New Mexico Environment Department
FY15 Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant Proposal
Project Narrative
New Mexico Environment Department Surface Water Quality Information Database (SQUID)
Enhancements Project
Please Note that this document which was submitted to EPA as a proposal to the FY15
Exchange Network Grant Solicitation (http://www.exchangenetwork.net/news/epa-releasesfinal-fy-2015-exchange-network-grant-solicitation-notice/ ) and awarded to the New Mexico
Environment Department via assistance award #83583501 will serve as the Project Charter
and Project Management Plan. This document includes project scope, deliverables, schedule,
key personnel and budget. Deliverable dates have been updated since the proposal was
submitted in November of 2014 to reflect progress on requirements that affect this work
from EPA.
I.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) recently completed the merger of our in-house
water quality database with our Assessment Database to create the Surface water QUality Information
Database (SQUID) in an Oracle platform under Exchange Grant #OS-83480201-1. Via SQUID, NMED is
able to submit Clean Water Act (CWA) 303(d)/305(b) Integrated List attainment conclusions to EPA’s
Assessment TMDL Tracking and ImplementatioN System (ATTAINS) via the EPA Office of Water
Integrated Reporting (OWIR) Exchange Network data flow. As part of EPA’s Water Quality Framework
effort, it has been announced that the OWIR schema will be retired. Therefore, NMED needs to redesign SQUID to be compliant with evolving EPA reporting requirements related to CWA 303(d), 305(b),
and now state input TMDL-related information.
EPA is re-designing the ATTAINs based on input from state partners as part of their Water Quality
Framework initiative. NMED Surface Water Quality Bureau (SWQB) and Office of Information
Technology (IT) personnel actively participated in two Water Quality Framework/ATTAINs re-design
workgroups. Specific to this project proposal, NMED participated in monthly workgroup discussion for
the Data Elements Workgroup 1, which focused on the data elements for 303(d), 305(b), and TMDL
reporting. The ATTAINs re-design will also compliment EPA’s “New 303(d) Vision” initiative; NMED
SWQB personnel were also active state participants in this effort.
In addition, NMED’s previous efforts as a state in the forefront with respect to electronic CWA
303d/305b Integrated List through NM’s version of EPA’s Assessment Database (ADB) and now ATTAINS
has led to solid, communicative working relationships with EPA’s Office of Water lead personnel on this
effort, as well as their primary contractor (RTI). NMED would leverage these working relationships and
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FY15 Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant Proposal
intimate knowledge of ATTAINs previous design and schema to build on and complement this previous
work in order to continue electronic timely, efficient submissions to the re-designed ATTAINs. As
discussed with EPA’s lead Water Quality Framework personnel, NMED believes SQUID could be a great
model for other states needing to set up or enhance current electronic submissions. As Workgroup 1
was wrapping up, EPA mentioned they are looking for a few state partners as they finalize the redesigned ATTAINS data requirement and associated schema to provide some additional vetting of the
approach. NMED is very interested in pursuing this collaboration with EPA, in part because we believe
SQUID could be a good potential model for the new system. NMED is eager to partner with EPA OWOW
as a demo state for the ATTAINs re-design, and to share SQUID with any interested state, tribe, or
territory. NMED can provide both surface water quality technical expertise and IT expertise towards this
effort, and has a proven track record of proposing and implementing successful Exchange Network
Grants.
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II.
PROJECT GOALS, OUTPUTS, AND OUTCOMES
NMED’s proposed project goals, outputs, and associated outcomes are detailed in the table below.
Successful completion of these goals and associated outputs will be instrumental in helping NMED
achieve environmental results through improved electronic access and reporting of CWA 303(d), 305(b),
and TMDL-related data. The ultimate outcome is that improved access to quality information on the
state of New Mexico’s surface waters will assist in the development and implementation of appropriate
strategies to protect, enhance, and restore our surface waters.
Goal
Output
Scheduled
Completion
Date
Outcome(s)
1. Collaboration
with EPA on Water
Quality Framework/
ATTAINS re-design
schema related to
303(d), 305(b), and
TMDL reporting.
1.1 Participate in conference
calls with EPA Office of Water,
their contractors, and any other
demo states to provide
additional vetting of proposed
schema.
1.2 Provide QA testing of
proposed schema as requested
for EPA OW.
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--Promote continued
cooperation and
collaboration between
EPA and states with
respect to electronic
reporting and public
access to impairment
decisions, attainment
status, and associated
water quality planning
(i.e., TMDLs) to address
impairments in support of
both EPA’s and states’
missions.
2. Enable electronic
reporting from NM
SQUID to the new
Water Quality
Framework/
ATTAINs re-design
related to 303(d),
305(b), and TMDL
reporting.
2.1 Modify the NM SQUID
ATTAINs application for
303(d)/305(b) electronic
reporting capability to support
the new Water Quality
Framework/ ATTAINs re-design
reporting requirements/schema.
11/1/2016
2.2 Testing and finalization of
303(d)/305(b) flow to Water
Quality Framework.
4/1/2017
5/1/2016
--Reducing NM’s staff
hours, burden and costs
associated with 303(d),
305(b), and TMDL-related
data management and
associated EPA electronic
reporting requirements.
--Enhance public
stakeholder and regulated
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New Mexico Environment Department
FY15 Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant Proposal
Goal
3. Share project
products (redesigned SQUID,
schema, and data
flow methods) and
knowledge of
electronic reporting
of 303(d), 305(b),
and TMDL-related
data with EPA and
interested states.
III.
Output
Scheduled
Completion
Date
Outcome(s)
2.3 Submit NM’s EPA-approved
2016-2018 Integrated List to
new Water Quality Framework.
6/1/2017
2.4 Enhance NM SQUID to
include necessary TMDL-related
reporting elements.
6/1/2017
2.5 Testing and finalization of
303(d)/305(b) flow to Water
Quality Framework.
6/1/2017
community access to
surface water quality
impairment decisions and
associated TMDL-related
information through
increased timeliness of
electronic reporting to
EPA’s publically-available
Water Quality Framework.
2.6 Submit NM’s information on
recently completed TMDLs
information to new Water
Quality Framework.
7/1/2017
3.1 Present project results and
lessons learned to 1) NM’s local
region (EPA Region 6), 2) at
national water quality
conference
10/31/2017
3.2 Provide simple way/process
for interested states to access
SQUID Oracle-based template
for customization.
10/31/2017
--Reducing other
interested states staff
hours, burden and costs
associated with 303(d),
305(b), and TMDL-related
data management and
associated EPA electronic
reporting requirements via
sharing NM’s reporting
tools (i.e., SQUID) with
interested states.
PROJECT APPROACH AND RELATIONSHIP TO EXCHANGE NETWORK PRIORITIES
The proposed project advances stated Phase 2 goals, and is a Tier 1 activity (i.e., implementation of new
national data exchange). Specifically, NMED will design and implement a data flow to report to EPA’s redesigned ATTAINs, and continue to be an active participant and proponent of EPA’s Water Quality
Framework initiative. This project will be very efficient by building upon our existing EN-based services
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New Mexico Environment Department
FY15 Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant Proposal
that conform to Exchange Network standards and design rules. In addition, NMED commits to register
data flows components in the Exchange Network Discovery Service (ENDS).
IV.
PROJECT KEY PERSONNEL
This project also will build on continued collaboration between NMED’s Office of Information
Technology and SWQB. Specific individual project roles and responsibilities:
NMED IT Project Manager – Tom McMichael, OIT, Technical Node Lead; Mr. McMichael has been
involved with numerous node and Exchange Network projects dating back to 2001.
NMED IT Contractor – Dan Gandhi, Java Applications Developer, Mr. Gandhi has been instrumental in
developing components for NMED’s OpenNode2 Exchange Network Node.
NMED SWQB 303(d), 305(b), and TMDL-related data programmatic lead -- Lynette Guevara, SWQB
303(d)/305(b) Assessment Coordinator, will advise the Project Manager and contractor on the required
Water Quality Framework reporting elements and will take part in end user design questions and QA
testing. Ms. Guevara has been NM’s Assessment Coordinator for over 13 years, and has participated in
a variety of EPA database and reporting initiatives. She was also the programmatic lead for the
development of NM’s SQUID database.
PROJECT BUDGET
A detailed itemized budget is provided as an attachment to NMED’s proposal. Below is a summary of
the estimated total budget amount per project goal.
Goal
1. Collaboration with EPA OW on Water Quality
Framework proposed schema related to 303(d),
305(b), and TMDL reporting.
2. Enable electronic reporting from NM SQUID to the
new Water Quality Framework related to 303(d),
305(b), and TMDL reporting.
3. Share project products (re-designed SQUID, schema,
and data flow methods) and knowledge of electronic
reporting of 303(d), 305(b), and TMDL-related data
Total Budget Amount
by Goal
$30,000
$127,028
$9,000
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with EPA and interested states.
Total
V.
166,028
NMED PAST PERFORMANCE
NMED has a documented track record of efficiently and effectively managing Exchange Network grants
in order to develop and implement the applications, databases and data flows that streamline state
programmatic and associated EPA objectives. With respect to this proposal, NMED has successfully
implemented the legacy version of the OWIR/NHDevent data flows under Exchange Grant #OS83480201-1. As an important part of this past project, NMED developed a Java version of the
OpenNode2 OWIR plug-in. In addition, the SQUID application developed under that grant has served as
a model for other states to support the data collection and analysis for Clean Water Act (CWA)
303(d)/305(b) integrated reporting. NMED’s Surface Water Quality Bureau has actively participated in
two Water Quality Framework/ATTAINs re-design workgroups. Both the NMED Office of Information
Technology and Surface Water Quality Bureau staff are highly motivated and well prepared to
successfully complete the proposed project.
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