National Weather Service: Delaware River Basin Commission

Interactions

National HIC MeetingKansas City, MOJuly 9, 2009

George McKillop

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Tonight’s Discussion

• Public Law 87-378 (The Compact): A breakthrough in water resources management (1961)

• Delaware River Basin– Background– Why DRBC was created– DRBC Programs– DRBC Advisory Committees– Water Resources Plan

• NOAA’s Role

• NOAA’s Integrated Water Forecasting Program: Responding to the Regional Imperative (2012)

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The Delaware River BasinWatershed facts

• Longest undammed river east of the Mississippi

• 330 miles from Hancock, NY to the Atlantic Ocean

• 13,500 sq mi drainage• 15 million people dependent for

drinking water & industrial use • National Estuary Program• World’s largest freshwater port• Port Complex generates $19

billion in annual economics activities

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Delaware River Basin Commission

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The Delaware River Basin CommissionWhy it was created

• Water supply shortages• Disputes over water

apportionment• Severe pollution

(open sewer WWII)

• Severe flooding• 1931 – 400 MGD

• 1954 – 800 MGD

– Decreed Parties (DE, NJ, PA, NY, NYC)

– USGS River Master’s Office established to administer provisions of decree

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Compact Public Law 87-328In the beginning

• Founded in 1961• Breakthrough in water

resources management!• 5 members

– New York– Delaware– New Jersey– Pennsylvania– Federal Government

• Created regional body• Equal partners in a river

basin planning, development and regulatory agency

• Pioneer in environmental protection – blazes trail in water pollution abatement

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Delaware River Basin Commission Their Programs

• Flood Loss Reduction• Drought Management• Water Supply• Water Quality• Watershed Planning• Recreation• Regulatory Review

(permitting)

• Outreach/Education

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Delaware River Basin Commission Advisory Committees

• Flood (flood loss reduction)

• Regulated Flow• Water Management

(ground water & water conservation)

• Water Quality• Toxics• Monitoring• Information Management

(basin information warehouse)

• Membership– 43 state agencies

– 14 interstate agencies

– 19 federal agencies

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Delaware River Basin Commission Water Resources Plan

• September 2004• 30y goal-based framework• 5 desired results

– Adequate, reliable supply of suitable quality water

– Reduce flood losses

– Integrate water resources management into land use & growth management

– Strengthen partnerships for water resources management

– Protect & restore basin’s water resources

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NOAA National Weather Service

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NOAA National Weather Service Our Involvement

• MARFC’s “home field”• Upper Basin (WFO Binghamton NY)

• Lower Basin (WFO Mt Holly NJ)

• 13 Daily AHPS Points• 23 Modeled Points• 71 Supplement Points• 30/60/90 day inflow forecasts

– Neversink

– Pepacton

– Cannonsville

• Enhanced headwater guidance

Cannonsville Reservoir Dec 2001

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Research and Development - NWS Selected Activities at NWS Offices

• WFO Binghamton

– Flash Flood Potential Index

– KINEROS Flash Flood Modeling work

• MARFC

– Assisting USGS with testing of Doppler stream gage technology

– Calibration and evaluation of SAC-SMA rainfall runoff model

– Calibration and testing of one hour time step model

– Ensemble hydrologic forecast development

– Developing improved forecast verification

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DRBC Advisory CommitteesOur Involvement

• Flood Advisory Committee– Strong NWS presence

– Alternating Committee Chair

– Quarterly meetings

• Monitoring– NOS Dr. Jawed Hameedi

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Interstate Flood Mitigation Task Force Our Involvement

• 3 devastating floods in 2 years• 4 basin state governors request

Task Force Team• 45 recommendations

– Reservoir Operations– Structural/Non-Structural Measures– Storm water Management– Floodplain Mapping– Floodplain Regulation

– Flood Warning

• Flood Warning Category– 14 recommendations– FY08/FY09 Earmarks

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Omnibus Appropriations Act 2008/2009 Our Involvement

• Delaware River Enhanced Flood Warning System

• Administer funding disbursement

– USGS– DRBC– NOAA

• 14 recommendation actions– Improve monitoring networks– Develop additional forecast pts– Merge GIS & radar technology

to improve FFW– FIM – Ice & Snow

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Water Supply Reservoirs & Flood ProtectionOur Involvement

• Public outcry following 3 severe main stem floods

• Reservoirs were full• Setting the record

straight (MARFC)• Amended Flexible Flow

Management Program to avoid full reservoirs coincident with major storms (NOHRSC)

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Flood Analysis Model Motivation For IWRSS

• The USGS is the lead agency working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center (USACE - HEC) and the National Weather Service (NWS) to develop a flood analysis model for DRBC.

• Assist DRBC to evaluate the potential impacts that different initial storage levels at 15 major reservoirs would have had on flooding at forecast points located downstream for the 3 devastating floods between 2004 & 2006.

• Model results will help inform future reservoir management and policy decisions focusing on competing water storage demands in the basin.

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Water Quality Pilot Study NOAA Involvement

• Delaware River Basin National Water Quality Monitoring Network Pilot Study

• NOAA Regional Collaboration (NART) & IWRS PATT

• EPA Grant Application: Assessing the Impacts of Global Climate Change to the Watershed– Develop hydrodynamic model

– Predict movement of salinity, temperature & DO

– Water Supply Management

– Impacts on Oyster Populations

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DRBC Executive Director Carol R. CollierComprehensive Watershed Management & Planning.

The Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

United States House of Representatives

Water does not respect political boundaries. To effectively manage water resources it must be done on the river’s terms – using geographic watershed boundaries, not political subdivisions. Our socio-economic world is based on political boundaries, so we need to find a way to bring the two worlds.

No one agency can manage water resources. Water management is a collaborative process. It takes all levels of government and stakeholders from different sectors of the watershed. Federal agencies, state agencies, interstate basin commissions, local governments, non-profit watershed organizations, and the private sector all bring expertise to the table and can beneficially add to the process. Holistic watershed planning allows the development of the best team.

DRBC works closely with many federal agencies, including the USACE, USGS, EPA, NOAA, USF&WS, NRCS, and NPS. They each have different sets of expertise and differing protocols for partnering and funding.

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Community Hydrologic Prediction System (CHPS)

NOAA Water Service Objectives

NOAA’s Role: Provide accurate and reliable water forecasts (how much and what quality)

Provide flood inundation forecast maps for 100% of high-impact river and

coastal communities

Reduce 1-7 day river forecast errors by 50%

and quantify uncertainty

Advance Hydrologic Prediction Service

(AHPS)

Rivers and Floods

Couple modeling systems for rivers, lakes

and estuaries

Coast, Estuary, River Information Services

(CERIS)

Coasts, Lakes and Estuaries

Provide seamless suite of summit-to-sea high

resolution water quantity and quality forecasts

Integrated Water Resources Science and

Services(IWRSS)

Water Resources

Advance and integrate observing systems for

water resources

Objective 1

Objective 2

Objective 3 Objective 4

Objective 5

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Integrated Water Resources Science & Services (IWRSS)

Water Resources Challenges• Deliver integrated, sustainable water resources solutions• Integrate activities of stakeholders, federal and state

agencies toward common objectives

Partnerships• Implement collaborative approaches to effectively solve

water resources problems

Objective• Provide a seamless suite of consistent water resources

monitoring and forecast information – summit to sea.

Strategic Solution• Integrate our water science and services.• Collaborate, leverage existing and new partnerships, and

adapt to exploit new models, data, systems, and water science.

Vision for IWRSS Consortium• Be the most useful government organization for

stakeholders of our nation’s water resources and an unbiased, trusted broker of water resources information.

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Compact Public Law 87-328In the beginning

• Founded in 1961• Breakthrough in water

resources management!• 5 members

– New York– Delaware– New Jersey– Pennsylvania– Federal Government

• Created regional body• Equal partners in a river

basin planning, development and regulatory agency

• Pioneer in environmental protection – blazes trail in water pollution abatement