Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship	Summer 1997

Science and Technology Sources
on the Internet

Internet Resources for Water

Robert J. Teeter
District Library
Santa Clara Valley Water District

Like water itself, the science of water flows in all directions -- hydrology, hydraulics, geology, meteorology, oceanography, environmental science, engineering, and law. Water scientists and engineers need information on specific locations and general principles. The following Internet resources are some of the most useful on water and related subjects.

WEB SITES

Meta Web Pages

Hydrology Web
http://terrassa.pnl.gov:2080/EESC/resourcelist/hydrology.html
This site is a good first step for anyone searching for water information on the web. Users can find water web pages, research, software, data, conference announcements, and discussion groups. There are links to government, university, commercial, and scientific and professional society web pages.

Universities Water Information Network (UWIN)
http://www2.uwin.siu.edu/databases/wrsic/index.html
UWIN's page is a good place to find water news and specialized information. Under "Announcements," there are press releases, RFPs, calls for papers, events, and a catlog of books and software. "Directories" covers experts, consulting firms, and organizations. There are also employment listings and links pages at this site. [Note: Broken link removed 12/31/00 by ald]

Federal Government Agencies

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water
http://www.epa.gov/ow/
The EPA presents its regulations and news of its activities, but that's not all one can find at this site. The "Surf Your Watershed" link allows citizens and government officials to find geographical, environmental, and political information on specific watersheds and seamlessly brings together information from federal and local government agencies and private organizations. A "Citizen's Guide" encourages people to help preserve water quality.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Wetlands, Oceans & Watersheds
http://www.epa.gov/owow/
This office has as its duty to protect the nation's wetlands, oceans, coasts, estuaries, and watersheds. Its web site summarizes the EPA's activities and regulations in these areas.

U.S. Geological Survey: Water Resources of the United States
http://water.usgs.gov/
At this site, the USGS puts up data on water in the U.S. Streamflow data is available down to individual gaging stations, some even in real time! More aggregate data is provided on water quality and acid rain. Links are provided to state offices of the USGS, where more specific data can be found. [Note: Link moved; URL changed 7/19/00 by ald]

Professional Societies

American Water Works Association (AWWA)
http://www.awwa.org/
AWWA is "the professional society of North American water providers." Its web page has water news, conference announcements, technical information, legislative updates, online conferences, and a book catalog. There are also links to web pages put up by water utilities and other water organizations. [Note: Link moved; URL changed 4/23/98, 7/19/00 by ald]

Water Environment Federation (WEF)
http://www.wef.org/
This association for water quality specialists has weekly news articles, technical resources and discussion groups, government updates, conference announcements, supplier and product locator, and publications catalog.

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
http://www.asce.org/
Water professionals are also represented by the ASCE, whose web page includes conference news, public and government relations announcements, publications catalog, and information on association activities.

Commercial Sites

U.S. Water News
http://www.uswaternews.com/
The online version of an important source of water industry news. The site has current news and archives, conference announcements, buyer's guides, book catalog, and related links.

Library Resources

Water Quality Information Center (WQIC)
http://www.nal.usda.gov/wqic/ WQIC, a section of the National Agricultural Library, provides information on important water issues, particularly those related to agriculture, on its web page. In addition, it has links to databases and other Internet sites.

Water Resources Center Archives
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/WRCA/
Part of the California Water Resources Center, WRCA is the library for everything about water in the state. Its web page not only describes the archives' collections and services, but also provides numerous links to related sites. Similar institutions in other states can be found on a web page maintained by the National Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR): http://wrri.nmsu.edu/niwr/wrri.html.

Civil Engineering Database
http://www.pubs.asce.org/chrhome2.html
A searchable database of 80,000 journal articles and conference papers published by ASCE from 1975 to 1997. This is a valuable resource that the association has made available free of charge.

Water Resources Scientific Information Center
http://www2.uwin.siu.edu/databases/wrsic/index.html [Note: Broken link removed 4/12/01 by ald]
UWIN's site includes this subset of the USGS's Selected Water Resources Abstracts (1967- 1993). Users may do keyword searches on a range of years to find journal articles about water and related subjects. More recent abstracts can be downloaded from USGS's server; for information, see http://h2o.usgs.gov/public/nawdex/swra.html. [Note: Broken link removed 7/19/00 by ald]

Water Librarians' Home Page
http://www.wco.com/~rteeter/waterlib.html
This web page is for librarians in water agencies and related institutions. It has links to water sites and related sites for earth sciences, engineering, environmental science, and law and government. There are also links of special interest to librarians.

DISCUSSION GROUPS, LISTSERVS, USENET GROUPS

There are dozens of electronic mailing lists of interest to water engineers and scientists. Lists of mailing lists on water, with instructions for subscribing to them, can be found on the following three web pages.

Water-Geology-Environmental Mailing Lists
http://www.groundwater.com/lists.html
This list from GBA Technologies, a groundwater software firm, is not limited to groundwater mailing lists but is a quite comprehensive collection of mailing lists on water and related aspects of geology, engineering, and environmental science. [Note: Broken link removed 7/19/00 by ald]

Water Resources Mailing Lists
http://techware.vub.ac.be/ [Note: Link moved; URL changed 4/12/01 by ald]
This European water environment web site offers a more focused list of specifically water- related mailing lists.

Water Resources Discussion Lists
http://www.nal.usda.gov/wqic/lists.html
Joseph R. Makuch, of the Water Quality Information Center, National Agricultural Library, lists 64 mailing lists on water and the environment.

Civil Engineering Newsgroup
sci.engr.civil
Discussion of civil engineering in all its aspects, including hydraulic engineering.

Hydrology Newsgroup
sci.geo.hydrology
Discussion of surface and groundwater hydrology, water quality, water resources management. Software for water analysis and management is frequently part of the discussion.

Rivers and Lakes Newsgroup
sci.geo.rivers+lakes
Discussion of rivers and lakes.

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Science and Technology Sourceson the Internet