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Cheaper, Easier, and Better Tools for Characterizing Receiving Water Environments Julie Padilla LimnoTech MWEA 2016 Why Do We Care?—Climate Change • Increasing water streamflow nation-wide. Decreasing streamflows in the West, Southeast, and Northwest. • Increasing surface water temperatures. …….thermal discharge challenges. • Variable precipitation and temperature influence hydrology and water temperature over decadal and multi-decadal scales. • Landscape changes alter surface flow volume, timing, magnitude, and quality and groundwater leading to decreasing baseflows and/or increasing stream temperatures. Why Do We Care?—Current Permitting NPDES Permit Writers’ Manual: Inclusion of Climate Change Considerations “…climate change could alter historical flow patterns …making these historical flow records less accurate in predicting current and future critical flows. Where appropriate, water quality modelers should consider alternate approaches to establishing critical low flow conditions…” https://www3.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/pwm_2010.pdf Why Do We Care?—Future Compliance These principles are demonstrated by tools such as: • public accountability through increased transparency of compliance data, • electronic reporting, • advanced pollutant monitoring for point source discharges, • ambient monitoring in water bodies, both upstream and downstream from dischargers, and • third-party verification of compliance with environmental requirements. http://www2.epa.gov/compliance/next-generation-compliance Expectations are high and compliance burdens are heavy and costly! How are we incorporating new technologies, existing data, and new shared information? So Many New Tools, Applications, and Resources • Remote sensing • GPS • GIS • Data collection/storage • Modeling physical environment • Data collection/storage • Data management Remote Sensing The collection of information about an object without being in direct physical contact with it NOAA NOAA LimnoTech Remote Sensing The collection of information about an object without being in direct physical contact with it • Fine-scale spatial data • Challenging to develop algorithms to translate raw data into useful units NOAA Remote Sensing http://www.greatlakesremotesensing.org/ Remote Sensing—LiDAR • Precise 3-D information about Earth’s surface • Land surface or bathymetry data • Requires clear water LimnoTech NOAA Remote Sensing—Buoys LimnoTech http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ Open Access Water Quality Data http://www.waterqualitydata.us/ Open Access Water Quality Data http://glos.us/ Open Access Water Quality Data http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ Open Access Water Quality Data http://glos.us/ Case Studies #1 316(a) Point Source Thermal Discharge for a Lake Erie Power Plant #2 Monitoring Lake Erie Harmful Algal Blooms Example #1: Lake Erie Power Plant Example #1: Lake Erie Power Plant Field Thermal Infrared Imaging Buoy Example #1: Lake Erie Power Plant Example #2: Lake Erie Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) http://habs.glos.us/map/ (Near Real-Time) Data Decision (Near Real-Time) Data Decision (Near Real-Time) Data Decision (Near Real-Time) Data Decision (Near Real-Time) Data Decision Thanks Doug Bradley Ed Verhamme Hans Holmberg Tad Slawecki Questions?