To enhance IT and data management capabilities that facilitate the electronic collection, reporting, exchange, sharing and integration of the full range of data that informs the business of…

This Project Grant award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant Program (CFDA 66.608) provides $300,000 to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) to enhance the state's water quality database and data management capabilities.

The key activities under this 3-year award include: 1) expanding NDEP's water quality database to include a broader set of biological and physical habitat data, 2) mapping the state's data system to the EPA's Water Quality Exchange (WQX) schema, 3) developing a tool to automate surface water biological assessments and electronic reporting into EPA's ATTAINS system, and 4) planning and implementing an improved database and management system with associated tools.

These enhancements are expected to improve NDEP's ability to identify high-quality waters, support water quality assessments, and target pollution mitigation projects. The award will also increase NDEP's capacity for data sharing, analysis, and environmental decision-making to benefit the agency, the public, stakeholders, and state/local/tribal air quality agencies in Nevada.

Description

This project by the nevada division of environmental protection's (NDEP) proposes to expand the water quality database for broader biological and physical habitat dataset and map the state data system to WQX schema; develop a tool to perform automated surface water biological assessments and E-reporting into attains; and plan and implement an improved database and management system and associated tools. This project is expected to benefit NDEP, the public, stakeholders, and state, local, and tribal air quality agencies by expanding the functionality of NDEP's air information management system. Expected environmental results include identifying high-quality waters and watersheds to support implementation of nevada's antidegradation policies; provide biological data that will support water quality assessments and will be used to target and prioritize pollution mitigation projects; provide increased capacity and efficiency for data sharing, analysis, and decision-making. Prioritized data sets include an updated opennode 2 and supporting databases and a design data model.