Watershed Planning Program (Data Management and Water Quality Assessment Section) Intern (Unpaid Internship)

State of Massachusetts • Worcester, MA

46d • Hybrid

About The Position

This internship is unpaid and designed to support students or recent graduates seeking practical experience in the field. Candidates may be eligible to earn academic credit through their college or university. The Watershed Planning Program (WPP) in the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is a statewide program with a mission to protect, enhance, and restore the quality and value of the waters of the Commonwealth. Together with other MassDEP programs and state environmental agencies, WPP shares in the duty and responsibility to secure the environmental, recreational, and public health benefits of clean water for all people of the Commonwealth. As part of the Clean Water Act (CWA), WPP monitors, assesses, and publishes reports on the conditions of all surface waters in the Commonwealth every two years in the "Integrated List of Waters" (or Integrated Reports) and the 303(d) list. The waters of the Commonwealth include over 3,000 lakes and ponds that provide residents and visitors with drinking water, blue spaces, recreational opportunities, and natural beauty. These diverse ecosystems range from large drinking water sources, like the Quabbin; famous waterbodies, like Walden Pond; pristine lakes and ponds in fully forested areas; and smaller ponds providing local swimming areas. Given the importance of lakes and ponds for all people in the Commonwealth, WPP is interested in developing a lake and pond database to support current and future WPP initiatives, such as developing a statewide volunteer lake and pond monitoring program, implementing lake and pond categories to improve the assessment of the Aquatic Life Use in accordance to the Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards, highlighting areas in need of future monitoring, and prioritizing the development of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). This project will create a reference database of lakes and ponds that can be expanded and maintained in the future as additional information is gathered. Data elements will include physical attributes, locational information, available data sources, characteristics, and related metadata. Project objectives are to (1) determine all lakes and ponds in the Commonwealth using existing spatial and modeled data (e.g., NHDPlus), (2) coalesce existing WPP data (e.g., years monitored, existing TMDLs, protection plans, and projects), (3) gather relevant information from partner agencies and other publicly available resources (e.g., bathometry maps), (4) consolidate modeled data and, where applicable, compare modeled data to WPP observed data (e.g., modeled maximum depth compared to observed), and, (5) if time allows, summarize existing spatial data (e.g., LakeCat or calculating surrounding land use). The position will be subject to a hybrid work environment (i.e., partly telework and partly on-site), with a minimum of 7.5 hours per week at the Watershed Planning Program's office in Worcester.

Requirements

• Experience with Microsoft Office suite required.
• Experience with ArcPro and ArcGIS Online required.
• Highly motivated individual with good attention to detail.
• Ability to complete assigned tasks independently.
• Good written and oral communication skills.
• The preferred candidate will have excellent organizational skills, the ability to meet deadlines, and work well both independently and as a member of a team.

Responsibilities

• Aid in developing a database structure for lake and pond information.
• Aid in determining beneficial lake and pond information for all five WPP Sections.
• Review previous internal and external data, studies, reports, or other publicly available information.
• Extract relevant information from a variety of sources.
• Maintain a comprehensive list of sources of information.
• Review, collate, and summarize information into a tabular database.
• Develop appropriate metadata and other documentation.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern
• Industry: Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees