Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Environmental Data Management Support

Client: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Location: Great Lakes Region

To help speed up the development, implementation, and monitoring of sediment cleanup and restoration projects under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has received funding to expand its existing Great Lakes Query Manager (QM) database. The database will serve as a centralized repository for all Great Lakes Basin environmental-contaminant-related data, both historical and recent.

We have assisted NOAA by collaborating closely with other NOAA contractors and federal and state agencies in the Great Lakes region, as well as by successfully assembling standardized environmental contaminant datasets, previously in a hodgepodge of formats such as Earthsoft’s Environmental Quality Information System, MS Access databases, MS Excel tables, and PDF study reports, for dozens of historical-site-specific studies. In the process, we not only standardized the existing field and analytical sample data, but also performed data consistency and GIS-based spatial analysis checks to identify and correct erroneous data.

The accessibility of these data in a single repository (NOAA’s QM) is expected not only to expedite cleanup and restoration activities, but also to enhance public outreach by the Great Lakes states and federal partners.