Billinghurst Middle School is located in the Truckee Meadows, a river plain that includes the Northern Nevada communities of Reno and Sparks. As the name implies, the area's water supply is served primarily from the Truckee River. It has been estimated that the Truckee River is the most legislated, regulated, litigated river in the United States. It certainly has a tumultuous political history, but recently most of the parties in disagreement over the use of the Truckee's water have signed what has come to be known as The Negotiated Settlement . Under that settlement the water masters of both California and Nevada are required by law to maintain certain flow rates, at certain dates, measured at designated locations, in order to provide irrigation for farmers and ranchers, provide domestic and commercial water needs in the Truckee Meadows, and support the fisheries of Pyramid Lake and the Pyramid Lake Tribe, as well as provide recreational opportunities for Northern Nevadans.

Those flow rates are regulated and maintained through a series of dams and gates that adjust the outflows from reservoirs that supplement the Truckee's natural flow from its source, Lake Tahoe. This project is an attempt to better understand that process by duplicating it through the use of simple technology.