OneRain Showcases Its Active Dam Safety Monitoring Solution at Dam Safety Conference

LONGMONT, COLORADO, August, 2015 – OneRain is pleased to announce its participation at Dam Safety 2015 where they will be showcasing their Active Dam Safety Monitoring solution. Dam Safety 2015 is the official national conference of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO), the premier educational and networking event in the dam safety industry that attracts attendees from all over the world. This year’s conference takes place September 13-17, 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana. OneRain supports Dam Safety Monitoring programs where high-risk and significant-hazard designated dams pose a risk to extensive property damage or possible loss of human life due to mis-operation or dam failure.

Colorado-based OneRain (formerly DIAD Inc.) has been designing, building, rehabilitating, operating and maintaining real-time environmental monitoring systems to keep tabs on flood-prone waterways and dams since 1992. Their Active Dam Safety Monitoring solution can detect and alert threatening conditions in advance, automatically notifying dam owners and officials tasked with the safe operation and maintenance of the dam with crucial real-time information so they can make timely, well-informed operational decisions.

OneRain Gauge Instrumentation at Spinney Mountain Reservoir
OneRain provides real-time monitoring and maintains gauge instrumentation at Spinney Mountain Reservoir, Aurora, Colorado. Photo credit: Scott Bores, Manager of Field Engineering, OneRain Inc.

Dam owners are responsible for maintaining a dam in a safe condition to reduce the risk a dam creates. Safe, cost-effective dam operations require reliable, timely environmental and dam status information.

“When it comes to Dam Safety monitoring programs, OneRain takes a complete systems approach to ensure dependable real-time remote monitoring,” says James Logan, OneRain’s CEO. Many of the dam monitoring sites are in very remote areas but with populations downstream that could be affected if anything goes wrong. For these early warning systems to be successful, highly available, reliable, accurate and timely data are paramount. Early detection of threatening conditions and severe storm events that could lead to failure, allows time for dam officials to issue early warnings, determine what areas might be affected and who may need to be evacuated. “To that end, OneRain’s complete solution approach gives us more effective control over the delivery, timeliness, quality and accuracy of the data that decision-makers rely on in making their assessments,” says Logan.

OneRain’s end-to-end Active Dam Safety Monitoring solution provides critical decision-support information in real time. The system provides Web and local visualization services, real-time satellite telemetry, and telemetry system integration as well as options for real-time gauge-adjusted radar-rainfall (GARR) data, basin-average rainfall and predictive/forecast rainfall estimates. GARR provides highly accurate rainfall estimates on a pixel and basin-accumulated basis and creates the most accurate estimates of reservoir inflow from rain currently available.

Data are gathered from an array of integrated real-time monitoring gauge instruments measuring reservoir elevation, flow, spillway, discharge, weather, rainfall, float switches, wind, temperature, vibrating wire piezometers, tiltmeters, inclinometers, seismic and more—these sensor data are collected, processed, analyzed and disseminated in real time by Contrail®, OneRain’s enterprise visualization and decision-support software. Dam operations personnel are able to access the system round-the-clock to know what’s going on at any particular point in time. Up-to-the-minute reporting is presented graphically in geo-referenced maps and visually informative dashboards that enable key personnel to quickly evaluate conditions at the dams. Designated officials and response personnel also receive automated advance warnings of potential problems via text message and email when predefined conditions and sensor thresholds are exceeded. Emergency Action Plan-related information is often included with these alert notifications to assist responding safety and emergency personnel.

Equally important is the quality of gauge instrumentation maintenance at the dam. Routine, preventative maintenance of the instrumentation at each dam location is key to ensuring that the early warning network provides accurate, reliable information during a hydrological event. OneRain’s Field Services group also provides these services and conducts best practices training on preventative, breakdown and reliablity-centered maintenance programs to ensure the highest network performance.

If you’re planning to be in New Orleans for the ASDSO Dam Safety 2015 Conference, be sure to stop by OneRain’s booth #300 to see a demo of their Active Dam Safety Monitoring solution.

About OneRain Incorporated
For more than 20 years, OneRain has been providing private and public sector clients across the United States and around the world with solutions to optimize water management, heighten regulatory compliance, achieve successful civil works, and save lives. OneRain’s innovative products and services serve clients in Flood Early Warning and Emergency Management, Dam Safety and Reservoir Operations, Water Resource Management, Post Wild Fire Mitigation, Urban Pluvial Water Management, and Stormwater and Wastewater Management. For more information, visit www.onerain.com or call 1-800-758-RAIN (7246).

Contact Information
Rosemarie O’Connell, Sales & Marketing, OneRain Incorporated Phone: 303-774-2033 | E-mail: information@onerain.com

About ASDSO
The failure of dams and the great destruction and loss of life failures often cause, is a matter of deep concern to the members of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO). ASDSO is a national non-profit organization serving state dam safety programs and the broader dam safety community, which includes federal dam safety professionals, dam owners and operators, engineering consultants, emergency managers, manufacturers, suppliers, academia, contractors, and others interested in improving dam safety.

New Rainfall Monitoring System for Flood Warning in Doña Ana County, NM

In the news November 2014: “New Rainfall Monitoring System to Aid in Flood Warning”. The Doña Ana County Flood Commission – in conjunction with the National Weather Service and other entities – has installed the first series of rainfall monitoring stations in Doña Ana County, data from which is available for viewing on the Internet.

The strategic placement of the monitoring sites is designed to predict flooding and enable a warning system for residents who may be in danger.

Doña Ana County Flood Commission Director Paul Dugie said the warning system represents an ongoing investment that augments diversion structures and dam maintenance with tool for residents to monitor rainfall in upstream areas.

“Residents of low-lying areas already know that it can be dry as a bone where they live, but if heavy rainfall is occurring in upstream areas, they can be at risk for flooding when the arroyos run,” Dugie said. “We view this system as one more important tool to protect lives and properties.”

Afton Weather Station – the very first ALERT2 site in Doña Ana County, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The rainfall gauges all send data to a central tower on A Mountain east of Las Cruces, and a transmitter on that tower relays the information to the Doña Ana County Government Center, where it’s posted onto the Internet at https://weather.donaanacounty.org

Upon full implementation – which is estimated to be completed in 2017 – there will be 30 remote weather stations, stream gauges and water-level monitoring stations located throughout Doña Ana County, all of which will be linked to the National Weather Service and to other gauges in southern New Mexico and El Paso County.

“Not only will we be able to gather real time information with this system,” Dugie said, “but we’ll also be able to more closely track trends that will improve future forecast models.”

Dugie estimated that about $130,000 worth of equipment has already been integrated into the system, with an annual maintenance budget of about $30,000. In addition, he said his office has hired a flood warning system operator to oversee the system and its maintenance, both in the field and from the Doña Ana County Government Center.

In addition to Doña Ana County and the National Weather Service, other partners in the initiative include the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, the City of Las Cruces and New Mexico State University.

In addition to the rainfall gauges, a robotic camera has been acquired that can be used to monitor culverts for blockages and structural integrity, thereby improving the county’s ability to maintain and replace them before they fail. The robotic camera is attached to a specially equipped all-terrain vehicle that can access rugged areas in all kinds of weather. The recorded information and camera images can be saved to a central database.

News Source: https://donaanacounty.org/content/new-rainfall-monitoring-system-aid-flood-warnings
Read more about Doña Ana County’s flood warning system on the NM Climate Center’s blog: http://nmclimatecenter.blogspot.com/2014/11/new-rainfall-monitoring-system-for.html

Introducing Contrail Inventory’s New “Mobile-First” User Interface

LONGMONT, COLORADO, January 15, 2014 – OneRain is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Contrail® Inventory release 4.0 that introduces a new look and feel with its “mobile-first” design. Contrail Inventory is OneRain’s centralized web-based asset tracking tool that helps agencies manage and keep track of their hydrologic gauge sensor network equipment via their desktop or mobile device.

Contrail Inventory Asset Tracking and Maintenance Management for
Contrail Inventory Asset Tracking and Maintenance Management for Hydrologic Networks

Contrail Inventory’s new (adaptive and responsive) design is now compatible with the widest range of devices, desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

New Contrail Inventory User Experience
We’ve tried to walk in your shoes as we redesigned Contrail Inventory’s accessibility to create the best experience possible to match up to your needs. Now, whether you’re in the field, or at your desktop, you’ll be able to accomplish virtually all your Contrail Inventory management tasks (review, edit, add, upload photos, etc.) anywhere at any time.

Users can get to the information that’s important to them fast with easy to understand content priority, workflow and viewpoints:

  • Easy to navigate whether on smartphone, tablet and desktop devices
  • No special mobile app. required
  • Adaptive between mobile and desktop for content, features, viewpoints
  • Responsive design fluidly changes and responds to fit any screen or device size

Complimentary Walkthrough
Complimentary webinar training sessions are available to OneRain customers after this update. Please contact OneRain to arrange refresher training or if you’d just like an introductory walkthrough covering these enhancements. OneRain offers a variety of online webinar training sessions for their software and solutions. These training sessions ensure users keep current and gain the maximum value from OneRain software and products.

Update Availability – No Action Required!
This software update is available to all Contrail Inventory subscription-based users as well as Contrail Base Station and Contrail Server licensed users current with their standard software maintenance contract. There’s no need for customers to take action to receive the update. This update will be performed during OneRain’s standard software maintenance and updates schedule on the second Tuesday of each month.

2013 Colorado Flood Event – Flood Early Warning System

LONGMONT, COLORADO, October 1, 2013 – It’s been a busy time here in Colorado as our team has been supporting the recovery efforts from last month’s epic flood event.

OneRain field truck follows a detective through flood devastated area

 

OneRain installed and currently maintains a considerable number of the hydrologic gauges along the Colorado Front Range and provides the software for real-time data collection, monitoring and alerting. Members of our field staff have been seeing first hand, the destruction and devastation that the powerful floodwaters caused, as they venture out to perform maintenance and evaluate the condition of gauges in the network.

OneRain field staff attempt to access gauge to evaluate a flood-damaged gauge site

Our systems performed well during this historic event. Our software application, Contrail®, provided the continuous real-time data collection, early warning alarming, and notifications and monitoring of the numerous rainfall, stage, and stream flow gauge sites in the region, while several of our personnel were on hand in the midst of the storm assessing the data and providing assistance to coordinators and first responders in the Emergency Operations Center.

The OneRain team is passionate and committed to helping our local agencies in their missions to detect, reduce risks, respond, and minimize losses in potential flood-producing rainfall storm events and our thoughts are with all those impacted by this devastating flood that hit our home state.