How are stations selected for real-time data services?
Existing real-time stream-gaging stations have been established to meet the mission requirements of the U.S. Geological Survey and its cooperating agencies, including water resources management, flood warning, and water resources investigations. Most existing stations were established at the specific request of cooperating agencies with funding support from those agencies, but USGS also has a long-term strategic goal of having real-time access to nearly all of its 7000 stream-gaging stations across the United States. The schedule for adding real-time access to the remainder of the 110 stations in Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia is a function of funding for satellite or telephone connections, and will probably take many years to complete. In a few cases, the cost may be relatively inexpensive where phone lines are readily available, but in other cases it may cost $5,000-10,000 to add an individual station.
