HIGHLIGHTS
GIS Supervisor Builds Interactive WebMap to Connect Residents to Water Resources During Winter Storm Recovery
City Worked to Connect Residents with Resources for Winter Storm Recovery
When the extreme winter storm hit last month , some Arlington residents found themselves without running water in their homes and apartments after their pipes burst during the freezing temperatures .
As a part of its storm recovery response , the City opened up nearly 20 water container filling stations and also had pallets of donated water bottles ready to distribute to the public in need from four locations . One of the questions the City faced was how to let residents know what water resources were available nearest to where they lived ?
Water Utilities GIS Supervisor Mary Payne , one of the City ’ s newest employees , suggested an idea . Instead of posting a bulleted list of addresses on the City ’ s website and social media , Payne created an interactive webpage that linked water site addresses directly to Google maps to provide directions , and could be updated rapidly .
“ We are continually seeking ways to put our technology to work and connect our residents with resources and information . Mary ’ s interactive map proved to be an excellent tool to help people find the bottled water and water container pick up sites most convenient to them ,” said Tony Herhold , who chairs the City ’ s Data Governance and Innovation Team .
The City of Arlington continued working to provide relief to residents and businesses to connect them to available resources as they recovered from the extreme winter weather .
Many of these resources , including water and food assistance , housing assistance and FEMA disaster assistance were posted on the City ’ s Storm Recovery webpage .
Using data provided by Automated Meter Infrastructure ( AMI ), Water Utilities was able to identify homes and businesses with likely water line breaks and assist customers with emergency shut-offs while repairs were made .
The City used the AMI data to determine where water service was not running and to assist those customers with turning the water back on once repairs were made .