A Near-optimum Procedure for Selecting Stations in a Streamgaging Network

Since 1889, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has operated a streamgaging network to collect information about the Nation’s water resources. It is a multipurpose network funded by the USGS and many other Federal, State, and local agencies. Individual streamgaging stations are supported for specific purposes such as water allocation, reservoir operations, or regulating permit requirements, but the data are used for many other purposes. Thomas and Wahl (1993) surveyed cooperators and data users to identify uses of data in 9 categories. They found that uses of data from a typical streamgaging station fall into an average of 2.6 different data-use categories. The USGS recently examined the network to see how it is meeting Federal goals (U.S. Geological Survey, 1998). The evaluation defined key Federal goals for the network and established a set of quantitative metrics that measure the extent to which those goals are being achieved.