Grantee Research Project Results
2000 Progress Report: Environmental Monitoring and Awareness Program (E-MAP) for Healthy Water
EPA Grant Number: R827968Title: Environmental Monitoring and Awareness Program (E-MAP) for Healthy Water
Investigators: Wilson, Dorothy , Meuli, R. Larry
Current Investigators: Meuli, R. Larry , Wilson, Dorothy
Institution: Laramie County Information Technology Office
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: November 1, 1999 through October 31, 2000
Project Period Covered by this Report: November 1, 1999 through October 31, 2000
Project Amount: $235,782
RFA: Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) (1999) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Water , Aquatic Ecosystems , Air , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration
Objective:
The objectives of this research project are to: (1) reduce the misinformation on water quantity and quality; (2) train the public to find data on neighborhood water quality; (3) educate the public on obtaining tests of wells and septics and data on public water/sewer systems; (4) teach the public to check septic conditions/problems in their neighborhood; (5) activate public efforts for obtaining public water/sewer systems for the urban density areas; and (6) alert the public to the significance of bacteriological tests.
Progress Summary:
This annual report is separated into four different sections: water and wastewater data, public education, information technology, and public access to the information via the Environmental Monitoring and Awareness Program (E-Map) Web Site. Prior to these sections, there is a discussion of the project status, preliminary results, findings and their significance to the field, relationship to the goals of the project, relevance to protection of the environment and human health, and potential practical applications.
Results and Findings
There are five expected results for the E-Map for Healthy Water program. They are a decrease in illnesses found in the sensitive populations, early detection of drinking water and well contamination problems, accessibility to timely information resulting in a decrease in the public’s and staff’s time expended for researching well water and septic information, a decrease in the purchase of “non-serviceable” property, and reduced disputes regarding annexation. This report covers the status and examination of these items as part of the grant (in reverse order).
Problems regarding inadequate water knowledge in regard to annexation requirements have dropped dramatically as a result of the data dissemination accomplished through the grant. The high visibility of the E-Map for Healthy Water program is making the topic of water quality and its connection to annexation a major community concern. It brings environmental issues, which had previously been of concern only to government officials, into mainstream community discussion. The local City Council is considering moving up the issue of water quality in relation to growth and annexation on its list of improvement goals for the community.
Active use of internet and written materials to decrease the purchase of non-serviceable property is underway with a popular component being the distribution of letter openers bearing the Web address. Builders use the Web site information printed on the envelope openers as a sales tool for their clients to “prove” that the water for the property they are selling is safe.
The accessibility to timely information should result in a decrease in the time expended researching well water and septic information as well as answering water/septic-related questions, because referral to the Web site allows a greater degree of access to realtime information. This provision of information may be expanded to include information on a number of other environmental factors, if the format for the computer work turns out to be easily adaptable to other uses.
Data collection for possible contamination evaluation is progressing, although initial results appear to indicate that there is not an issue with well sources. This area of data has raised a great deal of interest from the general public regarding the protection of the local aquifer.
A decrease in illnesses found in the sensitive populations has not been evaluated yet. The collection of significantly more data will be necessary to prove that hypothesis.
Water and Wastewater Data
The Division of Environmental Health started work on this grant by creating a digital database, available to the public, which includes data from septic permits and water quality reports. The septic field of most value is the percolation rate of the soil. Water quality fields that will be of most value to the reviewing public doing this type of informational project are the nitrate, total dissolved solids (tds), and sulfates. The databases were designed in March of 2000.
The design phase was successful. After completion of the design, the project team entered approximately 10 percent of the records from each data set as the pilot project. The next step in making the information available was the full data-entry phase of the project, which took almost 2 months.
After completion of the pilot project and during the data entry, work began on putting the information into a GIS program to map the data. Quality assurance (QA) was started after the mapping process to ensure the data entered were not only the correct data but also were entered in the correct format to make them link (or map) to the address points in the county’s addressing file. QA work took almost as long as the original data entry because of the large amount of data to be checked. The first check of the data found an almost 30 percent error rate. After corrections to the data, the errors are still at about 15 percent, but these are records that do not match up to any addresses. The number of missing addresses is being reduced, as the Environmental Health Staff now is using Global Position System (GPS) equipment (obtained with the grant) to re-map the septic systems on those properties.
During the QA process, the team determined that it was not necessary to include bacteriological information in the mapping and Web site because the results were always satisfactory when the inspections were completed. Bacteria tests only show a satisfactory (negative) or unsatisfactory (positive) result. Therefore, when water quality inspections were completed, the results always came back satisfactory. The only time an unsatisfactory (positive) bacteria test was found was when there was a failure to disinfect the well properly, hence, a conclusion that the aquifer at this point is free of total and fecal bacteria. This was a change from the original grant plan that evolved as the work progressed. This information took the group by surprise and resulted in an unexpected limitation to the information we had anticipated receiving and providing to the public.
Use of the GPS equipment is planned to start in March 2001, to make it possible to add more data to the E-Map Web Site. Environmental information of interest to the public being considered as additions to the Web site are mosquito-breeding areas, prairie dog colonies (where plague can be transmitted), and water quality along Crow Creek. Crow Creek is a local waterway that is being considered for reclassification. This would be an expansion of the original use proposed under the grant and is critical information that has a practical application for any jurisdiction.
Other relevant data being proposed for addition to this Web site include radon in water wells, radon in indoor air, and soil typing. Currently, the soil type information is being reworked to give a seamless look to the final product.
After mapping the data, it became apparent that not all of the information could be shared with the public via the Internet because the sheer volume of data was too cumbersome for practical use. The solution was to display an average result for wells. This average will start at the section level; but, in future refinement of the project, it will be reduced to quarter section or subdivision levels. A section is 640 acres or 1 square mile; a quarter section is 160 acres or one-quarter of a square mile. This is a long-term goal that will be completed after the grant period because of the need to amend every record in both databases.
Public Education
The speaker series was the heart of this project and is proving more successful than anticipated. There will be twelve separate presentations from different individuals or agencies that have information to share with the public. The first presentation was given in September 2000, and the last will be in July 2001. Speakers include representatives from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities, and the Cheyenne/Laramie County Health Department; the Wyoming State Groundwater Engineer; the President of the Southeast Wyoming Homebuilders Association; the President of the Cheyenne Board of Realtors; and several others. Topics for the presentations include Wyoming water rights, water quality for the City of Cheyenne’s public water supply, and how septic systems affect water quality. The series concludes with a presentation showing the public the information that can be obtained on the E-Map Web Site and how to use the site. Total attendance is projected at approximately 400.
Brochures were created and are being distributed at public gatherings to promote the grant and the Web site and to let the public know the purpose of the grant and the type of information the project is providing. Letter openers distributed to the public are popular with building professionals, who indicated that they shared them with their clients (the future homeowners). The homeowners know they can check the Web site when it is operating to see that their builder is locating their home in an area with appropriate water sources. This was a very positive and unexpected result of the Web site portion of the grant’s educational portion.
The E-Map team made presentations on the E-Map Grant at the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) Regional Users Group Meeting in Fort Collins, Colorado in May 2000, the Wyoming Environmental Health Association’s Annual Education Conference in September 2000 and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality Small Wastewater Conference in April 2000. The Division of Environmental Health also will continue to present the Web site to the civic groups and other governmental entities.
Information Technology and Network Systems
The Laramie County Information Technology (IT) Department was a major contributor to this grant. The GIS Coordinator oversaw the development of the electronic databases for the project to ensure that all data would be in compliance with the Cheyenne/Laramie County GIS Cooperative Agreement. IT coordinated the development of the mapping project and trained employees to use the ArcView mapping product so that the information could be updated on an as-needed basis. During the busy home building and home buying seasons, this information changes almost daily, and the knowledge to maintain and update the data feeding the Web site would not be possible without the training provided by IT.
IT had and will continue to have the opportunity to oversee much of the technical infrastructure development throughout the grant process. The infrastructure development includes setup of a computer facility for public research, installation of a wireless connection between the Laramie County Governmental Complex and the Cheyenne/Laramie County Health Department, and installation of notebook computers with a portable printer, GPS equipment, and a map server.
The Project Team and Principal Investigator determined that a fiber optic system connecting the City of Cheyenne Government, Laramie County Government, and the Board of Public Utilities would be of great value for information transmission to the public. The Health Department, with the guidance of IT, purchased a 5.4 GHz, 20mb wireless solution through this grant. The wireless connection was chosen because of the enormous expense of running fiber optics more than 1.5 miles between the sites and the over-crowded conduit in many places along the route. The fiber optic and wireless connections allow for a seamless network connection with all three entities. This network system ensures that all GIS data are the most current and up-to-date available and that the E-Map Web Site is giving time-relevant information for public use.
The interconnectivity also will provide easier access to and sharing of data that are available on the Web site. For instance, the 201 Boundary Data came from the City Engineer’s Office, the water and sewer main data came from the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities, and the water quality and septic data came from the Health Department. All information will be transferred among agencies from the workstation of one person doing the update.
The network solution required the cooperation of four governmental entities: Laramie County, the City/County Health Department, the City of Cheyenne, and the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities. Often, it is difficult to find that kind of cooperation among government agencies at any level. These connections will be made with a combination of single and multi-mode fiber and a gigabit Ethernet switch.
Additional materials to provide information include five laptop computers, a portable printer, and three GPS units. The network configuration and installation of this equipment was a smooth process. The configuration and installation of the E-Map Web server also facilitate collection and dissemination of large amounts of data relevant to the public.
Public Access Via the E-Map Web Site
Web site design work began in the fall of 2000 with a simple site that was based on a free ESRI product(Demographics module; http://www.esri.com). After incorporating all of the data and putting the site on the Intranet for internal review, comments indicated that it was hard to understand and use, was not professional-looking, and was not user friendly. It was determined that we would completely recreate the Web site.
During that process, and with professional consultation, we decided to use ArcIMS. ESRI’s ArcIMS is an Informational Management System designed to create an interface between ArcView GIS maps and an interactive Web map used by the public.
By July of 2001, the E-Map Web Site should be up and running and sent out again for internal review. We anticipate receiving only minor comments and constructive criticism.
The site should be online officially in late September 2001. The site should allow future layers of information to be added to the maps easily. Some of the proposed additions will include the 201 Boundary, Radon in Air, Soil Survey Data from the USGS, and many others. Additionally, the team hopes to use some existing budget overage toward further educational efforts and educational materials. Further equipment purchases for converting data to digital form from the paper copies submitted by contractors also is under consideration by the team.
After completion of the interactive maps, the final step is to put together an entry and informational Web site. This E-Map Web Site will be accessed through http://www.laramiecounty.com/health/E-Map_Web/E-MapWeb.htm. The site gives the public links to environmental and demographic information about Laramie County, as well as links to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Empact project, ESRI, and other useful information. The site also features a quick 10-question survey to give input on the overall site. Hopefully, public comment ensure a better and more informational site.
To date, the preliminary Web site has been a success. IT plans to track the number of hits to the site by using WebTrends software. This software package allows tracking of the number of times the Web site is accessed by the public.
Kiosks are being made available for anyone who does not have access to the Internet at both the Laramie County Governmental Complex and the City/County Health Department. These sites also will provide faster access to the maps for those with slower telephone modems.
Awards
The Wyoming Association of Municipalities presented the City/County Development Office with an Innovation Award for E-Map at its annual conference in June 2000. Innovation Awards are presented for the “best practices” of Wyoming municipalities, according to the Wyoming Association of Municipalities.
Future Activities:
We will further refine the Web site and educational efforts. The project team’s assessment is that there still is not sufficient public awareness of and contact with the information available regarding the E-Map project. Small amounts of funding that were not used in several areas of the grant may be available to continue the work if approved by EPA. Additionally, the team hopes to provide a broader range of environmental data, ranging from use of water in commercial establishments to safe recreation areas.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 7 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
water, wells, septics, water quality, groundwater, bacteriological tests, nitrates, sulfates, TDS, E-Map, EMPACT, Cheyenne, Laramie County, Wyoming, EPA Region 8,, RFA, Health, Toxics, Geographic Area, Water, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, National Recommended Water Quality, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Ecosystem Protection, exploratory research environmental biology, Chemical Mixtures - Environmental Exposure & Risk, State, Monitoring/Modeling, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Susceptibility/Sensitive Population/Genetic Susceptibility, Ecological Effects - Human Health, Children's Health, genetic susceptability, Drinking Water, EPA Region, Ecological Indicators, EMPACT, environmental monitoring, EMAP, total dissolved solids, monitoring, ecological exposure, environmental health, sensitive populations, WY, exposure and effects, health risks, infants, public information, bacteria monitoring, emergency health situations, lead, exposure, other - risk assessment, water supply, children, pre-existing conditions, community water quality information system, dose related toxins, web site development, fecal coliform, wastewater permits, Region 8, treatment, community outreach, community tracking, water quality, Wyoming, elderly, public health alerts, urban environment, sensitive population, pregnancy, outreach and education, real-time monitoring, well and septic systemRelevant Websites:
http://www.laramiecounty.com/health/E-Map_Web/E-MapWeb.htm
http://www-wwrc.uwyo.edu/
http://www.usgs.gov
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.