Arrangements for Flood Warning Services in Victoria
February 2001
A5. Data Collection Networks
Monitoring Roles & Responsibilities
A5.1
Background
Flood warning data collection networks (FW networks) around
the State have evolved over many years and have varying
degrees of sophistication. They are currently operated under
a variety of management arrangements, which typically reflect
their evolution as a cooperative effort between interested
parties.
Until the mid 1990s, FW networks were predominantly funded by
the Commonwealth (via the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM)) and
State Government (NRE and its forerunners). Rainfall
monitoring was undertaken by the BoM and a variety of State
agencies (e.g. rural and urban water authorities, power
companies, and the State salinity program). Streamflow
monitoring was mainly undertaken by the State Government and
rural water authorities with some monitoring also being done
by Local Government and the BoM.
As a guide a data collection network can be typically broken
down into components of:
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Capital Costs of Field Instrumentation: rain gauges,
monitoring instrumentation (instrument housing, control
section, water level sensors etc.), data logging or event
reporting devices, data transmission devices
(telemetry/telephone/radio/satellite etc.).
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Maintenance for Field Instrumentation. This includes
regular maintenance as well as station ratings (for stage
discharge relationship), charges for telephone lines,
radio & satellite licences etc.
-
Data processing and archiving as well as data ownership
and supply to other parties.
-
Upgrading of Field Instrumentation, including replacement.
Many factors need to be considered with networks. One factor
deserving attention is that security of telephone numbers for
data equipment connected to telephone lines must be provided
along with security for computers and field equipment.
Telephone numbers need to be silent numbers and restricted to
selected authorities and respective maintenance provider.
A5.2 Upgraded
Flood Warning Systems
From the mid 1990s, Commonwealth and State Government
initiative funding has been made available for the purposes
of upgrading flood warning networks in priority areas.
Priorities for such upgrades have been set by the Victorian
Flood Warning Consultative Committee (VFWCC). The provision
of capital funding for these upgrades is made contingent upon
beneficiaries (in most cases Local Government) agreeing to
take over responsibility for the operation and maintenance
(o&m) of FW equipment installed as part of these network
upgrades. Such equipment may be installed at existing
monitoring sites, in which case there are generally other
parties involved in the monitoring, or at entirely new sites,
which may only be of interest to the beneficiaries.
A variety of types of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs)
have been, or are in the process of being, developed which
outline roles and responsibilities for the operation and
maintenance of these upgraded networks. However, arrangements
incorporated in these MoUs are not always comprehensive (e.g.
the issue of equipment ownership and replacement may not be
suitably dealt with in detail), and the arrangements are not
necessarily consistent between FW networks. Further, while
Local Government authorities may be prepared to contribute to
o&m costs, some have indicated that they do not want to
be equipment 'owners' or managers of monitoring contracts for
these upgraded networks. In some cases, Local Government
authorities have arranged for the relevant Catchment
Management Authority to take on the management role on their
behalf.
A5.3 Monitoring
Partnerships
Monitoring is the systematic measurement and recording of
rainfall, streamflow quantity and quality that is undertaken
by all parties within a region.
A development which also has implications for the management
of the monitoring component of FW networks is the monitoring
partnership process initiated by NRE in 1997, commencing in
the Gippsland Region. This process involves the development
of regional monitoring partnerships around the State, with
the aim of consolidating all monitoring of rainfall,
streamflow quantity and quality that is undertaken by all
parties within a region, into one contract. Such an approach
allows rationalisation of the monitoring across a region,
including the elimination of any duplication, and is expected
to result in economies of scale being reflected in reduced
costs to the various parties to the partnership.
In the context of these monitoring partnerships, cost sharing
arrangements are negotiated between the various parties.
Responsibilities for o&m generally rest with the
'beneficiaries' and the issue of equipment replacement is
generally being dealt with by applying a loading on the
o&m contributions by parties (expected to be of the order
of 10 per cent for routine monitoring and 20 per cent for the
real time component). This loading provides a funding 'pool'
for equipment replacement purposes and is administered by the
Manager of the Partnership.
The Flood Warning System relies on an effective and
technically modern data collection network. Given the variety
of ownership and operation arrangements of current FW
networks, and that future FW network upgrades (using
Commonwealth and State initiative funding) and monitoring
partnerships will be occurring around the state, it is
considered essential to clarify and formalise roles and
responsibilities for FW networks.
These roles and responsibilities are presented in two 'cases'
as described below. These two cases have been designed to
cover the various situations that exist around the State in
relation to FW network upgrades and the Partnership process.
The monitoring roles and responsibilities and two cases are
summarised in Table 1.
A5.4 Roles and
Responsibilities
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CASE 1: Flood Warning Network Prior to Partnership
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No Upgrade
The no upgrade part of this case describes the
situation where an upgrade of a FW network is not
justified that is, an upgrade is not required
or is of too low a priority to attract funding.
Prior to a monitoring partnership being entered into
roles and responsibilities and cost sharing
arrangements are as per the status quo. That is:
Ownership
-
Whoever owns equipment continues to own it.
Operation &
Maintenance
-
Whoever is paying the o&m continues to pay
for it.
Equipment
Replacement
-
Responsibility for arranging replacement lies
with the owner(s) and/or via negotiation between
beneficiaries.
Upgrade
This upgrade part of this case describes the
situation where an upgrade of a FW network has
occurred prior to a monitoring partnership being
entered into. There are two situations described
below. The only difference between these two
situations is in the ownership of equipment, which
differs according to whether the upgrade of the FW
network occurred prior to or after 1st January 2000.
This distinction has been made because many detailed
issues of ownership and related responsibilities
were not addressed in FW network upgrades prior to
the 1st January 2000, and there was a need for
clarification. The date of 1st January 2000 was
selected as the defining point in time, following
which ownership of equipment installed as part of a
FW network upgrade is as per the detailed
specifications given below.
Ownership
-
Ownership of equipment provided for a FW network
upgrade prior to 1st January 2000 lies with the
beneficiaries. In some cases there may be shared
ownership of a common piece of equipment e.g.
data logger and upgraded water level sensors.
-
Ownership of equipment provided for a FW network
upgrade after 1st January 2000 is in accordance
with the 'ownership diagrams' below.
-
Ownership of other equipment (i.e. not provided
as part of the upgrade) lies with the original
owners.
Operation &
Maintenance
-
Responsibility for the real time access
components of the upgraded FW network lies with
the beneficiaries (in most cases, Local
Government authorities). Where a rural or urban
water authority also requires real time access to
a site for the purposes of water supply system
operations, they are regarded as a beneficiary
and would contribute to these costs.
-
Responsibility for the routine streamflow
monitoring component at sites in the upgraded FW
network that also have a water resources
assessment function and/or a water supply
operational function lies with the Primary and/or
Secondary Streamflow Parties (see ownership
diagrams). The Streamflow Parties are generally
the Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment
(NRE) and/or a rural water authority (RWA),
and/or the Murray Darling Basin Commission
(MDBC), but may include other parties such as an
urban water authority (UWA) or a Catchment
Management Authority (CMA).
-
Responsibility for entirely new streamflow
stations that do not have a water resources
assessment function and/or a water supply
operational function, lies with the
beneficiaries.
-
Beneficiaries may arrange for another 'entity'
(e.g. a Catchment Management Authority) to manage
the FW network on their behalf.
Equipment
Replacement
-
Responsibility for arranging replacement lies
with equipment owner(s) or, in the situation
where beneficiaries have arranged for a funding
'pool' for replacement via loadings on
beneficiaries' o&m contributions, with the
manager of that 'pool' of funds. In the event
that the funding pool is exhausted,
responsibility for funding equipment replacement
will lie with the owner(s), who may seek
contributions from other funding sources and/or
may negotiate contributions from other
beneficiaries.
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CASE 2: Flood Warning Network After Partnership
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This case describes the situation after a monitoring
partnership has been entered into. Responsibility
for managing the monitoring contract in each region
lies with the Partnership Manager.
Ownership
-
Parties who were made equipment 'owners' at the
time of a FW network upgrade prior to 1st January
2000, will have the option of retaining existing
ownership arrangements or transferring ownership
of equipment acquired as part of the FW network
upgrade to the owners defined in the ownership
diagrams.
-
Parties who were made equipment 'owners' at the
time of a FW network upgrade after 1st January
2000, will retain existing ownership arrangements
(i.e. as defined in the ownership diagrams).
-
Where no upgrade to a FW network has occurred,
ownership of equipment lies with the original
owners.
-
Ownership of equipment provided for a FW network
upgrade after a monitoring partnership has been
entered into is as defined in the ownership
diagrams.
Operation &
Maintenance
-
For already upgraded FW networks, and where
upgrades to a FW network occur after the
monitoring partnership has been entered into,
responsibility for funding the o&m for real
time access components, and all equipment at FW
only sites installed as part of the upgrade, lies
with the beneficiaries. In some cases there may
be shared responsibility for a jointly owned
piece of equipment e.g. data logger and upgraded
water level sensors.
-
Responsibility for funding the routine streamflow
monitoring component at sites in the upgraded FW
network that also have a water resources
assessment function and/or a water supply
operational function lies with the Primary and/or
Secondary Streamflow Parties.
-
Where no upgrade to a FW network has occurred,
responsibility for funding the o&m of real
time access components remains with the existing
funders, who may negotiate contributions from
beneficiaries.
Equipment
Replacement
-
Responsibility for arranging equipment
replacement lies with the Partnership Manager who
will access the funding 'pool' created by the
loadings applied to the o&m contributions
from the various parties to the Partnership. In
the event that the funding pool is exhausted,
responsibility for funding equipment replacement
will lie with the owner(s), who may seek
contributions from other funding sources and/or
may negotiate contributions from other
beneficiaries. The Partnership Manager is not
obliged to arrange the replacement of equipment
if the beneficiaries are not prepared to cover
ongoing o&m costs.
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A5.5 Withdrawal
from involvement in data collection networks
Ownership of equipment provided as part of FW network
upgrades involves a variety of parties. In the event that any
of these parties withdrawing from participation in the FW
network, ownership of equipment provided as part of the
upgrade would transfer back to the State (Dept. of Natural
Resources and Environment) and Commonwealth (the BoM)
Government.
In the event of such a transfer there is no obligation to
continue with the equipment if the beneficiaries are not
prepared to cover the ongoing operation and maintenance
costs.
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