PaddleOn.Net supports an e-mail distribution list whereby users can be notified of selected river section flow levels.
Notifications can be either on a daily or a flow-triggered event basis. The user must create an account associated with the
e-mail distribution list. A valid e-mail address and password are required to create and access the account. There are no
interactions required outside of selecting the desired river sections and the reporting method. River conditions are evaluated
daily by querying the USGS databases.
If the user has configured any sections as reporting daily, they will receive one e-mail per day containing a summary of all
sections with the daily report flag set. If the user has configured any sections with a flow level trigger event, they will
receive one e-mail if that event has triggered. An event is triggered if the flow exceeds or falls below a user specified CFS
limit. If no section triggers a transition event, no email will be scheduled for that day. In no case will the user receive more
than one e-mail per day regardless of the combination of reporting flags.
Quick Start Guide: Create an e-mail account by entering the destination e-mail address and password followed
by clicking the Sign Up button. This will bring up the river flow configuration display with an empty gauge set. Gauges are
added by either selecting them from the States/River Sections drop-down list or by manually entering the 8 digit USGS site_no.
The Add button will then save the site and configuration to the user database. The Update button will save any edits made to the
active gauge, CFS trigger limit, or Event type fields. The update click will also result in the trigger limit transition flags
being reset. Upon signing up, a validation email will automatically be sent to the address used for this account. Simply replying
to that email will complete the verification process and enable the daily automated streamflow emails. Allow up to 48 hours for
email verification to complete.
The following configuration items define if and how the user account and river sections are processed:
Email Address: Both used as the account user name and as the destination for any river flow update e-mail messages.
Enabled: If checked, all user specified river gauges are processed for possible e-mail inclusion. If unchecked,
all user configuration is maintained but no daily gauging checks are applied.
Site_no: USGS supplied 8-digit number defining the gauge station for this river section.
Site: USGS supplied description for the section of river included with this USGS gauge station number.
Active: If checked, this gauge is included for processing flow conditions and possible e-mail inclusion. If
unchecked, this gauge is included in all user configuration, but not included in e-mail distribution.
Limit: CFS value used to determine the trigger transition events of 'flow now exceeding the limit' and 'flow
now below the limit'. This value is ignored if the event type is a daily update regardless of CFS level.
Triggered: Defines if the e-mail to the user will be sent on a daily or flow-defined basis.
Daily Trend Avg: A light exponential filter is applied over the previous 24 hours of flow readings to arrive
at an average value. The filter is 0.75 which would weight the calculated average heavily towards the most recent CFS values. This
average value is the basis for the flow trigger events. Although not always the case, comparing the trend average to the current CFS
gives some type of indicator on flow direction. If current flow is greater than the trend average, likely the flow is increasing with
the opposite being true if current CFS is below the trend. The two values being roughly equal would point to the flow being static.
Current CFS : Current flow reading in CFS for when this USGS site gauge was processed. Processing typically occurs
at 6:AM Arizona time daily.