Next, McCallum says the USGS will be looking at expanding the alerts to social networking sites like Twitter. I can see the hashtags now: #feelingfull, #runfast, and #bringyourcanoe.
Photo: In 2007, New Jersey's Raritan River flooded this playground. Too bad it couldn't text back then. Credit: Vik Nanda.
Tags: Cell Phones, Communication, Green Tech, Water
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