Willamette Valley Hydrologic Risks
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) vision is to achieve safe, secure, and more resilient Corps civil works infrastructure by enhancing its protection in order to prevent, deter, or mitigate the potential for dam failure and improve preparedness, response, and rapid recovery in the event of an attack, natural disaster, and other emergencies. A major initiative within this effort involves the updating of hydrologic data for the 700 plus USACE dams.
The Willamette River is a tributary to the Columbia River. The watershed’s runoff fluctuates dramatically from heavy precipitation in the winter months, snowmelt in the spring months, and relatively rain-free summers. There are 13 USACE dams located in the Willamette River basin with each contributing to a water resource management system that provides flood risk management, power generation, water quality improvement, irrigation, fish and wildlife habitat and recreation on the Willamette River and many of its tributaries.
This presentation will present the hydrologic studies completed on the Willamette River Basin dams to assist in the hydrologic risk for seven of the WRB dams, including extreme storm analysis, hydrologic model (HEC-HMS and HEC-WAT) development and calibration, development of site-specific region Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) for the entire Willamette River Basin; and defined updated Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) for the seven WRB dams. State-of-the-art hydrologic studies that are currently being conducted will also be presented.
Presenter: Chris Bahner, PE, D. WRE, WEST Consultants, Inc.
Chris Bahner is a Senior Hydraulic Engineer with WEST Consultants in Salem, Oregon. He has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science in Water Resource Engineering degree from the California State University of Long Beach, California. He is a licensed engineer in the state of Oregon, Washington, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah, and California and is a Diplomate of Water Resources Engineering with the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. Prior to WEST, Mr. Bahner worked for the Los Angeles District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mr. Bahner has over 30 years of experience working in the water resources engineering field. At WEST, Chris has worked on a variety of water resource engineering project throughout the nation.