Iowa DNR Interactive Mapping, Water Web Help Files

Iowa DNR Water Web

Welcome to the Iowa DNR Water Web. After months of planning and designing, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has released the first version of this much anticipated tool. The Water Web gives users one web portal for retrieving water-based information in the state of Iowa. As the Water Web develops over time, users will be able to retrieve data on all Iowa lakes, streams, wetlands, watersheds, and groundwater sources. The type of water-based data is virtually unlimited, including data on water quality, improvement, management, and recreation.

Following is an excerpt from the official project description of the Iowa DNR Water Web:
...The ultimate goal of this project is to provide all Iowans with a means to retrieve and use data associated with water bodies of the state. Specifically, we will aggregate existing, disparate datasets while constructing a system that allows for the entry and retrieval of data pertinent to recreation, resource management, planning, or education. In Phase 1 of this project, we will focus on data pertaining to Iowa lakes. Subsequent phases will focus on rivers/streams and then wetlands/marshes. An underlying, yet vital, goal of this project is the linking of existing water-related databases into a comprehensive and useable form. A tremendous amount of data has been, and is being, collected by various groups and individuals across the state. At best, this data is difficult to obtain and at worst, is not available to anyone other than the owner. Once obtained, a great deal of time managing and manipulating the data is necessary to answer simple resource questions. These questions may be "Where is the best place to catch Catfish in Iowa?" or "Where should we focus Iowa's water monitoring efforts this year?" or "Where are we most likely to be successful in a lake restoration project?"...

At its initial phase, the Water Web incorporates the Iowa Beach Monitoring Database, the Iowa Lakes Management Database, and the Iowa Water Quality Improvement Plan (TMDL) Database. Also, the Water Web links the user to external databases and associated websites, including the Watershed Atlas, the Watershed Initiative, and the Iowa Lakes Information System. Finally, the Water Web is linked to scanned water-related documents (most in Adobe PDF format) that can be downloaded or printed. These documents include student theses, journal articles, published reports, books, and more. All maps and data available on the Water Web were designed to easily query and print to letter-size paper.

The Iowa DNR Water Web will keep growing as priorities for integrating more water-based data are developed. Keep visiting this website for new updates to the Water Web and other IDNR interactive maps.

If you have any suggestions regarding information that you would like to add or change on the Water Web, please visit the Iowa DNR Water Web Suggestions Page and submit them to us.

Help on using the Water Web.

Enter the Water Web.

Upcoming data to be incorporated in to the Water Web includes: fish survey data, with fish species quantity, length / weight measurements, and lake fish sampling locations.