DWR on the Net

Word about the Internet is everywhere.

WWW addresses constantly flash on the TV screen during commercial breaks. Headlines say Net traffic is doubling every 100 days, with the online population numbering in the tens of millions. Nearly all big - and little - companies have home pages selling just about anything imaginable.

Web sites are big business - spawning a new industry and stretching the reaches of communications. Just a few decades ago, the network, which is now known as the Internet, served the nation’s military and defense establishment. It linked government with research and development industries. Universities and research centers soon joined the network, and when it spread to the general public in the early 1990s, the Internet boomed.

It was about then that DWR ventured into cyberspace, primarily for research and data sharing with other agencies. From this early introduction came an increasing recognition of the Internet’s potential as a new and more efficient way of conducting business. Today, DWR has more than two dozen web sites. The Department’s main home page offers visitors information about DWR and links to its ever-growing list of public Web sites.

The Early Players

Back in 1989, DWR’s Former Division of Planning) now the Office of SWP Planning) gained access to the Net. “DWR was the first State agency on the Net,” says George Barnes, Chief of SWPP’s Modeling Support branch. His staff was among the early few in DWR to access databases for universities for computer modeling research.

The graphical interface now common to Internet users did not exist then. Data was text-based, but still offered the Department a new avenue of obtaining information from the water community. With Planning’s early Internet entry, the door was opened for DWR’s information analysts, or computer experts, in the Information Systems and Services Office to show just what was possible.

“Our web site went online in early 1994 to demonstrate to the Department the capabilities possible through the Net,” adds Roger Linder, a system software specialist with ISSO. The office currently provides web hosting and other Net services for several DWR offices.

“We went online even before the big data centers like Teale,” says Frank Farmer, also an ISSO system software specialist. “We created links to sites of interest to DWR employees, such as engineering and water law, as well as to water-related agencies. At that time, many employees were using a browser called Mosaic. It was an initial attempt to make employees aware of the Internet and its potential.”

This coincided with the installation of DWR’s wide area network, implemented by the Telecommunications Office land the Communications Branch under the Division of Operations and Maintenance. The WAN ties nearly all of the outlying offices with headquarters through a communications system that also allows remote operation of SWP facilities. Then followed the network’s link to large capacity T-1 connections to the Internet and the World Wide Web.

“We contacted for the service with an Internet provider,” explains Linder. “Each State agency pays for and is responsible for its own connections to the Net. We got online before most Sate agencies because the Department supports the use of state-of-the-art technology.”

Another early participant to post a web site was the Cooperative Snow Surveys Program. Coordinated through snowpack and water content measurements taken throughout the Sierras.

“The data we collect is time sensitive. It is used by water project operators to schedule releases form reservoirs and to estimate deliveries to their contractors,” explains Frank Gehrke who heads the DWR arm of the cooperative program which includes other State, federal, and local agencies.

“These agencies were often looking for specific data and didn’t want to go through the computer to access the database because it was time-consuming and cumbersome. You have to have a password and user name. So they would call us and we’d have to interrupt our work to answer these phone inquiries.

“We also had the reports reproduced than mailed. The logistics of that process was made even more complicated by our move (away from reprographics and mail services at headquarters) to the Joint Operations Center.”

It was Snow Surveys’ involvement in another computer networking program call Sequoia 2000 that yielded an answer to the dilemma of providing other agencies with timely data.

Placing data online proved to be the perfect solution (along with other electronic means such as e-mail and fax). Data could be updated with ease, and agencies could obtain any piece of data at any time. The number of phone calls and mailings dropped dramatically, as did the turnaround time to disseminate the data.

Their web site went up in October 1994. Many of their data links are CDEC, the California Data Exchange Center. Developed by DWR’s Division of Flood Management, CDEC is used for forecasting floods and water supply conditions. Its comprehensive database includes precipitation amounts, weather forecasts, satellite weather maps, rive stages and releases, runoff, road conditions, and more.

CDEC also began with limited computer access to its database, then went public in 1995. The response was overwhelming. So many queries came in during the floods that they sometimes interfered with staff’s ability to quickly access much needed data. With additional serves and staff, CDEC is now prepared for future flood emergencies, as well as for the flood of calls during those events.

DWR’s Home Page

As individual web sites, such as Snow Surveys and CDEC, began to set up business on the Internet, it became evident to DWR executives and others that more offices would soon follow suit with their own web sites. It was also clear some form of structure would be needed. So a steering committee and technical sub-committee were formed to set standards, protocol, and review. The action was supported by Director Kennedy, who stated in an internal memo: “These...sites have proven to be a powerful medium in communicating with internal and external entities.”

“The Director and Deputies have always been supportive of this means of data sharing and dissemination,” says Larry Filby, and Information System Analyst with the Office of Water Education. Filby was instrumental in creating the Department’s main home page. It premiered in January 1995, providing information about DWR’s organization and responsibilities and serving as a gateway to other DWR sites, as well as those of related agencies. Since then DWR web sites have more than quadrupled.

“We have more web sites online than any other State department,” says Filby. “DWR’s decision to go online was a grassroots movement. Employees saw the opportunity and went on their own initiative. Existing staff developed the skills to put up their web sites.”

As these web sites created interest in the Department and it became evident that there would be a proliferation of departmental web sites, management wanted to ensure that these would be developed in an orderly way.

“They wanted their creators to carefully construct their sites,” Filby explains about the guidelines developed by the WWW Technical Committee in coordination with the Management Analysis Office and the Office of Water Education for review and approval. “The sites need to have interesting and useful content, be easily navigable and technically sound, and use graphic appropriately.”

Once a site is approved by OWE and premiers on the Net, the fate and success of that site depend on its creators.

“There is not centralized webmaster, no monitoring of sites,” Filby explains. “The Department doesn’t require that all organizations develop a web site. Each division/office determines whether or not there is a need. The maintenance of that site is left to the division or office.

“I think that is our strength. Each web site is a living document that’s always changeable. And often it is the users themselves who keep us on our toes by informing webmasters of links that malfunction or errors in the data or copy, as well as new features to include.”

More to Come

The array of data available through these DWR sites is quite impressive - ranging from computer modeling of hydrological conditions in the Delta to incidents and outages of State Water Project facilities, from water quality sampling taken at different Delta locations to dam safety guidelines and regulations, and from information on groundwater wells to videos and publications available to the public.

DWR is also working on intranet web sites, which encompass employee-only sites such as DWR Update (an online employee newsletter), Internet help, and a business system network. “We hope to place most of our administrative forms online and use the technology to reduce the amount of paperwork that is usually required,” says Roger Linder. He and others at ISSO are quite proud of the fact that the Department is a leader in the technology.

“There are many more DWR sites in development,” adds Larry Filby, “And we’ve only just begun our work on the Internet.”


A Guide To DWR Web Sites

“DWR California Water Page,”
main DWR Home Page:
http://wwwdwr.water.ca.gov/
provides information for the public about the Department, its organization, contacts, news releases, publications, the State Water Project, and reservoir, river, surface and groundwater conditions.

Listing of links to other DWR web sites: