Sevier River Basin Generates International Interest

TOP Update
Winter 2001
Volume 4, Number 1

Roger Hansen and Arlen Hilton of the TOP-funded Sevier River Basin-Water Resource Management Network recently visited the People's Republic of China at the invitation of water professionals there. While in Beijing, they presented a seminar at the China Institute for Water Resource and Hydro-power Research (IWHR) concerning their research in the United States, including the Sevier River Basin in Utah, where better and more timely information is leading to better water management.

During the presentation, the web site (www.sevierriver.org) being created for the TOP-funded generated a lot of interest. From Beijing, Hansen and Hilton were able to get online and browse the site, demonstrating how the Internet can be used to improve the operation of a water project or watershed. For example, instead of having to drive to a monitoring or control site, the water users are now able to use the Internet to see what is happening using the web browser on their computer. The Sevier River Basin web site is the joint product of the Sevier River Water Users Association and StoneFly Technology, a Utah-based consulting firm. The web site is designed to collect and dispense real-time river flows, reservoir levels, canal flows, irrigation orders, and weather information.