ORSANCO Technical Committee Erich Emery USACE Great Lakes & Ohio River Division 11-Oct US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG ®

Developments & Initiatives 2

Remote Sensing Workshop 79 Multi-Purpose Reservoirs 16,000 miles of shoreline 100 million annual visitors to LRD waters Water Quality Scoping / Collaboration 3

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 4 WATERSHEDLAKESTREAM

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 5

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 6

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 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 7

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. 8

Questions? 9