The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Debris team in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
Core Principals of Water Resources Emergency Management Sean Smith, Principal Hydrologic and Hydraulic Engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
John Crotty: Last year’s storm events brought water resources emergency management into focus. Please
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provide a brief overview of the Army Corps’ water resources emergency management operations. Sean Smith: Primarily authorized for flood risk management, Army Corps projects also may have water supply for municipal and industrial purposes and environmental purposes, as well as hydroelectric power generation and recreational purposes. Our operators and water management specialists oversee the day-to-day operations of those facilities. We are situationally aware of project operations 24 hours, 7 days a week. In some cases, we will man those facilities or our operations management offices 24/7—typically, when there is an impending storm coming our way. Through the day-to-day operations of those facilities, we maintain regular contact with our other federal agencies and partners as well as responsible state and local entities regarding the collection and dissemination of information and data. When you start talking about warnings and notifications, we work very closely with our sister agency, the National Weather Service. In its capacity, the National Weather Service serves as the official weather prediction MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
PHOTOS COURTESY OF FACEBOOK/U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS AND SEAN SMITH.
Last year’s hurricane season wrought a substantial amount of damage to the southern United States and the U.S. Caribbean Island territories—including to the water infrastructure of those regions. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been integral to the response to and recovery from those storms. Under the Flood Control and Coastal Emergency Act, the Army Corps provides disaster preparedness and response services, mobilizing its people nationwide to “support immediate life saving and life safety emergency response priorities[;] sustain lives with critical commodities, temporary emergency power, and other needs[;] and initiate recovery efforts by assessing and restoring critical infrastructure.” To learn more about the Army Corps’ emergency management of water resources during significant storm events, Municipal Water Leader’s senior writer, John Crotty, spoke with Sean Smith, principal hydrologic and hydraulic engineer for the Army Corps here in Washington, DC, about the scope of the Army Corps’ emergency services as they relate to water infrastructure and the agency’s drive to protect public health and safety.
