The Scotts Valley Water District (SVWD) announced it has installed a new weather station at the District’s El Pueblo facility.
The new weather station replaces an older-style rain gauge that had been in use for many years. The rain gauge only collected rainfall data and needed to be measured by hand. The new station automatically records and stores information about rainfall, humidity, barometric pressure and wind speed.
Tracking rainfall is important for District that relies on local groundwater as its sole potable water supply and rainfall is the best measure of the potential for recharge of the groundwater basin. Rainfall can also be used as an indicator of irrigation demand. The District has been accumulating daily rainfall data since 1981.
Because the station provides up-to-date information about local weather, the District wanted to make this resource available for the public. Current weather conditions can now be viewed from a link on the homepage of the District website, www.svwd.org.
“This is a much-needed tool for District staff, and installing the new station provides a higher level of service to our customers,” District Manager Piret Harmon said. “We hope people will check out the weather data — it’s as local as it gets!”
Public can access weather station data via www.svwd.org
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The Scotts Valley Water District is a public agency providing water service over six square miles including most of the City of Scotts Valley and a portion of the unincorporated areas north of the city limits. Learn more at www.svwd.org or www.facebook.com/svwater.