US Army Corps of Engineers

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Flood Response: NASA Workshop

Chandra S. Pathak, PhD, PE

Tony Young, PE

US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

USACE Water Management

14 June 2016

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Agenda

• Background of USACE

• Flood Risk Management

• Corps Water Management System (CWMS)

• CWMS National Implementation Plan

• Falls Lake and John H. Kerr Projects

• Summary and Conclusion

• Questions and Discussion

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Why USACE in Water Resources? 1802: Modern Corps of Engineers founded; West

Point established as first U.S. engineering school

► President Jefferson’s concept: a body of engineers

able to take on work of “a civil nature” as well as

military work

1824: General Survey Act: Corps authorized to survey

road and canal routes on national military or

commercial significance

1824: Rivers & Harbors Act authorized first Corps

work in clearing obstacles on Ohio, Mississippi Rivers

and at ports

1850: Congress authorizes first Corps studies of

potential flooding on Mississippi River

1879: Mississippi River Commission established

1914: Panama Canal completed

1927: Great Mississippi River Flood

1928: Flood Control Act establishes Mississippi

River & Tributaries (MR&T) Flood Control project

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Milestones of USACE 1936: Flood Control Act establishes nationwide Corps

protection mission

~1935-65: “Big Dam Era”

1955: USACE flood-fighting and repair of flood control works

authorized under P.L. 84-99

1970: National Environmental Policy Act requires

environmental analysis of all proposed Corps activities

1986: Water Resources Development Act requires cost

sharing for most projects

• 1988: Stafford Act gives FEMA responsibility to coordinate

government-wide emergency response efforts. Federal

Response Plan includes 28 Federal agencies and non-

government organizations. USACE designated as lead for

Emergency Support Function #3 (Public Works & Engineering)

• 1989, 1992: Hurricanes Hugo, Andrew

• 2005: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

• 2011: Greater New Orleans Hurricane & Storm Damage Risk

Reduction System provides “100-year flood” level of protection

USACE Mission AreasR

ea

l

Es

tate

• DOD Recruiting Facilities

• Contingency Operations

• Acquire, Manage and

Dispose

• Intelligence

• Federal

• State

• Local

• International

Homeland

Security

Research & Development

• MILCON for Modular Force

Global Positioning

• BRAC 05

• Field Force Engineering

• MILCON Transformation

• Environmental Restoration Civ

il W

ork

s

• Flood Risk Management

• Navigation, Hydropower

• Water Supply, Regulatory

• Recreation, Disaster Response

• Environmental Restoration

• Water Resources

• Environment

• Installations

• Warfighter

• Critical Infrastructure

• Anti Terrorism Plans

• Facility SecurityPartnership

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Civil Works Divisions & Districts

Pacific

Ocean

Division

Southwestern

South

Atlantic

South Pacific

Mississippi

Valley

North

Atlantic

Great Lakes &

Ohio RiverNorthwestern

LEGEND:

Division HQ location

District HQ location

Division boundary

District boundary

State boundary

AlaskaSeattle

Walla

WallaPortland

San

Francisco

Los

Angeles

Honolulu

Albuquerque

Omaha

Kansas City

Tulsa

Ft. Worth

Galveston

Little

Rock

St.

Louis

Rock

Island

St. Paul

Vicks-

burg

New Orleans

Mobile

Jacksonville

Savannah

Charleston

Wilmington

Norfolk

Philadelphia

New York

New

England

Detroit

Buffalo

Balti-

morePitts-

burghChicago

Memphis

Nashville

Louisville

Hunting-

ton

Sacramento

Cincinnati

Dallas

Atlanta

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Navigation (39%)

Flood Risk (28%)

Management

Ecosystem (14%)

Restoration & Stewardship

Hydropower (4%)

Recreation & Natural (5%)

Resource Management

Regulatory Program: (4%)

Wetlands & Waterways

Water Supply (1%)

Emergency Management (1%)

Expenses (4%)

Civil Works Program

Lock and Dam 15 (Mississippi River, IL/IA)

Flood Wall, Williamson, KY

Florida Everglades

Dredge ESSAYONS (Coos Bay, OR)

Bonneville II Powerhouse, WA

Delivering enduring, comprehensive,

sustainable, and integrated solutions

to the Nation’s water resources and

related challenges through

collaboration with our stakeholders

( Regions, States, localities, Tribes, other Federal agencies )

Preserving the Strength of the Nation

Greers Ferry Lake, AR

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- 709 Dams and Reservoirs

- 2500 Levee Systems14,500 miles of levees

Primary PurposesFlood Risk Management

Low Flow Augmentation

for Water Quality & Navigation

Aquatic Ecosystems

Secondary Purposes

Recreation

Fish & Wildlife Conservation

Water Supply

Hydropower

USACE Infrastructure

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Value Provided to the Nation

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Value Provided to the Nation

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Water Management MissionRegulate Reservoirs to Support Congressionally Authorized Purposes

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FLOOD CONTROL POOL

CONSERVATION POOL

(HP/WS/WQ pool)

INACTIVE POOL

DAM

INDUCED SURCHARGE POOLTainter

Gate

Storage ZonesFlood Damage Risk Reduction Project

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USACE Water Management

Modernization: CWMS

Operational Decisions Inundation Mapping

• Real-Time Decision Support for Water Management

• 700+ Multipurpose Reservoirs, Flow Control Structures, and

thousands of miles of

levees and other

structures.

• To achieve the full range

of authorized purposes

from all of USACE

projects

• Floods to droughts and

everything in between

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CWMS Software Integrates the Processing

from Data to Water Management Decisions

Data Processing

Data StorageModelingObserved

Data

Water Control

Management

Decisions

Instructions

SERVERS

Public and Cooperators

Field Office

WeatherForecast

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Data

Collection Database

Modeling

Information

disseminationData

Visualization

HydraulicsConsequence

Storage Hydrology

QPE/ QPF

Data

CWMS Components

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Corps Water Management System

(CWMS)

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Hydrologic Modeling (HEC-HMS)

■ Computes streamflow

hydrographs throughout

a river basin given

observed and

forecasted precipitation

(e.g., precipitation

gages, NexRad radar

rainfall) and watershed

runoff characteristics.

■ "Event-oriented" model

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■ Simulates reservoir operations

throughout a river basin given

streamflows and reservoir

operating rules and computes

downstream hydrographs.

■ Uses reservoir inflow and

downstream local hydrographs

computed by HEC-HMS.

■ The impact of the hydrographs

are then evaluated with HEC-

RAS and HEC-FIA.

Reservoir Operations

with HEC-ResSim

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■ Computes river velocities, stages,

and inundated areas given

streamflow and river/floodplain

geometry and hydraulic

characteristics (river hydraulics).

■ Computes water surface profiles

and stage hydrographs from HEC-

ResSim hydrographs.

■ Steady-flow or unsteady-flow

analysis; water quality; and

temperature. Soon to be two-

dimensional.

■ Channel friction adjusted

through CWMS interface.

River Hydraulics

(HEC-RAS)

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■ Computes damages to structures

and other contents of the

floodplain (including agricultural)

given river stages and damage

relationships.

■ Computes damages and benefits

between different scenarios, and

with and without project conditions.

■ Estimates Life Loss

■ "Action tables" provide a list and

time of actions to take during an

event, based on forecasted

stages.

Consequence Analysis

(HEC-FIA)

Public release of the CWMS model integration components for real-time decision support.

PC-based (not client-server).

Direct access to HEC-HMS, HEC-RAS and HEC-GeoRAS.

Obtains time-series data from HEC-DSS (not Oracle).

Plans for a public Application Programming Interface (API) to link to other kinds of databases (e.g., Access).

No data acquisition/verification processing capabilities.

Real-Time Simulation

(HEC-RTS)

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■ Hydrologic/hydraulic simulation

models for short-term forecasts and

event scenarios.

■ Discrete models developed outside

CWMS and then linked together.

■ Spatially distributed models.

■ Typically use one week of observed

data and evaluate results two weeks

into the future.

■ Evaluate a variety of scenarios:

● Future precipitation amounts and timing

● Reservoir operations

● Levee failures

CWMS Modeling

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• USACE has a water management role in 201

watersheds throughout the United States

• Being implemented by teams coordinated by the

Mapping Modeling & Consequences Center (MMC)

• 60 watersheds will be operational by the end of

2015

• Completed models are used by local District offices

for daily water management activities and

additionally used for other activities such as

emergency management, planning studies, dam

and levee safety

CWMS National Implementation Plan

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CWMS National Implementation Plan

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CWMS National Implementation PlanSAW CWMS Models

> Developed/Being Implemented

• Neuse/Falls

• Cape Fear/Jordan

• Yadkin/Scott

> Being Developed

• Roanoke/Kerr/Philpott

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John H Kerr Reservoir – Operational Guide Curve

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■ CWMS is a USACE modern

decision support system for water

management and being

implemented nationwide.

Summary

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Questions?

Discussion…