ORSANCOTechnical Committee

Erich EmeryUSACEGreat Lakes & Ohio River Division11-Oct-2011

1US Army Corps of Engineers

BUILDING STRONG®

Developments & Initiatives

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Remote Sensing Workshop• 79 Multi-Purpose Reservoirs• 16,000 miles of shoreline• 100 million annual visitors to LRD waters• Water Quality • Scoping / Collaboration

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Why Remote Sensing?• 79 Multi-Purpose Reservoirs• 16,000 miles of shoreline• 100 million annual visitors to LRD waters• Water Quality • Improved spatial coverage of WQ monitoring• Historical perspective• Understanding and Integration of Stream/Lake/Watershed

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Remote Sensing Pilot Effort

• ERDC-Water Operations Technical Support– Technical review of remote sensing capabilities

(state of the science)– Draft scope of work for pilot project

• Initially targeting East Fork Lake (near Cincinnati, OH)• Airborne, satellite and ground data• Research elements include:

– HAB screening; drinking water protection; agricultural/landuse impacts; and new sensor testing .

• Land and water applications to be explored.– Nutrients in soils; BMP effectiveness

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Water Quality Workshop

• December 7-8, 2011– Seeking collaborative approaches to effectively solve

water quality problems– Engage customers, stakeholders and partners– Routine communication to facilitate the integration and

leveraging of resources and capabilities among partners– Share data, results and lessons learned– Move us towards watershed solutions

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Sustainable Ohio River Solutions

• Towards a regional plan for optimal system operation

• Flow and Water Quality Modeling• Supporting the needs of USACE and stakeholders– June 2011 - ORSANCO identified the need for re-installing

USACE-supported WQ gage on the lower Ohio River.– USACE interest in adding WQ to existing or new Ohio River

modeling efforts

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A Path Forward

• USACE engaging Ohio River hydro operators• Plan will encourage hydro operators to provide real-time

water quality data; USACE to recommend that the USGS be engaged for gage installation and support.– Data would be available in real-time via GOES Sat Network and web

services (see Markland example)

• Towards improved consistency, reliability, availability, and quality.

• A letter of support from the Commission would bolster the Corps’ efforts to improve the current Ohio River monitoring network.

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Questions?

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