Data Management and Data Stewardship in Reclamation

Project ID: 3789
Principal Investigator: Douglas Clark
Research Topic: Water Resource Data Analysis
Priority Area Assignments: 2011 (Climate Adaptation), 2012 (Climate Adaptation), 2013 (Climate Adaptation)
Funded Fiscal Years: 2011 and 2012
Keywords: None

Research Question

This research is dedicated to working with the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) Leadership Team to determine and implement the institutional arrangements and planning documentation that will be required to effectively introduce and implement data management/stewardship best practices across Reclamation.

Need and Benefit

Reclamation invests substantial resources in the collection of data vital to the management of its water and hydropower projects. As demand for Western water continues to increase relative to supply, project management decisions must be based upon the best available data and information. The information Reclamation collects, or funds others to collect, is a valuable asset for local managing offices, Reclamation as a whole, other agencies, and the American public. Attention and resources must be applied to ensure that the value of Reclamation's data is carefully maintained. The Department of the Interior provides additional and substantial guidance and support in the area of information and data resource management. At present, many data gathering efforts take place in isolation without the benefit of protocols, quality standards, maintenance procedures, or archival processes. Mission-critical data in Reclamation are in sore need of rational collection, processing, maintenance, and disposition procedures. Data management/stewardship processes fulfill this need.

Contributing Partners

Contact the Principal Investigator for information about partners.

Research Products

Bureau of Reclamation Review

The following documents were reviewed by experts in fields relating to this project's study and findings. The results were determined to be achieved using valid means.

Survey of the Reclamation Research Community Concerning Data Stewardship Practices (final, PDF, 473KB)
By Douglas Clark, Dr. Curtis Brown, Mr. Art Coykendall and Jim Nagode
Report completed on November 14, 2013

A survey concerning data stewardship practices was conducted amongst Reclamation researchers. Research using spreadsheets, model runs, GIS layers, imagery, documents, drawings, and databases, primarily took place in the 0-10 gigabyte range. In the >10-100 GB range, photos and other imagery predominated. In the >100 GB range model runs, imagery, and drawings predominated. Metadata were not widely developed. The primary storage devices were the Reclamation network drive and
personal computers.

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Last Updated: 6/22/20