Case Study

Zone 7 Water Agency StreamTracker

Zone 7 Water Agency provides water and flood protection across 425 square miles of California’s Tri-Valley region in eastern Alameda County. The agency maintains 37 miles of local flood-protection channels, about a third of all the Valley’s channels and creeks. 

When a storm rolls in, staff need to know what every creek is doing right now. The agency uses Tierra Plan’s See Upstream platform to power StreamTracker, a surface water portal that brings data from its network of stream gauges and rainfall sensors into one place.

StreamTracker delivers live flow, stage, and temperature readings at stream gauges, rainfall accumulations over customizable time windows, and simple data downloads. Its standout feature is the Flood Watch tool, which highlights gauges approaching or exceeding threshold levels, so staff, stakeholders, and community members can see emerging flood risks at a glance.

StreamTracker now includes StreamAlert, which provides automated stream gauge notifications when flood conditions are detected. Members of the public can sign up to receive SMS notifications for their city or town.

“Working with the Tierra Plan team to build our data dashboard portal has been an outstanding experience. Their team is great to work with, always open to ideas, flexible in their design approach, and committed to creating a tool that serves our community.”
Justin Pascual
Assistant Engineer, Zone 7 Water Agency
Zone 7 Stream Tracker Interface

Flood Watch: Spotting Trouble Early

During storm events, Zone 7 staff track two things at once: local stream gauges and weather forecasts. StreamTracker is a vital resource that helps staff monitor changing water levels in real-time.

The StreamTracker’s Flood Watch tool visually highlights gauges that are nearing or exceeding threshold levels. This helps staff and agency partners see flood risks across the service area. When the agency issues new storm alert levels, the appropriate City, Emergency Operations Center and/or the National Weather service may be notified.

Zone 7 Fish Ladder
A Zone 7 stream channel
“With intuitive layers, charting tools, and export capabilities, the portal enhances transparency, strengthens situational awareness, and supports proactive flood-preparedness throughout the Tri-Valley.”
Edward Reyes
Principal Engineer, Zone 7 Water Agency
Zone 7 Rain Gauge
Zone 7 Stream Level
Zone 7 Stream Gauge
Zone 7 - Lake Del Valle

Zone 7 gauges, stream channels, and Del Valle Reservoir

Putting Flood Awareness in Everyone's Hands

StreamTracker educational poster at Zone 7's public flood awareness event

Flood Watch isn’t just for agency staff. Anyone can see where flood risks are occurring by viewing the threshold icons on the StreamTracker map. 

The StreamAlert SMS notification system lets anyone sign up for alerts tied to key flooding thresholds in their city or town.

“We're continually working together to expand features and improve functionality. Overall, Tierra Plan has been a reliable and responsive development partner for the agency."
Justin Pascual
Assistant Engineer, Zone 7 Water Agency

Tierra Plan's See Upstream Platform

Zone 7 StreamTracker Interface
Zone 7 StreamTracker Interface
Zone 7 StreamTracker Interface

We collaborated closely with Zone 7 to build StreamTracker. The results:

  • A user-friendly map, list view, and dashboard bring together several data sources for real-time rain and flood conditions.
  • Flood threshold indicators show critical stream channel conditions at a glance.
  • Interactive gauge graphs can be customized to visualize conditions.
  • Hydrologists, engineers, and planners get seamless access to real-time sensor data, supporting better decisions and more efficient operations.
  • The public can monitor local conditions and sign up for automated SMS stream gauge notifications.
  • Download bulk historic data.
  • Zone 7 manages its sensors through a secure administrator interface.
Visit StreamTracker

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