EPA establishes Internet of Watersheds with KISTERS Web Services

Rapid increases in the volume of water quality monitoring data and innovative capabilities to transfer that information is available to support decisions by state, regional and federal water resource managers.

Assessing and restoring waters has been challenging because various agencies had various information, which is often stored in different data formats. Open data standards and today’s technology make all of the data easily accessible. Organizations that choose to partner can more conveniently and quickly exchange information.

The Interoperable Watersheds Network (IWN), developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water, Water Data Integration Branch, is a national data-sharing platform that seamlessly links continuously monitored sensor data from multiple sources into one accessible and searchable location. The distributed data model, open source software, and existing data standards harmonize, share, and deliver continuous datasets.

The IWN discovery tool, CURRENTS, presently accesses 15678 sensors nationwide. Eight data providers include state, local, and federal agencies.

Future expansion of the pilot will give water quality managers more capabilities to better evaluate the health of local watersheds and water resources. The aim is to more informed and timely decision-making.

The IWN pilot project was designed to, and does, modernize the way EPA delivers environmental information.

For more details, access the Lessons Learned document.