Floodplain & Water Resources

Management

Opportunities & Challenges

ASFPM Annual Conference

Grand Rapids, Michigan

June 21, 2016

Jim Morris

Director

USGS Michigan-Ohio Water Science Center

USGS provides science about the natural

hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods; the

water, energy, minerals, and other natural

resources we rely on; the health of our

ecosystems and environment; and the impacts

of climate and land-use change.

Our scientists develop new methods and tools

to supply timely, relevant, and useful

information about the Earth and its processes.

Water program staff are located at nearly 180 locations (all 50 States,

Puerto Rico, American Samoa and Guam) including a National Center

in Reston.

Water Workforce

That’s exactly the state of water — we’ve

got crises percolating all over, but lack

the data necessary to make smart policy

decisions.

Charles Fishman - author of “The Big Thirst:

The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water.”

(“Water Is Broken. Data Can Fix It.” New York Times OpEd March 17, 2016)

Good data creates useful information

Useful information creates informed

knowledge

Informed knowledge supports effective

actions

More than 8,100

real-time surface-

water discharge

sites

Funded by over

850 partners

Totaling $160M in

FY15

Funding Sources

Surface Water Streamgage Network

USGS Groundwater and Streamflow Information

Program (Federal Priority Streamgages)

31% $49.4M

Other Federal Agencies 18% $28.5M

Other (FERC, Coop R&D Agreements) 4% $6.4M

States, municipalities, and Tribes 47% $75.4M

Water Data Delivery

NWISweb – webpages

WaterServices – streamed data

WaterAlert – push

WaterNow – on demand

WaterWatch – mapping

Surface WaterWatch GroundwaterWatch WaterQualityWatch (Temp)

WaterWatch

WaterAlert: Gages Can Contact You!

Site number

Alert level

Contact

information

Future of water

data delivery

Redesigned to

provide a

nationwide

interactive and

map-based water

data dashboard

Open and accessible data

USGS has always had as part of its mission

to make accessible its data as soon as

possible

New White House initiatives (2013) are driving

all federally funded research to make the data

collected and used in the research accessible

to the public

Real-time Data Delivery Demands

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

20

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NWISWeb and NWIS Water Services in Millions of Successful Page Requests per month

Water ServicesWater Data

Through July, 2015

Close to 8,100 USGS Gages reporting

current stream conditions in NWIS

Over 3,400 NWS Flood

Forecast/Warning locations in AHPS

USGS and NWS Data Networks

USGS Streamgaging and NWS Flood

Forecasting PartnershipUSGS

Rating

Over 4,000 NWS River

Forecast LocationsMore than 8,100 USGS

Streamgages

Rainfall

Runoff

Model

NWS

Rainfall

Forecast

NWS

Predictions

USGS

Observations

Flood Inundation Mapping Program

Create a flood map library at a USGS gage

Uses hydraulic modeling and GIS

Sister program with NWS

Allow anyone that meets USGS

standards to submit a library (Furnished FIM)

Flood Inundation Maps

translate a hydrograph into

operational maps that

communicate risk and

consequences

FIM becomes a tool for flood… Preparedness

“What-if” scenarios

Response

Tied to gage & forecast data

Recovery

Damage assessment

Mitigation & planning

Flood risk analyses

Environmental &

ecological assessments

FIM becomes a tool for flood…

Ecological studies of

floodplains

Such as frequency of

inundation

Riparian habitat

7-day inundation areas

Hazardous substance

spills

Kalamazoo River

Oil Spill

USGS Current FIM Research Directions

RapidFIM

Testing viability and accuracy of non-H&H

methods of developing flood map libraries

Bathtub; GISFlood Tool; FIS interpolation; Imagery

(photo and satellite) processing

SAR (synthetic aperture radar) from satellite and UAV

was tested in the most recent event on the

Missouri/Mississippi.

EcoFIM

Wetland and/or soils based mapping

Working with biologists on additional parameters

i.e. x-day inundation areas, velocity mapping, and habitat

indexes.

USGS Current FIM Research, Cont.

SatelliteFIM

Partnership with NASA Ames Robotic Lab and

EROS to bring their imagery analysis algorithms to

HDDS

Operationalize the identification of inundation

areas in remote observations

LANDSAT, MODIS, SAR, _________

Pilot algorithms in place by Q2 FY17

Automatic routines established by Q4FY17

Michigan FIM Efforts

Lansing – completed

Presentation today by Cyndi Rachol –

session B7 at 1:45, room GGO-G

Hamberg – in progress

Under Discussion

Newagyo

Ann Arbor

Integrated Water Resources Science

& Services (IWRSS)

Goals:

integrate information delivery and simplify access to

this data

increase accuracy and timeliness of water

information

provide summit-to-the-sea high resolution water

resources information and forecasts

Currently the collaboration is with four

United States (U.S.) federal agencies: USACE, USGS,

NOAA-NWS, FEMA

ACWI Subcommittee on Hydrology

Streamflow Information

Collaborative

New workgroup comprised of federal, state, and local

partners

Come together to further the implementation of a

national network of streamgages to meet the myriad

of streamflow information needs

Create cohesive messaging about the value, uses,

economic benefits, and critical gaps in our Nation’s

streamflow information network

Streamgaging

Forwards and Backwards

Streamgaging Forwards

Large Scale Particle

Image Velocimetry

Continuous WaveMicrowave

Non-contact

Stage RDG

Non-contact

Velocity

Satellite Observed

DischargeAccuracy ~67% for 4-day

mean dischargesBrakenbridge and others, 2012

Journal of Hydrology

UAS

Streamgaging Backwards: B17C

Ocheyeden River near Spencer, Iowa

-----------------Systematic Record-----------------

38 years

------Historical Record------

1953 peak and 1969 peak

New info used by B17C :

“perception range”

1980 1990 2000 20101960 1970

Annual P

eak D

ischarg

e [

cfs

]

But we know

“big floods”

occurred in the

1950’s and

1960’s.A

nnual P

eak D

ischarg

e [

cfs

]

1% AEP Flood:

7,912 cfs

Annual exceedance probability

Gaged Record Only

B17C Results: Ocheyeden River near Spencer, Iowa

1% AEP Flood:

7,912 cfs 17,170 cfs

Annual exceedance probability Annual exceedance probability

Historical Information AddedGaged Record Only

B17C Results: Ocheyeden River near Spencer, Iowa

Bulletin 17C Workshop

Training Workshop

Today at 3:00 Room RO-B

Julie Kiang, USGS Officeof Surface Water

http://water.usgs.gov/floods/

Opportunities

All collectd flood information can be helpful –

Bulletin 17C can make use of information

collected from old newspapers, pictures,

paoleo record, etc. to help inform foll

frequency predictions

USGS will be adding the opportunity for

furnished high water marks to be added to

the USGS high water database, creating an

opportunity to store, save, and deliver this

information

Challenges

Coordinating data collection and information

products

Creating long-term support for data collection

networks

Understanding the uncertainities involved in

different data collection efforts

Working together and sharing great ideas

Good data creates useful information

Useful information creates informed

knowledge

Informed knowledge supports effective

actions

Thanks