Marietta Community Foundation is pleased to announce that it has committed to fund various upgrades to the existing Marietta flood gauge to permit more accurate and timely water level information. As a result of the new equipment, readings from the gauge will be relayed by satellite and officially accepted into the National Weather Service system for calculation of predicted water levels.

   Mayor Michael Mullen has been in discussion with the Foundation since the September flood event which brought the highest floodwaters in over 40 years and was particularly devastating owing to the lack of warnings and accurate information.

   Further enhancement to the new gauge will permit readings from the gauge to be available to Marietta College and the Charter Cable System for broadcast to cable customers.  A graphing capability will also enable river watchers to view a graph of water levels on TV and eventually via the internet. 

   Jack Moberg, President of the Foundation said that board members have been interested in being of assistance with the gauge project since first learning of it at their October meeting.  The September meeting was cancelled as the community was still recovering from the flooding.

   Mullen said the total cost of the new equipment is near $13,000. with the Marietta Community Foundation's portion making the project possible and adding the local readings component.  Other contributors to the overall funding were Ohio Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service.