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Introduces the automated flood-warning decision-support system (FW-DSS) that increases flood warning lead time for Sacramento County, California. Description of the FW-DSS; Components of a local flood warning system; Forecasting program capabilities.

A personal computer (PC) based decision-support system (DSS) can provide real-time information for improved flood prevention and control in the Trinity River basin in Texas. The DSS components (1) retrieve, process, and file rainfall and streamflow data; (2) estimate basin average rainfall, update model parameters, and forecast runoff; and (3) simulate reservoir operation in order to forecast regulated flows basinwide. The DSS uses custom software for retrieving and processing the data and an industry-standard database-management system (DBMS) for filing the data. It uses specialized versions of the well-known programs HEC-1 and HEC-5 for forecasting runoff and simulating reservoir operation, respectively. The DSS integrates these components with a specialized program manager. Although not yet used as designed, potential improved flood prevention and control with the DSS are demonstrated with historical storm data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resources system engineering (WRSE) is a branch of civil engineering in which solutions to water resources planning and management (WRPM) problems are found by systematically applying quantitative analysis methods. An important source of lessons for me has been Western movies and TV shows. A WRPM plan I identify with sophisticated WRSE methods, built on a foundation of an oversimplified representation of the watershed, channels, ecosystem, or water management features is unlikely to be optimal in reality, and it may be infeasible. [Extracted from the article]