This fall, DEMA employees were trained in new and existing tools by staff from the Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) and the Center for Environmental Monitoring and Analysis (CEMA), both part of UD’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment.
The DGS will research past performance of the Water Conditions Index (WCI) for Northern New Castle County, as compared with other established drought indicators, and investigate modifying the WCI, if needed. We will also investigate the feasibility of quantifying water conditions in Kent and Sussex Counties by analyzing factors that are most important to these regions (i.e., precipitation, groundwater for agricultural irrigation, etc….)
Infrastructure that will support the NEWRNet water quality monitoring station was installed at the main outflow of Coursey Pond on the fish ladder on April 23, 2014.
The North East Water Resources (NEWRnet) consortium of EPSCoR jurisdictions of Delaware (DE), Rhode Island (RI), and Vermont (VT) will create an advanced sensor network in watersheds for gathering high-frequency, spatially-extensive water quality and quantity data and a network of lab and field-based experiments and agent-based models to investigate how to align sensor data and their visualization with utilization by stakeholders. DGS is participating in the watershed sensing network by installing and operating a nitrogen and organic carbon sensor and stream discharge monitoring station in the Murderkill River watershed, and collaborating with the project team to interpret results.
An automated, on-site laboratory collects and analyzes water samples for a collaborative project between the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, DGS, DNREC, and USGS.
4:37 p.m., Oct. 31, 2012--The Office of the State Climatologist and the Delaware Geological Survey (DGS), both based at the University of Delaware, provided the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) and the National Weather Service with weather, coastal flooding and stream flooding information for Delaware during Hurricane Sandy.
The Water Conditions Summary is an online monthly summary of water conditions in Delaware. Principal factors in determining water conditions are precipitation, streamflow, and groundwater levels in aquifers. Data from rain gages, stream gages, and observation wells located throughout Delaware have been collected and compiled since the 1960s by the Delaware Geological Survey. These data are displayed as hydrographs and are also available for download. In general, water is abundant in Delaware, but supply is restricted by natural geologic conditions in some areas, by contamination in others, and is dependent on precipitation.