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Progress in data collection and dissemination in water resources – 1974-2014

Jerad D. Bales
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Abstract

In the 50 years since the founding of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA), there has been tremendous and likely unforeseen progress in water-re- sources data collection and dissemination. Langford and Doyel (1974) (henceforth L&D) described progress during the decade following the founding of AWRA, and focused their description around seven topics. L&D described the changes as being “more philosophical than technical,” and noted the importance to the water-resources com- munity of the more than 30 Federal Acts or Amendments enacted in the decade. The purpose of this article is to provide an update to L&D by reviewing L&D’s predictions of anticipated changes in water resources data collection and dissemi-nation, providing an overview of some of the drivers of change in the water-resources community in the last 40 years, identifying some key advances in water-resources data collection and dissemination since 1974, and out-lining some important near-term challenges. The overview is necessarily incomplete, but represents one perspective based on years of collaboration throughout the water-resources community.

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Jerad D. Bales. 2014. Progress in data collection and dissemination in water resources – 1974-2014. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70186145

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