TOUR OF www.sevierriver.org
The web site consists of four major data collection categories: reservoirs, rivers/canals, weather, and snow-pack. By clicking on a selection from the navigation bar, the user is taken to a page where specific measurement locations in the given category can be selected. For example, the web page presents the user with a schematic diagram of the reservoirs in the Sevier River Basin (see Figure 1). The relative size of the teacup indicates the storage capacity of the reservoir. The current storage in the reservoir is indicated by the level in the teacup. By clicking on individual teacups, one can get more detailed data about the reservoir. In addition to the teacup diagram, a table showing the reservoir elevations is included on the page. Since data transmission between the reservoir and the web site is not always perfect, each measurement is color coded to indicate how old it is. Red indicates a measurement over 24 hours old.
Figure 1. Real-time status of all major water storage reservoirs in the Sevier River Basin.
The rivers/canals pages allow the user to select the individual canal and river monitoring points. The monitoring points are represented on a schematic map which graphically shows the geographical relationship of the stations on the river (see Fig. 2).
Figure 2. Spatial diagram displaying real-time information for a stretch of the Sevier River.
By clicking on the station, the user can "drill down" to get more detailed data. Fig. 3 shows a 7-day time-series graph of stream flow. The user can change the time period of the graph by clicking on the menu below the displayed graph. Weather and snow-pack data pages follow the same basic format as the reservoir and rivers/canals pages.
Figure 3. Time-series plot displaying hourly flows at a river gaging site for the previous 7 days.
A popular part of the www.sevierriver.org web site is the web cam section. This displays live still images taken from two cameras located at the head of the Richfield Canal. The web cam pages were recently expanded to include easy methods of viewing past images. Movies in MPEG-1 format are created by the web server on an hourly basis. These movies allow the viewer to see "time-lapse" views of both the past 24 hours and past 2 hours of images taken by each camera. In these movies, it is possible to the view the accumulation of trash in the diversion structure, canal gates moving up and down, and human activity at the scene. Another way to view the image data is by viewing the gallery pages. These pages contain thumbnail views of the past 24 hours of images. By clicking on the thumbnail, a full size view of the image is obtained.
In order to gage the use and popularity of the web site, software was installed on the server which generates reports showing how users interacted with the web site. Graphs and tables are created, which can themselves be viewed on the web site, which show how many users visited the web site, who these visitors were, what pages were popular, which pages were the first page to be visited, and many other views of how the web site was accessed. The study of this data allows the web site creators to concentrate on improving the most popular uses of the web site and get insight into how the web site is used.
The canal and reservoir automation system spreads over six counties and hundreds of square miles. Early on the importance of troubleshooting tools was recognized. The website has several data products which allow the operators of the river system to spot potential trouble with the automation equipment. Almost all of the automated gates are powered by solar-panel/lead-acid battery systems. Seeing a time-series graph of the battery voltage can tell the user a lot about the state of the power system. In Figure 4 a 7-day view of voltage level in a canal head gate system is displayed.
Figure 4. Time-series plot displaying hourly voltage level at a solar-power canal automation site.
The daily charge/discharge cycle is clearly evident. Also easy to spot is a cloudy day, where the sun was obscured enough to depress the charging voltage. A common failure mode of the batteries is the loss of one of the six cells in the 12-volt battery. This failure tends to occur after the batteries have been in service for 3 or more years. This type of failure is easy to spot in a graph showing the battery voltage over time; the average voltage simply drops by about 2 volts. Another failure mode is the loss of a solar panel. Solar panels can be stolen (infrequently), damaged by gunfire, or blown off their mountings by extreme wind. The loss of a solar panel is also easy to spot on the time-series graphs. It shows up as a constantly discharging voltage with no evident charging during the day.