RESSEDTHE NATIONAL RESERVOIR SEDIMENTATION DATABASE
Mark E. Smith, [email protected]
USGS Central Region Science Office, Denver, CO
On behalf of
John R. Gray, [email protected]
USGS Office of Surface Water, Reston, VA
Annual Tri-Agency Coordination Meeting
Memphis, TN
November 17, 2009
RESSED
FEDERAL INTERAGENCY SUBCOMMITTEE ON SEDIMENTATION
John R. Gray, [email protected]
USGS Office of Surface Water, Reston, VA
with
Jerry M. Bernard, NRCS; David W. Stewart,
Gregory E. Schwarz, and Karen T. Ray, USGS
http://ida.water.usgs.gov/ressed/
• RESSED – Unfunded Work in Progress
• RESSED History (yes, it is relevant)
• Description of RESSED Database and Website*
• RESSED issues/problems
• Future – RESSED-II?
*But not much in way of findings!
Presentation OverviewRESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
• SOS – top national level committee for coordinating national or organization-specific sedimentation issues
• Formed ~1939, now under the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI; http://acwi.gov/)
• Since ~2004, Gov’t and non-Gov’t
• Members: ARS, ASCE, CUAHSI, BLM, CWRRI (CSU), FHWA, FS, NCED, NOAA, NPS, NRCS, OSM, USBR, UCOWR, USACE, USEPA, USGS (RESSED workgroup)
But First – a Word from Our Sponsor: ACWI’s Subcommittee on Sedimentation
RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
• MS-ACCESS database and website containing sequentially measured reservoir capacities.
• Changes in capacities are computed from these data (+/- acre feet/year)
• 1,824 reservoirs, 6,618 surveys: lower US (1in PR)
• Based on Soil Conservation Service Form 34 (1953)
• Presumed to be largest such database for US (?)
What Is RESSED?
RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
• Clickable reservoir location info via interface
• Not yet any on-line analytical capability; Access database downloadable in entirety
• Website seeks metadata on additional surveys and/or additional reservoirs, but not updatable
• Culmination of ~1.5 decades quest…!
• “It’s the best we have” – Jerry Bernard, 2009
• “But a long way to go” – Gray et al., 9/16/2009
What Is RESSED? (cont)RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
• SCS Form 34 developed in 1953
• Results published in at least 3 summary reports: through 1953; through 1975; 1981-1985
• 1980’s: SCS attempts to develop RESIS database (Dennis Erinakes’ oversight)
• 1993: An unmarked magnetic tape is found in a box by NRCS – presumably Erinakes’ results
Some History
RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
• 1994: Jay Atwood, NRCS, places these data in Prelude and Informix database formats – RESIS
• 1997: Jerry Bernard: “Someone Please Give RESSED a Home!”
• ~1997: Bob Stallard and David Mixon, USGS, as part of research on global carbon budget, convert Atwood’s product to Microsoft Access format as RESIS-II
• ~2004: Eric Sundquist and Kate Ackerman, USGS, obtain Stallard Access database and provide make improvements, also as RESIS-II
• 2008-09: Subcommittee on Sedimentation (SoS) updated ~1,500 reservoir coordinates in RESIS-II, adds a reservoir as a test case, places online as RESSED
Some History (cont)RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
• RESSED was not – ever – populated directly from SCS Form 34
• SCS Form 34 has 47 entries (2-page); RESSED has ~325 fields
• SOS has identified the origin of values in most but not all ~325 fields
• Reverse engineering required to identify all RESSED fields
• We’re finding inconsistencies in this regard
• Comment fields are important but currently not electronically useful
• Other “warts” described later…but take it on faith…
RESSED is a Work…In…Progress.
And The Point Is???RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
SCS Form 34
Lake Meade
P. 1
RESSED
Subcommittee on
Sedimentation
RESSED
Subcommittee on
Sedimentation
SCS Form 34
Lake Meade
P. 2
RESSED
Subcommittee on
Sedimentation
SCS Form 34
Lake Meade
P. 3
RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
SELECTED RESSED DATABASE
CHARACTERISTICS
RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
Puerto Rico – 1 reservoir(information 9/9/2009
D.W. Stewart)
1,824 RESSED Reservoir Locations (2009)
RESSED Reservoir Surveys by Year
95% of surveys:1930-1990
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350N
um
ber
of
Res
ervo
irs
RESSED Reservoir Capacities by Acre-Feet Classes
Acre-feet.05 - 1
0
10 -100
1k – 10k
10k – 100k
100k – 1,000k
1,000k – 1 mill
1 mill
– 29.8 mill
(273)
(320) (331)
(205)
(121)
(86)
(24)
~Half <10,000 Acre Feet
RESSED Reservoir Capacities
1,360/1,8241,360/1,824reservoirsreservoirs
Number of Reservoir Surveys in RESSED*
* Caveat – probably not all surveys!
RESSED Years Between First & Last Surveys
~78%: first-to-last surveys: 5-30 years (1,128/1,442 reservoirs)
RESSED Annualized % Capacity Loss
~82%: <2% capacity loss/year (1,124/1,365 reservoirs)
RESSED Total % Capacity Loss
~32% have lost 10-30% capacity (432/1,365 reservoirs)
• Have yet to develop a data-entry form for SCS Form 34Have yet to develop a data-entry form for SCS Form 34 (in progress*)
• SCS Form 34 is but one of many data formats that now exist- Bureau of Reclamation e-Form 34- Corps 2008 Reservoirs Data Call format- On-line reservoir information from Maryland, elsewhere
• GPS, depth sounders, other instrumentation provide a wealth of new types of information, much of which needs to be stored
• Quality assurance protocols have special data-storage requirements
• Current RESSED isn’t amenable to the long haul
Other RESSED IssuesRESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
*FilemakerPro Front End
• Let’s do a little math:
-1,824 reservoirs in RESSED
- ~81,000 dams (ergo reservoirs?) in the National Inventory of Dams (COE)
- ~?6 million – 9 million impoundments in the U.S. (USGS National Hydrography Dataset; Renwick, Miami of Ohio)
• Hence, the number of reservoirs in RESSED are: - ~2% of number of dams in the NID (but not all cross-listed) - ~0.03% of U.S. impoundments
RESSED reservoirs are much less than the “tip of the iceberg!”
Other RESSED Issues (cont)RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
American Society of Civil EngineersUSA Infrastructure Report Card, February 2009
Other RESSED Issues (cont)
* But presumably nationally reliable statistics on other categories
RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
Subject (inferred) Grade (A-F)
Dam Reliability D
Levee Reliability D-
Drinking Water Systems D-
Reservoir Capacity Loss Category Not Included*
THE NATION NEEDS A CAREFULLY DESIGNED AND FULLY POPULATED
NATIONAL “RESSED-FUTURE”• UNRESTRICTED ACCESS/USE• LINKED TO OTHER KEY DATABASES (NID, ETC)• UPDATABLE• CAPABLE OF STORING ALL RELEVANT DATA• ANALYZABLE LOCAL, REGIONAL, NATIONAL SCALES
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME
So….RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
• Subcommittee on Sedimentation Organized Program with wide participation in public and private sector
• Three Workgroups under SOS RESSED Committee, form in 2009- Data types and uses workgroup- Data architecture workgroup- Data-collection protocols workgroup
• Must develop a base-funded, long-term project
How long can the Nation afford NOT to know the status and trends in the capacities of it’s
reservoirs?!
RESSED-FUTURERESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
RESSED on-line, useful tool – best we’ve got?Work in ProgressShort Term: Need update capability, report
production, other informationLong Term:
1. Need base-funded project2. Need data types & requirements statement3. Need new database architecture
Interested in helping….?
Take Home Message
RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
Provide insights/suggestions/offers to helpJoin a Subcommittee on Sediment workgroupFor that matter, join the SOS!Locate and forward data
Scratch Our Back – We Scratch Yours
RESSED – Subcommittee on Sedimentation
Not The End…The Beginning!
http://ida.water.usgs.gov/ressed/
