Title
Resolution Authorizing the Execution of a Joint Funding Agreement and Approving a Cost Share with U.S. Geological Survey.
Purpose
PURPOSE/BACKGROUND:
The City of Hampton (the “City”) partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey (“USGS”) in 2015 to purchase and install local tidal monitoring stations located on the Hampton River at East Pembroke Avenue and on Newmarket Creek at Mercury Boulevard. Council Resolution File Number 15-0002 authorized the City Manager or her designee to execute the original Joint Funding Agreement for the five-year period, commencing July 1, 2015 and ending June 30, 2020. This resolution requests authorization for the City Manager or her designee to execute the Joint Funding Agreement for Water Resources Investigations (the “Agreement”) for the five-year period, commencing July 1, 2020 and ending June 30, 2025, for these two local tidal monitoring stations.
Discussion:
Water is one of six science mission areas of the USGS, wherein reliable, impartial, and timely information that is needed to understand the nation’s water resources is collected and disseminated. USGS and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration currently operate a network of 15 continuous water-level monitors (also known as tide gauges) in coastal Virginia. Data from tidal monitoring stations is publicly available near-real time and can be used to predict the timing and magnitude of tidal flooding in various locations. The four closest monitoring stations are located in the Chesapeake Bay or far inland, in or near Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Sewells Point, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. All of these locations are too far from the City for the City to realize the benefits of vital localized water-level and flooding information.
The City Department of Public Works worked with USGS personnel to identify tidal monitoring station locations on the Hampton River at E. Pembroke Avenue and Newmarket Creek at Mercury Boulevard. Data received from these tid...
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