NWDTW 2024

Data Chiefs and Field Office Chiefs have an opportunity to meet on Monday (July 15) to discuss any and all issues facing our Hydrologic Networks staff. During the all-day meeting, we'll hear from the WMA, staff of the HNB, and other colleagues who lead efforts in FPS, training, CRP/AAA, and QA/QC. As important, an open forum will be provided to discuss the varied challenges (budgets; hiring; employee performance, advancement, and engagement) we all face in our Centers.

The Discrete Samples Extensibility Tools (DSET) were developed to help USGS AQUARIUS Samples users with various data needs beyond the AQS user interface. The DSET suite of R-packages and Shiny web applications, such the Batch Data Loader (BDL), Water Quality Review (WQR), and the packages that support them, were designed to incorporate future development from the user community. In the past, WSCs have developed local tools that complimented their review process in WQ-Review; however, these scripts, modules, and tools were not widely distributed to the greater user community. With the release of AQS and DSET, we encourage those developers who have great ideas for enhancing DSET to build upon the tools and incorporate those enhancements through a process that results in wider release to the user community. This course will cover the basic structure of the DSET code repositories and a workflow for developing and submitting enhancements.

DISCUSSION GROUP--This guided session aims to provide a venue for dialogue amongst data chiefs, field office chiefs, and/or field office leadership on different strategies for recruiting and selecting the best possible candidates. We all understand the challenges with staffing, both hiring and retaining, but there are lessons that can be learned from each other. Specific topics may include effective recruiting, navigating the challenges in the hiring process, and keys to retaining your current staff. Outcomes of the discussion should be a better national level understanding of how to navigate the challenges with staffing and possibly a unified message that could be shared to encourage needed improvements.

DISCUSSION GROUP--This guided session aims to provide a venue for dialogue amongst data chiefs, field office chiefs, and/or field office leadership on different strategies for the routine operation and maintenance of streamgaging networks. Specific topics may include frequency of site visits, solo vs paired trips, tools being used to help determine when a site visit is needed, and approaches to "extra maintenance" such as station levels. Outcomes of the discussion should be a better national-level understanding of how to optimize operations with a goal of producing high quality data in the most cost effective manner.

Water Science Centers in the NAAR have embraced an approach that extends their operations beyond their respective centers to share expertise and resources across the region. This is being done through a number of regional working groups that include training and tool development, as well as annual regional AD/FOC face-to-face meetings. This session aims to be a discussion about the successes and limitations of this regional-level approach.

DISCUSSION GROUP--This guided session aims to provide a venue for dialogue amongst data chiefs, field office chiefs, and/or field office leadership on different strategies for analyzing, approving, and auditing continuous data. Specific topics may include distribution of assignments, tools being used to track progress and/or latency, and challenges associated with the process. Outcomes of the discussion should be a better national level understanding of how to optimize operations with a goal of producing high quality data in the most timely and cost-effective manner.