A Computational Framework For Regional-scaleWater Resource Analyses

Abstract

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for managing the waterways of the United States, which requires the evaluation of such competing interests as navigation, flood control, water supply, hydropower, environmental quality, and recreation. Historically, the Corps has taken a project-by-project approach to developing and managing its water resource projects. That is, the effects of individual projects on the local environment were the main concern as opposed to the collective effects of multiple Corps projects over an entire region. Implementation of the Corp’s Environmental Operating Principles necessitates a holistic approach to entire basins, from the upper watersheds, through the rivers and estuaries, to the open coasts. A good example of the class of regional problems being addressed is the management of sediment in coupled reservoir, river, estuarine, and coastal systems. The commitment to holistically managing regional water resources requires a rethinking of how we do science and engineering. It requires performing highfidelity regional analyses over large time scales, which requires the use of large databases, mechanistic computational models, efficient graphical user environments, and high performance computers. However, it is not always possible to use three-dimensional computational models that couple physical, chemical, and biological processes. Therefore, analytical, index-based, or computational tools of lower fidelity must be used in situations where design level accuracy is not required. With either level of analysis, it is important that they exist in a computational framework where data are easily accessible, model development from that data is straightforward, and the results of the models can be provided to decision makers who must perform alternative analyses. This paper provides the plan for such a computational framework that the Corps of Engineers is developing to perform regional scale analyses of water resource projects. © 2004 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISBN 1-85312-755-8 Brownfields: Multimedia Modeling & Assessment, G. Whelan (Editor)