The automatic gages are powered by 12-volt batteries which are recharged using small solar panels attached to the top or sides of the gages. The information is also received by the National Weather Service and used in conjunction with other data to issue flash flood warnings and other weather advisories. The stored data is used to reconstruct a storm event to show the origin of flooding problems and provide data for use in floodplain studies, computer modeling of watersheds, and design of future flood control structures. The District actively recruits volunteers to report rainfall at their homes. Depending on the location, the District may supply and install a clear-view rain gage.
Volunteers then mail monthly rainfall information to the District office.
The information gathered is added to the District's rainfall records and is used to supplement other rain gage readings in the County. Currently, about 200 volunteers mail rainfall information to the District each month. In some cases rainfall data goes back to the early 1980's. There is a charge for the data based on the time taken to extract is from the computer database or from hard copy notebooks.