Multiple Purpose Dam & Reservoir Self introduction I work for the US Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District. I am one of six water control managers serving on the District’s Water Control Team. Our job is to regulate the storage and release of water from 16 large multiple purpose reservoirs in the Susquehanna & Potomac River Basins.

Objectives Describe real-time water control mission Introduce new Corps Water Management System (CWMS) Concepts Components Models Products Applications Questions ?? I hope to achieve two objectives in the next 1/2 hour. First, I will very briefly describe real-time water control and what we do to regulate our reservoirs. Second, I will introduce the Corps’ new software package that is designed to help us do our job better and more efficiently. The name of the new package is “Corps Water Management System”. We call it C-W-M-S, or “swims” for short. At the end, there will be an opportunity for questions.

Perspective Corps regulates 700 reservoirs nationwide Real-time water control management decisions are driven by observed data & forecasted conditions There is need for a swift, accurate, & reliable data management system to support real-time decision making From a national perspective, 41 Corps districts are responsible for regulating water storage and release at about 700 storage projects. These projects literally affect millions of people and billions of dollars of property. So it is important that the water control managers have timely, accurate, and reliable information upon which to base their decisions. The new CWMS package that I will be describing today provides the tools water control managers need. These tools allow the managers to quickly process and analyze large quantities of data and to arrive at sound decisions for managing the water resource.

Julie’s District Slide Susquehanna & Potomac River Basins Closer to home, the Baltimore District encompasses the Susquehanna and Potomac River basins covering southern NY, the middle half of PA, northern VA, northeastern WV, most of MD, and D.C. We regulate 14 federal reservoirs and 2 state-owned reservoirs. Our water control decisions affect long rural reaches as well as major communities. We have also built dozens of levees providing local flood protection.

Water Control Mission Simply stated, our mission is “to regulate reservoir projects, in real time, for in-lake and downstream benefits in accordance with authorized project purposes”. There are several key phrases that are underlined in our mission statement. To regulate reservoir projects, in real time, for in-lake and downstream benefits in accordance with authorized project purposes

Project Purposes & Benefits Flood Control Recreation Water Supply Water Quality Hydropower Flow Augmentation (Navigation) First, each of our projects is authorized by Congress for a specific purpose, or set of purposes. This slide contains a list of some of common reservoir purposes. In the Baltimore District, flood control is the primary purpose at all of our reservoirs. Depending on the project, one or two or three of the other project purposes may be included as well. The only purpose that we don’t have is navigation, but it is usually a project purpose in Corps districts that support inland navigation. Regulation for these project purposes generates economic and environmental benefits for a wide variety of users, some of which are depicted on this slide.

Real-Time Water Control Data Precipitation Observed Downstream Flow Usually, I use a slide similar to this one to explain the hydrgraph concept to non-technical audiences. Today, I am going to assume that you know what a hydrograph is. Rather, I want to use the slide to emphasize the real-time nature of our business. Real-time data are the life-blood of the water control manager. Timely and accurate delivery of field data are absolute necessities for making proper water control decisions. As an example, this slide shows the “flashy” response of a stream gage to intense rainfall during Hurricane Ivan. The gage is located about 10 miles downstream from one of our reservoirs, but the contributing watershed also includes a sizable uncontrolled drainage area. The red line shows a quick rise on the rising limb of the hydrograph. As the flow approached flood stage late on the 17th, we closed the outlet gates at the dam to reduce downstream flooding. Reservoir discharge is shown by the green line. The decision to close the gates occurred only a couple of hours after the initial rise began, but before the gage reached flood stage. Likewise, we watched the falling limb closely to determine when we could begin to open again. The main points of this slide are: (1) water control managers need continuous data observations at our stream & rain gages, (2) water control managers need a dependable communication system to transmit the data to a central location, and (3) water control managers need reliable hardware and software tools to store and process the data after we receive it. In case you are wondering, without the dam and the gate closures, the estimated natural flow at this gage would have been about 33,500 cfs. We were able to reduce the river stage by about 10 feet, from almost 26 feet to just under 16 feet. Downstream Flood Level Reservoir Discharge

Water Control Management SERVERS Weather Forecast Data Processing Data Storage Modeling Observed Data Public and Cooperators Field Office This simple diagram shows the typical flow of data and decisions within a water control office. Starting at the lower left, we have the real-time gages that record observed conditions regarding rainfall amounts, river stages, lake elevations, and water quality. Gages are equipped with telemetry units that automatically transmit observed data to a satellite. After several relays, the data are received by a dish on the roof of our office building. From there, the data are downloaded to computer “servers” in our office where the data are processed, stored and made available to water control managers. Water control managers then review the data, perform computations, & make decisions about how to regulate reservoirs for achieving the authorized project purposes. Operational instructions are then communicated to dam tenders via land-line telephone, celllular phone, satellite telephone, or electronically. The dam tenders on-site make the physical changes to gate settings at the dam and other water control structures. The system is set up to operate 24/7/365. Please note that the Corps does not generate weather forecasts. Rather, we rely on the NWS to furnish weather predictions that we then use to develop rainfall/runoff relationships. Instructions Water Control Management Decisions

Corps Water Management System An integrated system of hardware, software, and communication resources supporting the Corps’ real-time water control management mission The water control data system that we were using prior to CWMS had evolved in a piecemeal fashion throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s. As new technical capabilities became available, they were merely appended to the old system. In the mid-1990’s, the Corps’ water control community nationwide recognized the need to modernize its approach. Toward this end, the Corps committed to developing a new Corps Water Management System (CWMS). The objective was to design an integrated system using the most advanced hardware, software, and communication technologies currently available. There were also two additional design objectives: 1) structure the system so that it could be deployed in any Corps district or similar organization with a water control mission (ie, not site-specific), and 2) structure the system components so that they worked as “seamlessly” as possible.

CWMS Development HEC - system developer CURG - requirements, design, & testing Status Concepts: mid-1990’s Development: 1997 to 2001 Field deployment: 2001 to 2002 Current version: 1.3 The Corps’ Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) was assigned the lead role as system developer. To assist them, HEC assembled a Corps User Representatives Group (CURG) to formulate the system requirements and specifications, to identify design criteria, and to beta-test the early products. This group consisted of about 50 individuals such as myself from all Corps districts around the country. HEC drew upon our experience to develop a system that served the needs of the real-time water control manager. CWMS development was an arduous task, and took about 5 years extending from early 1997 through 2001. System deployment to all Corps districts then took about 2 years. All districts are now in the process of gradually implementing the various CWMS components. It is a lengthy process. As with any new software/hardware system, there are continuing improvements. HEC just recently released Version 1.3.

Information dissemination CWMS Components Data Collection Data Base Watershed Modeling The components of CWMS can be viewed as a jigsaw puzzle. There are five interlocking pieces. The pieces around the perimeter all deal with some aspect of data management: acquiring data storing data visualizing data disseminating data The key component that interacts with all the data management activities is the piece in the middle - watershed modeling. It is this component that allows us to use observed real-time data and predicted precipitation to create a forecast of future watershed conditions. Data Visualization Information dissemination

Data Acquisition Collect: Decode Validate Transform Real-time data: observed stream flow, precipitation, temperature, water quality, gate settings, reservoir levels, etc. Static data: physical data for model development Decode Validate Transform The first component of CWMS is the acquisition of data. The data collected for use in CWMS can be classified as either real-time data or static information. I’ve already discussed our real-time data collection network. Real-time data can include parameters such as river stage, reservoir elevation, or precipitation and is collected 24/7/365. On the other hand, static data is data that remains constant, or only changes occasionally. Static data is normally used to develop and calibrate the watershed models. Examples might include: channel geometry, spillway elevation, or reservoir storage capacity. Real-time data is put through a data processing sequence that includes: 1) decoding (interpreting the electronic bits & bytes) 2) validating (screening the data for errors) 3) transforming (converting river stage to flow, pool elevation to storage, & so on)

Data Storage ORACLE is CWMS database Interfaces with other databases (incl DSS) Accessible by multiple users Modeling Extracts data for analyses Posts results for decision-making Once we acquire data, we need to permanently store it in a way that it is easily retrievable. CWMS uses the ORACLE relational database as the data warehouse. ORACLE is capable of storing vast amounts of data for instant retrieval by multiple concurrent users. It can store time-series data, static project data, and “generated” data coming from CWMS watershed modeling and forecasting.

Data Visualization Another important feature of CWMS is the ability to visualize the data. We must provide a way for the water control manager to quickly, easily, and accurately view data and modeling results. It is easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of real-time data. Therefore, a concise view of the data and watershed status is essential for making good water control decisions. CWMS provides a variety of ways of viewing information, such as graphs, tables, plots and maps. I will show you some of these products later.

Data Dissemination Common information source Data & information placed on WEB-based platform Available to Corps users & outside interests Real-time availability The remaining piece around the puzzle perimeter is the data dissemination component - a means for us to make information readily available to interested parties other than the water control managers. These interested parties might range from other offices in our District to other stakeholder agencies to public & private interests. Internet services, e-mail, and other automated technologies make it convenient to post timely information where others can access it easily.

Watershed Modeling RAS FIA ResSim HMS (Hydraulics) (Damages) (Storage) HMS (Hydrology) The modeling component of CWMS consists of 4 mathematical programs that simulate the hydrologic,hydraulic, and economic conditions in a watershed. The 4 programs are: HEC-HMS - the hydrologic modeling system HEC-ResSim-the reservoir simulation system HEC-RAS - the river analysis system HEC-FIA - flow impact analysis A complete watershed model consists of a package of all 4 programs. Even though each of the models can be run separately, CWMS provides a way to link the models together, allowing them to run seamlessly. Once the programs are properly linked, a watershed forecast can be run to test a basin’s response to anticipated precipitation. Model parameters can be easily adjusted to test the sensitivity of the watershed forecast to different assumptions.

HEC-HMS Hydrologic Modeling System Computes runoff from observed & forecasted precipitation The purpose of HMS is to simulate a precipitation event using observed and forecasted precipitation, and to compute the runoff from that event. In other words, it transforms rainfall into runoff after accounting for losses.

HEC-RESSIM Reservoir Simulation System Simulates reservoir regulation using inflow hydrographs & project characteristics The main purpose of the second program - the Reservoir Simulation System - is to simulate reservoir operation. It picks up the flow hydrographs computed by HMS and uses them as reservoir inflow. Reservoir storage and release can then be calculated based on various gate settings and downstream targets. RES-SIM can be set up to handle one or more reservoirs regulating for multiple project purposes at several downstream control points

HEC-RAS River Analysis System Analyzes river hydraulics to compute water depth, velocity, & inundation boundaries The RAS program picks up the flows computed by ResSim, or HMS if there is no reservoir, and uses them to determine river stages and velocities downstream in the river channel.

HEC-FIA Flow Impact Analysis Assesses damages & benefits based on river stage The FIA program uses river stages and flows produced by the other models plus basic economic information to assess the damage caused by flooding.

Real-Time Forecast I see Hurricane Ivan in your future. The CWMS components that I have described so far, real-time data acquisition, storage, and visualization, together with watershed models and NWS precipitation estimates, provide the information needed to run a real-time watershed forecast. Preparing a forecast involves using observed data up to the present time, predicted precipitation for a time interval into the future, and then forecasting the watershed’s response to the expected precipitation. The results of the forecast can be used to make reservoir regulation decisions with the knowledge of how those decisions will affect reservoir storage and downstream river flows and stages. Sometimes, several iterations are needed to arrive at a “reasonable” forecast. Or the water control manager might want to look at multiple scenarios using different rainfall predictions or different regulation scenarios to test the sensitivity of the forecast to various assumptions. .

CWMS Products The next few slides display a just a few of the products generated by the CWMS suite of software. There are many others. You will notice many of the products contain data that are geo-referenced to underlying maps.

Status of Data Acquisition We invest a lot of effort in setting up and maintaining our data networks so that they can function 24/7/365. This slide displays a CWMS product that allows us to visually monitor the “health” of our data acquisition networks. First, on the right side, the bars represent four of our incoming data streams. On this particular day (27 Jan 2003), the NAE/NOAA data stream was not working for some reason - indicated by a red color. The next two data streams - SHEF and DROT - were functioning and healthy - indicated by a green color. And the fourth data stream - DROT2 - was not hooked yet - indicated by a gray color. The left side shows a map displaying the status of the data coming in from the individual gages in the watershed. Each bar represents a given time period. The color in the bar indicates the “quality” of the data that has been received throughout the time period. See the legend for the quality color indicators. This feature allows us to monitor the performance of remote gages from a central location. The Snowshoe gage, for example, looks like it was not altogether healthy - there was good data (green), questionable data (yellow), and periods with missing data (black). Again, the purpose of this CWMS product is to provide a snapshot showing the health of the data streams as well as the reports from individual gages.

Threshold Bars Cautionary Stage Above Flood Stage At first glance, this CWMS product looks a little bit like the previous slide. It is created, however, for a completely different purpose and conveys different information. As before, each bar represents a time window for a particular gage. In this case, the time window is from 17-22 Jan 1996. The color bars are set up to change colors when certain thresholds are exceeded. Depending on the color, the color bar “alerts” the water control manager when incoming data values exceed pre-determined thresholds. On this slide, for instance, yellow indicates river levels above cautionary stages and red indicates river levels above flood stage. The water control manager can quickly assess the severity and distribution of flooding throughout the watershed. Cautionary Stage Above Flood Stage

Plots Real-time data plots display the traditional hydrographs that we rely upon. These plots are updated whenever new data are received, usually every hour. Plots are available for every river gage, precipitation gage, reservoir elevation gage, and water quality gage. The plots can also be configured in a various ways, depending on the needs and preferences of the water control manager. This slide for the Sayers reservoir shows precipitation at the dam, lake inflow and outflow, and lake elevation. Inflow Outflow

Forecast Results Lake Elevation Inflow Outflow Time of Forecast Lake Elevation Typical hydrographs can also be produced to show the results of watershed forecasts. These plots are referenced to the time the forecast was made. To the left of the dotted line, the plots display observed inflow, outflow, and lake elevation data up to the time of forecast. To the right of the dotted line, the plots display the expected response of the system to predicted precipitation and gate operations at the dam for downstream flood control. Inflow Outflow

Impacts & Required Responses Once the watershed forecast is prepared, the water control manager can then identify if and when reservoir levels will reach critical elevations. Another useful CWMS product is the impact response table. On this slide, I have shown four columns providing information about impacts and required actions within the reservoir area at Sayers Lake. This particular table was prepared on the morning of 28 May when heavy rain was expected within the next 24 hours. Column 1 shows critical reservoir elevations, while Column 2 lists the project features that are affected by water levels at those elevations. Column 3 describes the actions that are necessary to avoid or minimize the impacts of the lake rising to the critical elevations. And Column 4 provides a forecast of the date and time when the lake is expected to reach the critical elevations. Remembering that the watershed forecast was run early on 28 May, the table is showing the lake rising throughout the day on 29 May, and in fact, continuing to rise until 02 June. Such information helps the dam tender and the Park Manager anticipate road closures, campground evacuations, etc. Similar impact response tables can also be prepared for downstream communities, but they are driven off of predicted stages at river gages rather than reservoir elevations.

Data Dissemination After our internal processing tasks are complete, observed real-time data can be posted to websites where other Corps offices, project partners, stakeholders, and the general public can view it.

Flood Inundation Mapping Another very useful CWMS tool is the ability to geographically identify areas that would be inundated from a predicted high water event. On this slide, the blue shaded area shows the expected extent of flooding based on the watershed forecast. This capability is particularly useful for flood warning and emergency response.

CWMS Applications Real-time watershed forecasts Water control decision support Emergency planning and response Project planning (new projects, alternative projects, modified regulation) Post-event analyses (benefits) Flood plain studies The new CWMS package has many potential applications. First and foremost, CWMS is a real-time water control decision tool for evaluating various regulation scenarios. Although I’ve emphasized high water conditions control throughout most of my presentation, CWMS is also applicable to moderate and low flow conditions. Emergency planning and response – The impact action table can be used to identify emergency responses that are required and can provide estimates for when those responses need to occur. Project planning – CWMS can be used to examine the placement and sizing of new projects or to analyze changes to the regulation of existing projects. Project evaluation - CWMS can be used to evaluate project performance immediately after a high water event, and to prepare post flood reports. Flood plain studies - Inundation maps can be used to identify evacuation routes, safety zones/shelters, hazardous crossings,etc.

Corps Water Management System CWMS In conclusion, the new Corps Water Management System is a long overdue improvement for our water management “toolbox”. Additionally, it has potential applications far beyond the water control community. CWMS incorporates: - Some of the latest technological advances in data management, communications, and hardware; - It integrates cutting edge modeling capabilities of several disciplines; - It enhances data visualization in both time & space; and - It employs the power of the WEB for information dissemination to others. Thank you for your interest and attention. Questions ??????