5 Reasons Smart Water Utilities Need a Weather Station #3: PUBLIC SERVICE

Weather data can serve as an important component of a water utility’s mission to serve the public. Several of these functions can be impacted by weather conditions. Water utilities manage public resources that offer recreation and education opportunities such as reservoirs and wetlands. Water utilities take the lead in promoting optimal water usage and conservation. Additionally, weather data can be a component of public communication during extreme weather events which may impact water service.

Recreation/Education
Many water districts incorporate reservoirs which may also be used for public recreation. Reservoirs incorporate obviously large bodies of water and often hilly terrain which lend themselves to creating a unique microclimate compared to population centers. Chances are good that visitors are traveling there from a different microclimate.

Weather data can be used for reservoir management and made available to the public to determine whether weather conditions are conducive to, or even safe for, outdoor activities. For example, rain and high winds are a deterrent to water sports and nearby lightning strikes are a “no go.”  The Pulsar 800™ Weather Station includes lightning detection in addition to standard met parameters of temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction.

Surface water management systems often include wetlands which provide habitat to wildlife and can become public attractions. The Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve (JBWP) is owned by the City of Hillsboro, Oregon, and CleanWater Services. Initially created as a sewer farm to clean water polluted by cannery and lumbering activities, JBWP has become a regional draw for research and environmental education. They have had a Capricorn™ Weather Station since 2002.  In addition to research and educational use, the meteorological data is made available to the general public via Weather Underground, as well as widgets and buttons on the JBWP and city websites.1

Usage/Conservation
Whether home-based landscape watering or industrial irrigation, water conservation is based on environmental factors such as precipitation, humidity and temperature. Water utilities make decisions on water availability and recommendations or even restrictions to the public. Public acceptance and cooperation relies on persuasive messaging which can be substantiated with weather data.
Whether automated or manual, smart water usage can be as simple as is whether it is raining or not, or more complex based on rainfall accumulation or evapotranspiration (ET). ET uses four weather parameters: temperature, wind, solar radiation and humidity.

Extreme Weather
“When the weather is abnormal or the climate is under pressure, water and wastewater services systems stand to lose much of their environment and health benefits” potentially due to infrastructure damage, water loss (such as icing) or contamination (overflow).  Extreme weather events such as floods and droughts are occurring with increasing frequency and intensity around the world. These, in addition to events such as winter storms with ice and/or high winds, affect the capacity and operations of water and sanitation infrastructures and services, and thereby threaten the protection such services offer to human health and the environment.² 

Managing water services during and after such events includes monitoring weather conditions for operational safety, recording data for future analysis, and utilizing weather data in public communications with notification of service disruptions or contingencies.

Optimize the Benefit
An organization or agency can increase the value of its weather station by offering the data to the public it serves. Current meteorological conditions can be made available automatically on the utility’s website, a public network like Weather Underground® or a proprietary cloud server.

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Quote: Columbia Weather Systems. Water Management: Central Utah Water Conservancy District. https://columbiaweather.com/applications/water-management/ 

1Columbia Weather Systems. Environmental Education: Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve and Education Center, Oregon. https://columbiaweather.com/applications/environmental-education/

2Sinisi, L and Aertgeerts, R. (2011). Guidance on Water Supply and Sanitation in Extreme Weather Events. World Health Organization. Retrieved from http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/160018/WHOGuidanceFVLR.pdf