In 2002, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) took part in a new way of exchanging data with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other states. Through a grant received from the EPA, DEC installed a state of the art java-based application delivery infrastructure based on IBM WebSphere, and developed a secure information exchange with EPA using web services technology.
Building upon this success, DEC then engaged in a pilot project to automate data exchange between DEC and the state Department of Health. This pilot is the first of its kind in the country. Data exchange system between DEC and DOH enables agencies to share data about environmental hazards, exposures and health effects over space and time. Real-time data flow provides joint decision support, professional collaboration and rapid dissemination of information to both public health and environmental agencies. The successes and lessons learned are applicable to other intrastate data exchanges across the country in other disciplines like criminal justice or transportation.
