Virtually all of these requests required individual attention, with USGS staff retrieving data from our databases and tailoring a product to user needs. The data delivery systems for USGS hydrologic data are being reengineered so that in many cases customer needs can be filled without any direct intervention by USGS staff. This is accomplished by using the WWW as the retrieval mechanism. Use of the WWW to provide hydrologic data is beneficial for two reasons. The timeliness of data delivery is greatly enhanced.
Response is now virtually instantaneous.
It also results in great cost savings for the USGS, because USGS staff time is not consumed with filling and tailoring individual requests. At the present time, data sets accessible on the WWW include almost all USGS historical streamflow daily values, water use data, and continuous records of the past 7 days for many streamflow stations. The capability does not yet exist for such automatic delivery of water quality data or data on wells and springs, but initial capabilities for WWW delivery of water quality data and data on wells have been planned and developed, and are under review and testing. By making real time data available and understandable you have awakened interest and concern at the very grass roots level where progress is being made in leaps and bounds toward the goals of swimmable and fishable waters. . . . In my work, whether as a real estate broker in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, as a Conservation Commissioner for my town of Stockbridge, or as a local watershed project coordinator for the Housatonic Valley Association, USGS map products and on-line web sites provide exceptional value for my tax dollar because they empower all of us to do far better work than we could do on our own.