A NATIONAL SYSTEM FOR EXCHANGE OF WATER DATA

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a system proposed by a Federal Interagency Work Group for providing access to large quantities of hydrological data. The National Water Data Exchange (NAWDEX) will be a confederation of data-acquisition organizations that are willing to make their data available to other data users. NAWDEX will take full advantage of on-going data handling activities and will provide the means to present data in a standard format. An ultimate goal of the system will be standardization and quality control of all of the data. Management of NAWDEX will be lodged in a Systems Central, which will assure that data are made available according to the time frame and the format required by the user. Access to the data will be through an index maintained by Systems Central. Full implementation of NAWDEX will require 4 to 5 years. A technical advisory group, consisting of members representing the Federal and non-Federal sectors, and topical work groups, established in response to specific needs, will provide input during the development of NAWDEX.