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Track: Water Resources
Stewart Dary
St. Johns River Water Management District
PO Box 1429
Palatka, FL 32178
Telephone: 904-329-4438
Fax: 904-329-4125
E-mail: stewart_dary@district.sjrwmd.state.fl.us.@smtp
Robert Klein
Local Government Atlas: A GIS-based Tool for Protecting Water Resources
Defining Issue: Florida's St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) is responsible for protecting water-related resources in an area that covers over a fifth of the State. To accomplish this task the agency must integrate a wide range of data and work in partnership with a variety of agencies. Key data used by the agency include floodplains, wetlands, contaminated wells, conservation areas, groundwater recharge areas, and surface water quality. Local governments are particularly important partners since they control land use patterns and activities on the land. In essence, local governments represent the first line of defense for protecting sensitive environmental areas. SJRWMD, like other regional agencies, shares data on critical water resources and issues with local governments in order to coordinate on environmental projects and to maximize scarce resources. However, many local governments, particularly elected officials, do not have easy and rapid access to GIS-based information for
decision making purposes. GIS Solution: SJRWMD created a hard-copy atlas for 17 of the 19 counties in its jurisdiction. The remaining two counties represent a small portion of SJRWMD. Each county atlas contains a variety of maps and text highlighting SJRWMD's four areas of responsibility: water supply, flood protection, water quality, and natural systems. Each map is supported by text that explains the map and discusses how it was produced. Some maps also have text that identify key issues within the county, current initiatives being undertaken by various agencies, and strategies developed jointly by SJRWMD and local governments. All maps contained in the atlases are available as EPS and GRA files in SJRWMD's Internet Web page and through an AML-based user-friendly interface running on a Sun workstation at the agency's on-site outreach center. Methodology: the maps were assembled by employing Esri's ArcInfo software running on Sun workstations. They were plotted using Hewlett-Packard DesignJet 650
and 755 plotters and subsequently color photocopies. The project occupies approximately three gigabytes of disk storage.
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