b'SURFACE WATERMonitoring is Key Vital LinksWorking with the tidesespecially in a system thatDupre adds that understanding the dynamics of the is half aquaticrequires a close eye on the ebb andsystem and receiving the data from the SonTek-SLs flow of water. Over the past three years, Delta Coastare vital to allocating his staff resources as storms are Consultants has been working with Xylem to installblowing in.suites of monitoring instruments on both sides of its many barge gates. These stations provide all"Some of the gates take as many as six people to kinds of data on parameters like water level, wateroperate, and they can take an hour and a half to velocity, water flow and direction, and wind speedclose, as opposed to three minutes for a sector gate," and direction. These data are transmitted every six he explains. "You have 18 operations employees minutes to the levy district\'s command center. trying to operate 13 flood gates across 60 miles. So this technology becomes very, very important to By the start of the 2019 hurricane season in June, 10understanding what\'s going on and how it affects of the parish\'s 13 floodgates will have Nile WaterLOGwhere you want to send your employees.radar stage sensors; SonTek-SL (side-looking) velocity, level and flow meters; RM Young wind sensors; rain"Without this YSI system, we\'d need double the gauges and dataloggers.amount of employees, which we can\'t afford,"Dupre adds. Closely monitoring stage and flow in real time has allowed the levee district team to see the dramaticOf course, Dupre\'s team relies on a constant stream of effects of landscape, wind, and tide on surges acrossdata in the sorts of circumstances almost guaranteed the parish. Kennedy points out that an incoming tideto threaten communications channels. To keep the at one monitoring system can push an outgoing flowinformation flowing, Kennedy and his staff built two miles away, and notes that flood stages can varyin several signal safeguards to make sure that the by half a foot (15 centimeters) from one bayou district\'s command center is constantly in touch with to another. data from the field. Using the technology to both study and monitor water"The first thing to go out is power," he says. "All these movement in the parish illustrates what make Deltasites have backup power. The next thing to go out is Coast and the levee district so great to work with, saysthe cell phone towers, so if you lose the cell signal Lisa Landry, Xylem technical sales rep in Baton from these, we\'ve got satellite-based contact. It\'s a Rouge, Louisiana. pretty mission-critical system.""We love how innovative and outside-the-box they are, and how dedicated they are to public safety," Landry says.Barge Gate and Navigation Lock DesignSector Gate(Protected Side) YSIEnvironmentalLock Chamber Operations AreaWest Levee250\' Floodgate MonitoringTie-In Receiving Stations Control HouseStructureWest Flood Wall Sector Gate East Flood Wall East Levee250\' Floodgate (Flood Side)Tie-In10 MISSION: WATER'