WJ Editorial: Highlighting The Importance Of Data

Because of the artificial intelligence (AI) buildout, data centers are dominating the national conversation right now, as communities debate their pros and cons, and investors wonder aloud whether or not we are in an AI bubble.

But “data” is not magic. Data is just information, and for AIs to have anything to work with, they must have reliable inputs. There’s an old saying from the 1960s space race programmers at NASA that has lost none of its punch: “Garbage in, garbage out.” In other words, if you don’t enter in good information to begin with, all the computing power in the world can’t help you.

What is the relevance of this to our industry? This week, in his Horizons column, Ken Eriksen highlights issues with Corps of Engineers data delays and gaps that have been growing for years. Those issues are at least as important as delays or gaps in lock and dam repairs and are (potentially, at least) fixable — if there is the will and the execution. Unfortunately, as Eriksen points out, data delays and failures don’t attract attention the way that lock and dam failures do, even though good data is the foundation of everything else.

Eriksen points out that there is plenty of blame to go around, on the part of the Corps, which is tolerating years-long delays in getting out data vital to port and terminal investment; on the part of Congress, whose members and staffers either don’t recognize the problem or won’t target funds to fix it; and not excluding some terminal and barge operators, who are supposed to submit timely information sheets within a 30-day window.

In short, there’s a general complacency among those who are in most need of up-to-date, accurate data about an urgent shortcoming that affects the foundation of the decisions we all — the Corps, Congress and barge, ports and terminal operators alike — need to make.

Updating outdated legacy systems is a massive undertaking, we know. During publicity surrounding the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative earlier this year, much play was made out of the paper records and decades-old legacy software systems on which federal agencies still rely. The Department of War (formerly Defense) has set a final deadline of September 30, 2027, to fully decommission its decades-old, paper-based System Authorization Access Request process.

The Navigation and Civil Works Decision Support Center says the shop is short-handed after retirements and exits, and that after a December 2026 CY25 Waterborne Commerce of the United States/Waterborne Transportation Lines of the United States target it will reevaluate “legacy” files — the very origin-destination detail the industry actually uses.

If the data is important for understanding the needs and benefits of the waterways that we know help make this country great, then there should be a way to collect it that isn’t burdensome to the facility or barge operators we all depend on.