ACD conducts stream hydrology monitoring on streams, rivers, and a few ditches throughout the county. Hydrology is the study of water quantity and movements. Records of the quantity of water flowing in a stream helps engineers and natural resource managers better understand the effects of rain events, land development and storm water management. The data is used for tracking and predicting flooding, engineering solutions to flooding problems, calculating pollutant loadings in streams, and computer modeling.
Most of our stream hydrology monitoring is done with electronic devices that record water levels every 15-minutes, and are periodically downloaded. We use Orpheus Mini dataloggers from OTT Hydromet. Equipment is installed at ice-out in spring, and then pulled in late-fall before the is any ice formation in the stream. Each year we survey the gauges so the readings correspond to sea level elevations. At some sites, we have determined rating curves (mathematical relationship between the water level and flow), which allows us to estimate flow from the water level data.
To view or download raw data about a particular stream from this website, use our Data Access tool.
ACD Contact :
Links:
Stream Hydrology Monitoring Methods
USGS - Rum River Real-Time Hydrology
USGS - Mississippi River Real-Time Hydrology