GPS/GIS for Regulated Facilities in the EPA Region 6 International Border Area

The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology (Bureau), conducted a 2-year project for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 6, using real-time Global Positioning System (DGPS) technology to locate regulated facilities in Texas and New Mexico along the Mexico border. Accurate locations of these facilities are required to establish a Geographical Information System (GIS) that will provide State and Federal regulators with a more functional tool for their oversight responsibilities. The Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission (TNRCC) and the New Mexico Environmental Department (NMED), along with EPA Region 6, provided records from their regulatory databases that include toxic release inventory, industrial waste producers/transporters, Superfund sites/landfills, and underground storage tanks. These facilities are described in 7,380 records within 10 databases. The goal of this project is to provide spatial data in ESRI's ArcInfo coverages on 1,000 to 1,500 facilities. Using a Pathfinder Basic Plus and an Omnistar receiver, a single fieldworker can collect as many as 18 sites per day in urban settings such as the city of El Paso, Texas, or about 27 sites per day in more rural areas such as Cameron County, Texas. To date, we have collected locational data on 1,116 facilities from 6 Texas counties and 1 New Mexico county that relate to 2,371 records across 10 regulatory databases. The coordinates for these facilities have been loaded into ArcInfo coverages. Efficient application of this technology has resulted in a much improved set of spatial data that can be used to link other records on these regulated facilities to actual locations portrayed in a GIS.