Kiamichi River Legacy Alliance (KRLA)

PROJECT PURPOSE

The water of the Kiamichi River is in high demand from both municipalities and industry. Yet virtually nothing is known for certain about the quantity and quality of its waters. A series of 7 automated water monitoring stations at select strategic points along the river would alleviate that problem. These solar-powered stations would upload real-time 24/7/365 basic water data such as flow and depth to a publicly available server. Over time a real-world understanding of the river?s flows and characteristics would be built, obviating the need for speculative mathematical modeling. An international company, YSI, manufactures turn-key systems which contain the requisite sensors, computers, batteries, solar panels, links to the internet, etc along with installation and calibration assistance. All for one price per system. We are requesting funding for 7 systems plus 1 spare plus various installation and material costs. Once these systems were installed they would provide continuous river data for years or decades. The bulk of the 177 mile length of the Kiamichi River lies in Choctaw and Pushmataha County, generally acknowledged as the two poorest Counties in the State. Long-term data on their most prominent geological feature would be economically priceless to the State of Oklahoma.

EVIDENCE

There are only 3 simple stream gauges along the 177 mile length of the river. Our 7 additional systems would augment the flow and depth information given by them. Furthermore our systems would measure additional water quality and quantity parameters that these simple stream gauges can not provide. Thus, by intervening and installing a more numerous and sophisticated system a fuller, more complete view of the river will be obtained. If I understand the question correctly, I guess I would say the validation of our program is self-evident and supported by the data we will generate.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

In 2015 USA Today newspaper had an article entitled ?Poorest County in Each State?. For Oklahoma the poorest county was Pushmataha County. In 2019 USA Today revisited the topic, only this time the poorest county in Oklahoma was Choctaw County. Any information that can better ?describe? these two counties most prominent geological feature will ?enrich? this river and its waters. Thus making these two counties ?less poor?. As Oklahoma?s poorest counties are ?enriched?, then Oklahoma, by definition, is itself ?less poor?.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

Performance grading of this project is very simple. As a 501C3 grassroots organization, our ?product? is for the Public Good. So, as each system comes on-line, any member of the General Public will be able to go to the web and view the river characteristics along its length and breadth in real time. One way to think about this system is as a ?Mesonet for the Kiamichi River?. The ?program data? is real data itself!

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma