66 -- Soil Moisture Monitoring Equipment

USDA/NRCS Oregon is in the process of making a sole source purchase per FAR 6.302 of the items listed below for the reasons listed below. Reason for Purchase: Monitoring equipment will be used to determine water table levels, soil moisture content, and stream flows. Data gathered from this study will be used in conjunction with other similar data gathered for the soil survey program in Klamath County, Oregon. Data gathered for the Sprague River, Oregon study needs to be compatible with that being collected for soil surveys throughout Oregon. Items needed: For this project, NRCS Oregon has determined it will need to acquire through procurement the following items: 1. 40 each water level sensors 2. 14 each soil moisture sensors 3. 14 each 8-channel dataloggers 4. 6 each 2-channel dataloggers 5. 20 each solar panels 6. 1 each flow probe 7. 1 each flow probe computer 8. 10 each Water Level Logger 9. 6 each Tipping Bucket Rain Gages 10. 20 each Weather Proof Encl 11. 7 each Software, Communication Cables 12. 3 each Palm Pilot Package Proposed Vendor: Global Water Instrumentation, Inc. is a leading manufacturer and distributor of water monitoring equipment specifically designed for the type study NRCS is conducting. Global Water both manufactures and distributes the equipment that meets following NRCS specifications. The instruments need to be compatible with sensors and dataloggers already purchased by the NRCS soils staff to insure data compatibility and simplify downloading data in the field. The following specifications must to be met on the sensors: Water level sensor and logger Sensor Element: Silicone Diaphragm, Wet/Wet Transducer Pressure Range: 0-15' Accuracy: ±0.1% of full scale at constant temperature Outputs: 4-20 mA or 0.5 to 2.5 VDC across 125 ohms Supply Voltage: 10 to 36 VDC Operating Temperature: -40° to +185°F Size: Diameter small enough for a 1" well Soil moisture sensor Sensor type: TDR, time domain reflectometry, measures volumetric water content Range: 0-100% saturation Power Requirements: 12 VDC ± 20% @ 40 mA Output: 4-20mA Dataloggers They must be compatible with water level and soil moisture sensors. Dataloggers must be capable of accepting data from 1 to 5 different sensors and also designed to be re-charged from solar panels. Datalogger must have storage capacity of at least 8,000 time and date stamped data points per channel, 270,000 bytes. They must be capable of recording information by seconds, minutes, hours or days and synchronizing time and date when downloaded to PDAs or laptop computers. Dataloggers must be compatible with Windows XP and Windows Pocket PDA software. Justification for Sole Source Procurement: The NRCS National Soil Survey Center recommends the Global Water water level sensor or logger to monitoring water table levels. NRCS Southeast Soil Survey Region (MO-15) is using Global Water sensors in a regional soil water study. MO-15 has developed a methodology for installing and operating these sensors to develop defensible and consistent data regarding hydric soils, soil moisture and related soil-water properties (see attached workplan). Global Water sensors have been tried and proven by NRCS in other areas to accurately measure water tables and soil moisture. This equipment has already been purchased for use in Klamath County by the soil survey party leader. By using the same equipment for both the Sprague River CEAP study and the soil survey insures data compatibility so results are interchangeable and consistent. This way data from both studies can be used to complement each other. Also by using the same equipment, we will be able to use the same field personnel, computer hardware and software for downloading data in the field for both studies. This will save the agency time and money, as well as improving the quality and quantity of data. A review of other water level and soil moisture sensor manufactures was conducted. No alternative source was identified that could meet all the specifications needed.