Referencing and Analyzing Dams with the National Hydrography Dataset Jeff Simley, U.S. Geological Survey Bill Smith, U.S. Geological Survey
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Dam Network upstream of dam blocked by dam Upstream navigation start Red: Everything upstream
90 ft. NID dam location Edited dam location Indexed dam location Lake Dam address: Reach: Measure:
NID dam location is reasonable
Correct location for purposes of the NHD
Look at dam name and river name to determine where the dam belongs NID location
Look at NHD name and flow
Moved dam here to get proper indexing result
NID Dam location Assumed correct dam location
NID location Assumed location Use name to aide decision
Easily made assumption of correct dam location based on graphics Use name to confirm
Assume location simply by stream name Assume location at nearest spot with only stream name for guidance
No evidence of a dam
No evidence of dam
Non-indexable Dam location
NID dam right on stream looks like a hit, but no evidence of a dam in imagery
Three NID dams with no evidence in imagery
Assume dam belongs on lake NID location Indexed location Lake
NID location almost right on stream, but no evidence dam, except possibly nearby lakes
Dam NID location
Dam and lake not connected to NHD network No point in indexing this, but may want to improve location of dam
Can’t find the lake this dam belongs to
Make assumption of dam location based on name and graphics
Actually have dam in NHD to confirm location
Not enough information in location or stream name to Make decision Not enough information in location or stream name to make decision on correct location
Dam near wrong flowline for proper position
Dam has two outlets in NHD
Dam has two outlets in NHD
Dam has two outlets in NHD
Dam has two outlets on map, but only one in NHD
Two streams impounded by one dam
Two NID dams Two NHD flowlines Unclear what second dam does
Question of where exactly to index dams
Lake has two outlets
Create dummy dam Move NID dam
Moved dam and indexed Created dummy dam and indexed
Use flow direction to determine dam location at just one outlet point
Two outlets, but only one dam
Two dams represented by one NID dam
Corrected dam location Dummy dam Non-indexable dam
Indexing results with 50 ft tolerance All but non-connected dams have indexed
Properly indexed dams
Dams on Colorado River system upstream of Blue River confluence
Colorado River system dams with normal storage of over 1,000 acre-feet
Dams upstream of Blue River confluence with normal storage over 2,000 acre-feet
Dams upstream of Blue River confluence Built before 1960