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National Park. Scientists at the Observatory monitor the active volcanoes of Hawaii, providing warnings of potential eruptions and conducting fundamental research on volcanic activity. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has been responsible for the development of most of the volcano-monitoring techniques now used worldwide. In addition, the Observatory also has served as a training center for volcanologists from many countries.

Early in 1978, after an inspection and assessment of the overall condition of the HVO, its limitations in addressing the current situation in monitoring the active volcanoes of Hawaii, and discussions with the National Park Service's local and national offices, the USGS entered into a Memorandum of Agreement to develop a phased program for the upgrading and expansion of the HVO. Also, in the course of remodeling the old facility and constructing new facilities, the joint program was to address the preparation of comprehensive interpretive displays and other explanatory material, covering both the volcano and Observatory functions. The USGS provided funds for preliminary planning, followed by design and preparation of drawings and specifications. Through the joint efforts of USGS and the National Park Service, the Congress appropriated $5,000,000 for construction in a Supplemental Appropriation in 1984.

In May 1985, the National Park Service, in collaboration with the Survey, began construction of a new observatory at Uwekahuna. The new two-story building, with state-of-the-art instrumentation, offices, and an elevated tower to observe volcanic activity at Kilauea Volcano and neighboring Mauna Loa Volcano, was occupied in April 1986.

The adjacent former observatory building has been remodeled as the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum, where the National Park Service presents the story of Hawaiian volcanism and volcano monitoring to the estimated 800,000 visitors who tour the park annually.

New Premises for the U.S. Geological Survey in Saudi Arabia

USGS personnel moved into the administrative offices, laboratories, and residential and recreational facilities of the

new Mission Center that supports the Survey's Mission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The USGS Mission was established in Saudi Arabia in 1962 to assist the Saudi Government in the task of mapping and cataloging the mineral and other natural resources and geological strata of the country. The Mission works directly under the Saudi Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources while sharing their work with. geologists from France (Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres- BRGM) and Britain (RIOFINEX). All three missions are coordinated by the Saudi Directorate General of Mineral Resources (DGMR).

The USGS Mission consists of the following technical departments: Geology, Geophysics, Petrology Laboratory, Topography, Remote Sensing, and Computer. These departments are supported by a Technical Reports Unit, Field Operations Office and Warehouse, Library, and Electronics and Radio Laboratory.

The U.S., French, and British missions worked in various parts of Jeddah; however, with the expansion of the operations, the Ministry considered it preferable to locate the three missions in a single area for greater efficiency, cooperation, and ease of communications.

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The new complex is self-contained, with Survey personnel and their families living and working on the site. The site has its own electric power generating plant and sewage treatment facilities. Water treatment facilities have been designed and may be constructed later.

The new USGS Mission is about six miles northeast of the city center of Jeddah, adjacent to the Jeddah By-Pass for the Mecca-Medina Road. The USGS Mission occupies roughly 24 acres of a 60-hectare master planned site that was developed for joint use by the USGS, the French, and the British. When planned, the USGS Mission had a total operating staff of 450, of whom 50 were U.S. citizens, while the others were Saudi citizens and other nationalities.

The principal facilities include: Two-story 78,000-square-foot Mission Center and administrative building with air conditioning, auditorium, computer room and related facilities, atrium, library, archives, clinic, radio room, and solar collectors for water heating.

• Single-story laboratory building with 10,183 square feet of space for petrology laboratory, rock cutting and storage, X-ray laboratory, specimen preparation, geochemical laboratory, and spectrograph.

• Single-story warehouse and shops building with 19,343 square feet of space for carpenter shop, maintenance shop, air conditioning and electrical repair shop, auto service shops, and field and housing storage.

• Two-level, 21-bedroom Temporary Duty Guest House with 13,524 square feet. • Mosque of 2,734 square feet with prayer area, courtyard, and ceremonial ablution

area.

⚫ 10 single-family homes of 3,574 square feet each.

• Security: The business complex is surrounded by a perimeter wall with two gatehouses admitting entry to the enclosure. The residential and recreational area is also surrounded by a security wall outside the perimeter road, with a single gatehouse access, adjacent to the business complex access.

• Power: The power generation plant, as designed, will permit adequate standby capacity for maintenance, possible breakdowns, and other forms of interruptions. When the city of Jeddah provides this power in the future, a transformer building will be required on site. Full backup gen

erating capacity is provided by three 625kilowatt generators and a fourth machine for standby power.

• Water: A reliable water supply is not now available on site. Until connection can be made with the Jeddah water system, the facility requires a preengineered, package water-treatment plant capable of processing 10,000 gallons per day to meet waterquality standards. Water intended for consumption and recreational use will be delivered daily to the plant from remote sites in a pretreated state for final treatment, which will include softening, chlorination, and cooling. Fully treated water is distributed throughout the facility under pressure in an underground system of plastic pipes. A separate system is required to provide nonpotable water for all other purposes, distributed under pressure in a separate underground system of plastic pipes.

Sewage: The facility has a bioreactor waste-water-treatment system capable of treating 35,000 gallons per day of raw sanitary sewage or waste. No laboratory waste enters the system. Treated effluent, after being filtered and disinfected, is used to irrigate the landscaped areas in the compound.

Gas: Gas service is tank stored, bottled, and supplied to housing and laboratories as needed.

EROS Data Center Energy Conservation

The EROS Data Center (EDC) continued to lead the way in the Department of the Interior's Energy Conservation program. The EDC, located 16 miles northeast of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was constructed in 1972-73. As designed, constructed, and operated with its own support systems, EDC closely conforms to current energy standards, which did not exist at the time of the Center's inception. Designed with energy conservation in mind, the Center is a highly sophisticated, special-purpose facility for receiving, processing, and disseminating remotely sensed high-altitude spacecraft and aircraftacquired imagery. EDC also provides assistance in remote sensing applications to resource inventory, monitoring, and management.

Early in 1975, the EDC launched a vigorous energy-management program,

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which began with immediate action on the most obvious initiatives that could be implemented without added cost or replacement with updated systems, such as reduced interior and exterior lighting, modified zone thermostat settings, discontinuance of snow melting systems, and optimum start/stop of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning fans during nonworking hours. This was followed with an engineering study of the building and its systems to identify cost-effective retrofit projects and development of an overall program to be implemented as funds. become available. In addition, separate studies were made to determine the feasibility of installing a solar system for heating water for the photolabs, which are large-volume users of tempered water. Also, because water is a critical resource in South Dakota, the feasibility of recycling waste water with treatment and filtration was studied. The EROS facility uses 1 million gallons of water per month. Both systems were proven to be cost-effective and were installed in 1979. The solar system, with 510 flat plate collectors of 15 square feet each, is one of the largest in

use. In addition, the facility's computerized management system, a Honeywell Delta 2000, was upgraded with a Delta 1000 to enhance management and make possible additional savings in energy use.

Complementing an already successful 10-year energy management program, three new energy conservation projects are contributing to a 37.2% reduction in energy use. These projects are (1) a heat recovery system, which captures otherwise wasted heat from computers; (2) a trickledown wall solar collector connected to a radiant floor, which provides above-freezing temperatures in the storage building for heavy road-maintenance equipment; and (3) a load shedding program to control demand peak on the electric boiler. Together these three programs resulted in a total annual BTU reduction of 19.5% and an estimated continuing annual savings of 4.6 million BTU's. The success of these innovations has led to the continuing investigation and implementation of other energy projects that will produce even greater energy savings in the future.

Two most recent innovations are (1) using the emergency diesel generator to

EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

power one of the 250-ton centrifugal water chillers during a peak electric power alert and (2) replacing the 65-ton indoor cooling tower, used for the past 12 years for condenser water cooling in the computer room air conditioning, with a unit and system capable of shedding power demand during peak alert times by providing chilled water directly to all computer room air condition

ers.

The EROS energy management program launched in 1975 has not lost its momentum. There is continuing emphasis on fine-tuning the building systems to increase efficiency. Energy management is a high-priority consideration in the longrange repair and improvement program for the EROS center. National recognition of program achievements has furnished an added incentive in the search for new projects, as evidenced by the following recognition and illustrated by the selected program for 1987-88.

In addition to a Federal Energy Efficiency Award in 1985, the EROS Data Center facility management has been the recipient of other State and national recognition. The Heat Recovery Project received a Department of Energy award for design and installation. It also received a third place national award from the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Also, the EROS Data Center was selected by Honeywell to receive Honeywell's "Energy Management Achievement Award" for outstanding accomplishment in controlling energy and reduction of facility operating costs. In addition, the Trickle Down Solar Wall/Deep Heat Radiant Floor and Computerized Load Management were two of six South Dakota energy conservation projects selected by the State to be entered into the Department of Energy's 1985 National Awards Program for Energy Innovation and were singled out for awards.

Top-priority projects in the fiscal year 1988 program include:

Replace two computer room air conditioners, which have reached the end of their lifecycle, with more efficient and higher capacity units. The added capacity will satisfy the need of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) computer and will insure the reliability of the computer room air conditioning.

• Replace indoor cooling tower with a new 85-ton variable-frequency-drive cooling tower. The tower would be installed with its own pump to provide redundant free cooling for the computer room. Also, the original pump will be free to provide heat recovery loop cooling through the heat exchanger.

Shed outdoor lights during peak periods. Since the emergency generator is only used for lighting during power outages, it is available to use for limiting the demand charge. By installing a transfer switch from the generator to the existing panels, 105 kW could be dropped, which would save $1,184 per month.

• Place power roof ventilators on the central building control system. Placing the control of power roof ventilators on the Honeywell Delta 1000 will enable the power roof ventilators to be cycled with the fans to prevent negative pressure in the building.

Investigate the feasibility of converting the ventilation system from cold heat to a variable volume system using variable frequency drives on the fan system.

Automation Initiatives

Improving support services through automation has been a major thrust of the U.S. Geological Survey as it seeks to improve program efficiency and productivity.

The scientific program activities of the USGS require an efficient and responsive network of support services, in order to hire and train staff, procure supplies and services, and manage facilities and equipment. These services, which are provided by the Administrative Division, are increasingly being provided through automated systems. These systems are used to process internal transactions, to provide management information, and to meet external reporting requirements. The systems in operation include such administrative support functions as personnel, space and personal property management, procurement, supply management, and accounting.

Four strategic goals are guiding the bureau's efforts to improve systems: systems should be easy to access and use, computerized processing should replace

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paper processing wherever possible, procedures should be streamlined and standardized, and the various administrative systems should be interconnected to minimize duplication.

Highlights of recent accomplishments include the following:

The Survey's new Personnel Action System provides online processing for the preparation and routing of the Request for Personnel Action (Standard Form 52). The electronic alternative to the paper form used for all job actions (for example, recruitment, hiring, promotions, reassignments) eliminates duplicate data entry and paperwork and allows improved tracking of the status of personnel actions. This system eventually will include performance standard and appraisal tracking, online model performance standards, online position skill requirements, standard position descriptions, and processing of training forms.

• Job vacancy announcements are now transmitted automatically to USGS locations nationwide every week through the Automated Vacancy Announcement Distribution System (AVADS), an electronic mail system. In addition to providing employees with information on job opportunities on a more timely basis, AVADS saves much of the cost of printing and mailing vacancy announcements.

• USGS field offices can now transmit to the Survey's central finance office the information required to process and pay selected vendors' invoices. The Field Entry of Accounting Data (FEAD) project allows remote entry of Blanket Purchase Agreement payment transactions to the bureau financial management system. This not only speeds processing, ensuring prompt payment of bills, but also increases internal controls over the payment process. Duplicate data entry, mailing costs, and mail delays are reduced or eliminated as well. • The Property Management System has been redesigned to improve the quality and timeliness of data pertaining to USGS equipment and vehicles. It will provide improved reporting capabilities to both administrative and program managers regarding inventories, transfers, and other information and will reduce the need for maintaining duplicate information throughout the bureau.

A selection of off-the-shelf software will improve procurement operations by allowing the rapid generation of solicitation and contract documents tailored to the specific requirements of each acquisition. Information processing and document assembly functions will be combined with the automatic provision of relevant Federal Acquisition Regulation text in this system. This initiative will both reduce the lead

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