Editorial & Verification Policy

1. Research & Source Selection Standards

WaterLakeLevel maintains strict criteria for all published hydrological numbers, bathymetric data, and weather forecasts. We obtain data exclusively from recognized federal, state, and regional water resource agencies, including:

• United States Geological Survey (USGS): National Water Information System (NWIS) and Water Data REST APIs.
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) and National Weather Service (NWS).
• Operating Dam Authorities: Direct documentation from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and state river authorities.

We strictly forbid scraping third-party blogs, crowdsourced fishing forums, or unverified commercial portals. If an official government or operator gauge cannot be linked to a waterbody, that waterbody is marked "hold" and is not published.

2. Data Freshness & Verification Cadence

Hydrological conditions evolve continuously. Our automated backend queries official endpoints at regular intervals:

• Current Water Levels: Cached for 15 to 30 minutes. If a gauge fails to report for over 48 hours, our software marks the reading as "Stale" with a visible alert tag.
• Wind & Weather Forecasts: Synchronized with the National Weather Service every 30 minutes.
• Historical Climatology: Daily percentiles are recomputed monthly via automated cron jobs.
• Editorial Articles & Guides: Reviewed annually by our editor to verify dam operating rules, marina contacts, and agency URL migrations.

3. Transparency Regarding AI Tools & Drafting

In accordance with our commitment to transparency and Google Search quality guidelines:

AI assistance tools may be used by our editorial staff for preliminary research organization, grammar editing, and data structuring. However, no article, guide, or tool calculation is published without manual human verification. Every factual statement, agency URL, elevation datum, and mathematical formula is checked and confirmed by our editor, Keshav Chouhan, before going live.

4. Corrections Policy

When an error or outdated figure is detected, we correct it promptly and transparently:

• Minor Typographical Fixes: Corrected immediately without a formal correction notice.
• Substantive Factual Errors: (Such as a revised full-pool elevation, an incorrect datum label, or an updated boat ramp status) are corrected immediately, accompanied by an editor's note indicating what was altered and on what date.

Anyone can report an error or suggest a data clarification by submitting our Corrections Form or emailing our editorial desk directly at support@waterlakelevel.com.