# Presentation: 498300

## GeoSTAC -GEOSpatial Tools and ACcess Project Rolloutand Demonstration

- Pat Havens, PhD
- Research Leader, Dow AgroSciences
- on behalf of the
- CLA Environmental Exposure Modeling Workgroup
- 16 August 2006

## Where can Geospatial information have a role in risk assessment?

**Notes:**
Under a tiered risk assessment paradigm, spatial analyses has a role in
Problem Formulation
Analysis
Risk Characterization
Risk Communication

## What are some barriers to the use of geospatial information?

- Geospatial data
- There are many potential sources for the data
- quality, documentation, currentness can vary widely
- Many data sources are used again and again
- requires locating, certifying, documenting every time
- Geospatial analysis tasks
- Many ways to do the same thing
- Significant effort often required for even routine analyses (esp. for non-expert users)
- Documentation every time
- Standard methods also reduce errors!
- Need for standardized data, methodology and tools so industry and regulators are working from a common basis

**Notes:**
GIS-based analyses are useful for higher-tier risk assessments

## A Way Forward – GeoSTAC

- Geospatial data
- Compile standard datasets in a ESRI standard format
- Rigorously document source and quality with complete FGDC metadata
- A single citable source
- Geospatial analysis tasks
- Understandable tools built with standard technology
- allows 2nd – tier, non-expert users to perform GIS tasks
- allows increased efficiency for expert users
- Freely distributable and source code available
- Ongoing updates and improvements

## Issues for adoption

- Accessibility
- Public access via geostac.org
- All data downloadable
- Compiled tools downloadable
- Tool code available
- freely to CLA members and Federal people
- others with CLA approval (process in place)
- Review & QC – soliciting your ideas
- Most of the data is Federal (data details below)
- All data has complete metadata
- Possible review by federal agencies?
- “approval” process?
- Support and ongoing maintenance
- CLA/EPA user support free through 2007
- others, by arrangement with SEI/TAMU

**Notes:**
from minutes of May 24 meeting:

Next steps
Arty repeated that an internal group at EPA will examine this proposal and get back to the CLA group. The CLA group will provide a data set list to EPA. Shelly will provide this list to the EPA agency-wide GIS group (~50, 15 as regulars). There is also a regional/headquarters GIS group broadly throughout EPA. The Agency GIS group is composed of EPA staff and associated internal contractors working for the agency are included. The regulated community is not a part of this, but OPP could make a presentation to this group. In fact, some presentations have been made, and these have also pointed out how OPP had done certain things differently because of the unique nature of their work. OPP was one of the first to have a geospatial info officer, and the discussion here today was in no way unique. Purpose of the agency wide program is to cut down on redundancy and move toward common use of data sets. Shelly can inquire of them how certain data sets may have been developed and how privacy and other issues have been dealt with. 

Pat, this is good info for the SOC. Implication is that EPA is rattled and we are putting ourselves in the position that we are pushing the issue ahead of them.

## Adoption

- Industry is already adopting
- Advantages in consistency, traceability (and resource savings)
- Quality improvement in submissions
- Can EPA/USDA benefit too?
- Rollout to EMWG in October
- Other mechanisms?

## System requirements

- Windows XP Professional with SP1
- ESRI ArcGIS 9.1+ with Service Pack 1+
- ESRI ArcGIS Spatial Analyst Extension (for raster layers)
- system to run these – faster & more memory the better!
- 70MB disk space (tools)
- 7.5 GB disk space (minimal data)
- 55 GB disk space (full data)
- For tool programming Visual Studio .NET 2003 (VB.NET)

## www.geostac.org – now live!

## Data structure

- Vector data in ESRI Personal Geodatabase (gdb) format
- Raster data in ESRI Grid format
- All spatial in same projection (Albers Conical Equal Area, NAD83)
- Tabular in gdb tables

## Admin and Infrastructure

**Admin and Infrastructure**

- Standard Federal layers, National Atlas (USGS)
- AgCensus – Crop Reporting Districts (USDA)

- Federal Lands and Wilderness Areas

## Natural Resource Boundaries

- EcoRegions – USFS Bailey’s ecoregions
- LRR – USDA NRCS Land Resource Regions
- MLRA – USDA NRCS Major Land Resources Regions

- USGS NAWQA – cycle 1(‘91-’01) and cycle 2 (‘01-’12) study units

- USGS gauge locations – from NWIS, September 2005

- NRI – 1997 NRCS National Resources Inventory
- statistical survey of land resources
- exact points not available, but contain county, MLRA and 8-digit HUC
- Boundaries formed by intersection of these three
- Extensive tabular database
- soils
- crop history
- wetlands
- wind erosion factors

## Hydrology

- HUCS – USGS river basis
- 8-digit Nationwide
- 12-14 digit – 29 states
- 303(d) list – EPA CWA 303(d) impaired waters for TMDLs
- linkable to EPA TMDL tracking system
- based on NHD reaches (lines/polys)
- points can be discharges, TMDLs, etc

## More hydrology

- National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) – USGS/EPA – medium resolution nationwide (as of 11-2005)
- In Arc-Hydro data model (connectivity, network tools)
- Note that NHD-Plus is the next generation

## more hydrology

- EPA – ERF1 v. 2 watersheds
- PWG analyses of proximity of water to agriculture, corn and cotton
- submitted previously
- NHD (4 types)
- NLCD ag land
- NASS cropping
- 4 buffer widths
-  % of land in ag (or crop) within certain distance

## Soils and Weather

- Soils – NRCS STATSGO
- tabular database linked in
- NOAA SAMSON points (from CEAM)
- Representative weather stations
- SAMSON polygon
- processed as overlay of MLRA and nearest SAMSON point
- similar lookup with STATSGO from MUID

**Notes:**
SAMSON = Solar and Meteorological Surface Observation Network 

## Raster data

- NLCD – National Land Cover Database – USGS/EPA
- 30-meter (from LandSat Thematic Mapper)
- 1992 version
- by state and nationally for each class
- NASS Cropland Data Layer (CDL) (2004)
- 30-meter; truthing with field observations
- 9 States, 50+ crops ID’ed

## More raster

- Monthly Precipitation estimates with PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model) – Oregon State Univ.
- USGS Hydrologic landscape regions (HLRUS)
- Penn State Univ. layer-weighted soils data (from STATSGO)
- raster version of a few of the vector layers

## additional Tabular – linked (or linkable) with spatial layers

- ’97 and ‘02 Census of Agriculture – NASS – all tables
- National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy (NCFAP) Pesticide Use in U.S. Crop Production – 1997 – state level

## Tool details

- Programmed in Visual Basic .NET
- Table join tool
- allows joins of tables to geospatial layers
- automates a routine task
- does some error checking (type mismatches)
- Feature and Attribute Extraction tool
- Complex query tool, with multiple input layers
- Data Aggregation and Summary tool
- Aggregate and summarize feature or raster datasets over a spatial dataset that represents a different set of features
- Examples below in relation to risk assessment applications

## Application of GeoSTAC Tools and Data to Risk Assessment

- Scenario: Wheat/Barley fungicide – CmpdX
- Aerial/ground applications; WA
- aquatic tox concern for endangered salmonids
- Problem Formulation
- Source/exposure characteristics
- Ecosystem at risk
- Analysis
- Risk Characterization & communication

##  Source and Exposure Characteristics

- Ag Census Data
- Feature and Extraction Tool
- Refine with company sales data
- Join Tool

## Wheat counties in WA

- Is this the actual use areas?

## We have some sales data

## Refined use area

## Ecosystems at risk

- Steelhead ESU

## Intersect sales w/ ESU – refined ecosystem at risk

- How much relative potential exposure?
- Summary and Aggregation Tool

##  further refine for potential HUCs at Risk

## New Layer Metadata

- Tools produce processing inputs for submission documentation
**Abstract:**
- Geographic Extent: State =  WASHINGTON
- Aggregation Type: Summarize Vector Attributes by Features in Same Layer
- Attribute Layer Info
- Attribute Layer: cmdx_sales_Intersect
- Attribute Fields: CMPX_SALES
- Aggregation Field: HUC
- Attribute Zone Field:
- Statistics Info
- AreaWeighted Mean,

## Analysis of Potential Exposure

- What is mode of transport?
- Spray drift; potential setback 60 m
- Ag Margin analysis by ERF1.2 watersheds
- Intersect @ > 12K lb

**Notes:**
intersect of area weighted sales > 12000 with ERF1.2 Ag margin

## Exposure analysis and risk communication

- Proportion of land classified as Ag land use within 60 m of small flowing streams (likely spawning areas)
- Risk mgt. decision on acceptable levels at local scales

## Next steps

- Improvements to tools usability and functionality in progress
- Additional data sets are being incorporated
- Ongoing data updates & tool maintenance
- data refresh annually
- tool updates as developed & validated (current version 1.0)
- Full data drive available
- We have capacity to incorporate EPA/USDA comments/requests
- How can we make this happen?

## Contributors

- geostac.org hosted by Texas A&M Spatial Sciences Laboratory
-  Website built by TAMU/SSL and Stone Environmental, Inc.
- Data compilation by Waterborne Environmental, Inc.
- Tool programming by SEI
- Pyrethroid Working Group contributed water proximity results (previously submitted)
- Funding through CLA Ecological Risk Assessment Committee and managed by Environmental Exposure Working Group subcommittee

## Thanks and Questions