International standards body Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has released a new water information standard, known as WaterML2.0.

 

CISRO and the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) lead the development of the new water information exschange standard, which is already being adopted by a number of major organisations, including the United States Geological Survey, KISTERS, Deltares, San Diego Supercomputer Centre and GeoConnections – Natural Resources Canada.

 

The chair of the Water ML2.0 Standards Working Group, CSIRO project leader Peter Taylor, said the implementation of the international standard will drive huge improvements in data sharing capability.

 

“A major barrier to countries fully understanding their available fresh water resources is the broad range of systems that measure and store water information,” Mr Taylor said.

 

“This lack of data standardisation has greatly limited efficient data exchange between water management authorities. This is set to change once major software vendors and government agencies that manage water information adopt WaterML2.0.”

 

 Bureau of Meteorology Deputy Director – Climate and Water, Dr Dasarath Jayasuriya, welcomed the announcement of Water ML2.0.

 

“This is a great outcome for the Water Information Research and Development Alliance between the Bureau and CSIRO, and demonstrates the value of collaboration in science.

 

“In Australia, WaterML2.0 will be used to guide development of the second version of the Water Data Transfer Format, which is designed to help the Australian water industry share data with the Bureau.