Advancing Water Resources Research and Management

Symposium on Water Resources and the World Wide Web
Seattle, Washington, December 5-9, 1999

Preface

In organizing this Symposium, we wanted to repeat what AWRA achieved with its 1993 Symposium on GIS and Water Resources: document the earliest applications of an exciting technology. The World Wide Web is less than a decade old, yet it's already hard to imagine how we shared information without it! Precipitation, streamflow, and water quality data now are available instantly and, usually, free. And it's not just archival data, but live data direct from the field. It's used in real decisions.

The papers in this collection represent the leading edge of water-resources information on the web. Websites of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have pioneered the way in serving huge amounts of water data. The Charles River Watershed Association website puts critical water-quality data on citizens' doorsteps (or at least their boathouses!) to raise awareness of river conditions. Students in Minnesota go on line to examine conditions in nearby lakes. Water quality data in the Nueces River Basin are widely available. The Delaware River Basin Commission puts announcements and minutes of public meetings on line to achieve open government. Its hard to keep up with all the new applications.

And who is the audience? Water professionals, of course, find the web a bonanza of information. But it turns out that they're just the tip of the iceberg. The web makes water information more accessible to the public than ever before, and, to our surprise and delight, the public can't seem to get enough of it. We are witnessing a true democratization of data, a profound change in the balance of knowledge between professionals and the general public. And it's all documented here!

Fittingly, this is AWRA's first "all electronic" Proceedings. The authors submitted their manuscripts electronically. Reviews and editing were conducted by website and email. The whole process was far faster, more flexible, and less costly than producing the traditional printed volumes. We want to thank all the reviewers for their good work in this new environment. The Proceedings is available on the AWRA website. The CD version saves downloading time and provides a tangible volume for libraries.

About the only certain prediction for the World Wide Web is that it will continue to change. Will government sites be able to maintain their free data policies in the face of tightening budgets? Will critical knowledge get erased or drowned in a sea of babble? How will we extend "democratization of data" to the disconnected people of the third world? We don't know. But stay tuned to AWRA. It will be an adventure!

Kenneth J. Lanfear
Lorna Schmid
U.S. Geological Survey
Reston, Virginia

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