Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
9.5.1 Watershed Concerns
When asked about watershed concerns, the participants were asked to rank combined
sewer overflows, municipal separate storm sewer systems, urban runoff, rural runoff,
nutrient loading, drinking water protection, and sediment transport and deposition
in order of concern. Combined sewer overflows ranked first in order of concern
with selection by 31 % of respondents as the highest concern. Urban runoff, rural
runoff, nutrient loading and drinking water protection fell in the middle of selections.
Municipal separate storm sewer systems and sediment transport and deposition were
the least concerning. A second question asked the participants to rank funding for
implementing watershed plans and/or projects, water quality monitoring, land use
planning, sustained long-term funding for operating groups, dumps/landfills/uncon-
trolled sites/brownfields, and land acquisition/habitat preservation and restoration
in order of concern. Funding for watershed planning and projects was the top concern
with 39 % of respondents choosing this as their highest concern. Water quality moni-
toring, land use planning, sustained long-term funding for operating watershed groups,
and land acquisition/habitat preservation and restoration were the next highest.
The issue of least concern was dumps/landfills/uncontrolled sites/brownfields.
9.5.2 Current Use of GIS
The next set of questions asked participants about GIS at their present place of
employment. Forty-six responded to these questions. First, they were asked about
the status of GIS use. A majority of respondents stated that their GIS was either
growing or mature (Fig.
9.3
). Growing was described as making some use of GIS,
but needs are growing so quickly that the infrastructure and database management
practices are not able to keep up. Mature was described as having GIS as an integral
part of the organization and that they have an efficient system for managing the data
and users. The next question asked how long the organization has been using GIS.
The responses included using GIS less than 1 year (6.5 %), for 3-5 years (26.1 %),
6-10 years (19.6 %), more than 10 years (21.7 %), and N/A (15.2 %). The
respondents also indicated that they use GIS software for work frequently or
daily with 43.5 % responding in this manner. When asked about using GIS data,
the respondents indicated that creating maps or figures (60.9 %) was most common.
Previewing data only (56.5 %) and overlaying data to look for relationships
(54.3 %) were also common. The survey also indicated that ESRI ArcGIS 8.x or
9.x was the most common software used (54.3 %), while 37 % still using ESRI
ArcView 3.x.
Two open ended questions were asked in this section. The first asked how GIS
use has benefited the organization. Thirty-four responded to this question. Some of
the benefits included displaying and analyzing information, improving planning
capabilities, public outreach, research and education projects, identifying potential
trends, and being able to see the “big” picture and identify “holes.” The other
