Thursday, Jan 21, 2016

UTA Hosts Federal Interagency Water Management Workshop

Thursday, January 21, 2016

---

More than 60 representatives from several agencies gathered at UTA for a Federal Interagency Water Management Workshop. They discussed water management issues and how to best collaborate and communicate in response to and in preparation for water-related weather events such as floods and drought.

Representatives from UTA, the National Weather Service, NOAA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, FEMA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Natural Resources Conservation Service came from as far away as Montana, Missouri, and Washington, DC.

"The National Weather Service, Army Corps of Engineers and USGS have been meeting on this issue for years, but we really wanted to bring more people into the conversation," said Mark Null, hydrologist-in-charge for the National Weather Service's West Gulf River Forecast Center in Fort Worth. "We are focusing on collaboration, communication, and coordination across the federal workforce"

Nick Fang, an assistant professor in the Civil Engineering Department organized the workshop for the agencies. DJ Seo, an associate professor in the Civil Engineering Department shown on the left, also represented UTA. Seo has multiple active research projects with regard to flood prediction, severe weather, and urban water issues. Fang works on integrated sensing and prediction of urban water for sustainable cities.

"This meeting is closely tied to our urban water initiative and the university's commitment to making a global impact on communities, which is why I worked to make this meeting happen," Fang said. "There are a lot of opportunities for research collaboration between UTA and these agencies. We can look at how to improve flood warnings and how to visualize flood data, and we can also look at it from the drought perspective, how mid- and long-range predictions might be tied to water resource management."