Surface Water Monitoring Initiatives

The Surface Water Program supports surface water monitoring initiatives in the State.

Overview

The Surface Water Program routinely collaborates with State and Federal agencies as well as with other stakeholders to support the monitoring of the State’s surface water resources. Surface water data are critical for sound water management and are frequently used for environmental and drought assessments, surface water modeling and planning efforts, flood forecasting, flood frequency studies, and recreational activities. SCDNR funds 42 gages, 26 of which are new monitoring stations currently being installed by the USGS. All 26 new gages are expected to be operational by July 2020.

In 2016, SCDNR held two workshops with stakeholders across the State to address surface water monitoring in the State. The workshops produced 105 recommendations for surface water monitoring and to date, 40 of those recommendations have been fulfilled by SCDNR and other State and Federal agencies. To learn more about these workshops and review the monitoring recommendations, click on the Streamflow Monitoring Workshops link below.

In 2018, SCDNR was awarded a Flood Mitigation Assistance Program Grant by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support the installation of 12 new streamflow monitoring gages across the State. These new monitoring sites, most of which were included in the 105 recommendations from the Streamflow Monitoring Workshops, will be used to support flood forecasting efforts by the National Weather Service or to alert local communities of potential flooding from nearby streams.

SCDNR also received additional State appropriated funding in 2019 to support 14 additional monitoring sites across the State. Streamflow data collected from these sites will be used to support future surface water modeling and water planning initiatives, to support future environmental and drought assessments, and to improve flood forecasting capabilities in the State.

To view a map of SCDNR-funded gages in the State click on the SCDNR-Funded Gages link below.