1. Modernizing operations at the Water Survey of Canada : From field technologies to data production
André Bouchard, David Hutchinson, Brian Pessah, Jeff Woodward, Paul Campbell
A/manager, Hydrologie et Écohydraulique
Service Météorologique du Canada
CWRA conference, Hamilton (ON), June 2014

2. Summary The business of the Water Survey of Canada (WSC)
Where we were and where we are
Field technologies
Office technologies (data production and delivery)
Looking to the future
In the field
In the office

3. About the Water Survey of Canada
Started in 1908, with a federal government allocation of $10,000
“The first appropriation made by Parliament for hydrographic work was in 1908… …. as this vote was not available until the season was too far advanced, only a part of it was used in purchasing equipment in 1909”
“In Organizing the Hydrographic Surveys, it was realized with the funds available, it would be impossible to make complete investigations of the whole water supply”
First published data :“Report of Progress
of Streamflow for Calendar Year, 1909”
by P.M. Sauder, Chief Hydrographer
Spent two years in Montana with USGS

4. About the WSC
Currently, WSC is the major operator in a national network of some 2650 stations, operated through cost-sharing agreements between the federal government and the 10 provinces and 3 territories
WSC has 28 offices nationally, ranging from 1 person offices to some with 25+
A total of 220 staff, including technologists, engineers, scientists, and management

5. Offices across the country

6. Where we were : field technologies
For almost all of the past 100 years, our primary velocity measurement instrument has been mechanical current meters – the Price AA and the Pygmy meter – and all of our performance standards, procedures, methodologies have been based on that technology and its known limitations, and safety hazards.
Related processes and tools were essentially manual & paper based.
At the station level, technologies such as paper-based recorders were common, we made regular use of “observers”, data transmission was not automated and operation of the network was centered around an annual publication process.

7. History of HydroAcoustics at WSC
In the 1980’s : AFFRA systems
In late 1980’s/early 1990’s, WSC joined the USGS in investigating the use of acoustic Doppler technology in riverine environments
Early results showed great potential
Portable, could be used in many streams, drastically reduced the time to obtain a measurement, could reduce operational costs related to obtaining a measurement and could mitigate health and safety issues
But they were large physically, and expensive
WSC bought its first Broadband ADCPs in 1994, for ~ $80K each
Early uses included:
Special surveys of the St. Lawrence River to calibrate hydrodynamic models, and to characterize the tidal cycle at Quebec City through measurements done every ½ hour, which could not be done with traditional technology
Flow patterns and bathymetric surveys in northern rivers
Flow patterns past a beach in a river bay to determine the daily health of the beach

8. Moved from point mmts to…
Price AA - 20 panels and 1 or 2 velocity measurements by panel
With ADCPs, given the right conditions…

9. Evolution of hydroacoustic use
Non-Moving Parts Society

10. Where Are We Today? WSC has accepted for operational use:
ADCP’s TRDI (Rio Grande, RiverRay, StreamPro) SonTek (M9, S5 with interim procedures)
Sontek Flowtrackers
OceanScience tethered and remote control boats
Hornet remote control bank operated cableways
Various GPS systems for positioning
Various ship-to-shore telecommunication systems
Moving boat and section-by-section software

11. Future considerations (1)
Enhancement of instrument functionality and application
Shallower streams, wading, moving boat vs in-situ (ADVM), reduction in size
Modernization of software
Section-by-section, QA/QC of results
Ensure proper data management
Transmission of data from instrument to computer
Determination of position of instrument, especially related to water’s edge
GPS, range finders
Tethered boats, remote control boats, remote control cableways, pitch & roll impacts
Providing manufacturer’s feedback and improving procedures for auto-adapting ADCPs (RiverRay, M9)
Development & documentation of new standards, techniques, operating procedures, training
Training - Instrument operation, theory of acoustic doppler, accreditation
Assess & define operational limitations (velocity, turbulence, suspended sediment)

12. Future considerations (2)
Moving bed conditions
Deployment platforms
Data integrity between traditional and hydroacoustic technologies
Impact of new technologies on product quality
Improving application under ice
Dealing with sediment transport
Integrating uncertainty into our vocabulary
Use of flotillas
Analysis of existing measurements
Great interest internationally (WMO-Chy)
Optimization of configuration as a function of stream settings
Looking technological improvements but concern over the instruments becoming a “black box”
Re-appropriating the calculation of Q

13. Technologies at the station
From chart recorders and manual obs to pressure transducers and shaft encoders with digital loggers and RT transmission.
Field computers to gather field data and to download logger data.
Real-time data transmission (landline, GOES, radio).
Use of smartphones to transmit information from the field to the office and to clients.
Extending the parameter suite to include water temps.
Assessing requirements (universities involved)
Cameras to assess conditions at sites (ice).

14. Office technologies
Initially : Manual processing of data from charts and observations and publication in an annual paper report
Then manual digitizing of data from charts and processing by way of a mainframe software
Still an annual publication in both paper and then digital forms
Then on to full digital processing
New Leaf to acquire data
Compumod for data production
Hydat and Hydex for data dissemination
The advent of real-time
Moving to automated continuous data publication
Hydrometric Workstation software (Aquarius)

15. Our previous system (1995 – 2011)
Was a strong innovation back in the mid-1990s
By the late 2000s however
Architecture – 32 unconnected servers.
Aging technology
Database
Interface
Conflicts with other software updates on Windows
Basically adapted to an annual data production process

16. Started with a concept
Concept paper led the way for a full blown design session
Followed by an assessment of the environment (build or buy)
Decision to buy with the possibility to customize
RFP in late 2000’s
National Implementation now complete

17. User perspective : 2 Interfaces
Whiteboard – Technical Interface – analysis and small scale dev work
Springboard – web based day to day work

18. Modern System Architecture
From 32 unconnected servers in each office to…

19. Other Developments Water Office
HFC – modern software for field computers
Upcoming data mart to modernize the data dissemination end of things (use of web services)
Moving to standard data exchange formats such as WaterML 2.0
North America Water Watch
Impact of space based technologies (SWOT)
Importance of site characterization as related to the application of available technologies
Radar to estimate surface velocities
Automated QA/QC routines for real-time data
Management of site visit information with pictures and video

20. The Future
We’re now able to consider the eventual implementation of some of the original concepts such as
Multiple estimators of discharge.
Better connections between monitoring and modelling (feedback loop between the two).
Better tools to undertand what is actually going on at the sites in terms of physics.
Dealing with backwater, ice, etc.
Extending the network by adding virtual sites ?
To try and tackle this, we’re working to set up a dev team
Define a process to move from dev to ops (+ dev environment)
How to manage time series from external modelling systems
How to manage the models themselves
Develop standards and procedures to ensure data quality

21. An example
Sainte-Anne Channel
Vaudreuil Channel

22. The solution
Scripting toolbox
Whiteboard

23. How far can we take it ?

24. Questions ?