LAWRENCE CO.—An alert on the U.S. Geological Survey page has caused considerable concern for those who keep an eye on river levels in and around Lawrence County.
We’ll let the USGS tell it; this is directly from their page:
Discontinuation of Lawrenceville River Gage by USGS
A reduction in funding due to sequestration for the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Streamflow Information Program (NSIP) during the last half of FY 13 will soon result in the shutdown of all data collection from the streamgage at Lawrenceville along the Embarras River. Entities interested in keeping this streamgage in service should contact the USGS IL Water Science Center in Urbana at dc_il@usgs.gov or call them at (217) 328-8747.
If the streamgage is shut down, the National Weather Service will no longer be able to provide river forecast and river flood warning services along the Embarras River in and around the city of Lawrenceville. Again, if you are interested in funding this streamgage, then please contact the USGS.
Here’s the graph utilized with the copy:
This, as one of our readers put it, could be potentially dangerous for those in Lawrence County who rely on this feature to keep an eye on river levels. As you may recall, it was levee failures on both the Wabash AND the Embarras that caused the “tidal wave” of floodwaters to sweep across the Allison Prairie in June 2008 and pour into Lake Lawrence from the north. So to be able to keep an eye on the Embarras via a streamgage is crucial for the area…but thanks to “sequestration,” this ability could soon be a thing of the past.
Sad that our government entities that really DO something (like USGS, which helps us in all manner of weather, seismic activity, and response to them) gets the chopping block, while the IRS gets to become bigger and more imposing. But here we have a publicly-supported (taxpayer-supported) entity asking for PRIVATE funding input. Such is the world of 1984 in 2013….