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About the Conference

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» An Invitation to Attend (pdf)

The 2005 Watershed Management Conference, "Managing Watersheds for Human and Natural Impacts: Engineering, Ecological, and Economic Challenges" is sponsored by the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This will be the ninth in a series of specialty conferences focused on watershed management. The conference was first held in Billings, Montana, in 1965 and has been repeated every five years since. This year"s conference will be held east of the Mississippi River, where the problems and challenges of urbanization and sprawl are particularly acute. Urbanization and land use change are pressing concerns throughout the U.S. as well as other parts of the world. In addition to the traditional challenges of meeting water quantity and quality regulations and flood mitigation requirements, today"s hydrologic engineers and watershed mangers must also contend with managing for sensitive species, the arrival of new water-borne diseases such as the West Nile virus, and increasingly complex regulations (e.g., TMDL"s).

This conference will bring together a diverse group of attendees, each with a critical stake in watershed management. Topics ranging in scope from state-of-the-art computer modeling, to field monitoring, to watershed science, to governmental policy and regulation all have a home at Watershed Management 2005. Individuals spanning just as broad a scope — engineers, hydrologists, biologists, ecologists, economists, attorneys, public officials, and governmental planners among them — are expected and encouraged to attend. As with past Watershed Management symposia, we especially encourage presentations from international professionals and experts whose unique perspective is central to the goals of this meeting.

Please join us July 19-22, 2005, in Williamsburg, Virginia, and continue the tradition of the eight previous Watershed Management conferences.

Conference Topics

• Stream and Watershed Restoration, Constructed Wetlands, and Best Management Practices
• Modeling and Monitoring of Hydrologic Processes: Rainfall-Runoff, Snowmelt, ET, Infiltration, and Other Phenomena
• Effects of Fire and Post-Fire Mitigation on Watershed Hydrology
• Managing Watersheds for Control of Ecological Impacts
• Groundwater: Competing Demands, Contamination, Recharge, Mining, Salt Water Intrusion, and Other Challenges
• The Economics of Watershed Management: Government Policy and Smart Growth
• Managing Forested Watersheds: Roads, Fish Habitat, Stochastic Disturbances, and Other Challenges

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

Tuesday, July 19, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Use the conference registration form to register for either of these two pre-conference workshops. The course fee is $250 for either workshop; save $50 by registering before June 21. The fee includes lunch, coffee breaks, and all course materials.

Treatment of Uncertainty in Water Resource Modeling and Analysis

Presenter: Srikanta Mishra, Ph.D., Senior Engineer and Project Manager for Intera Inc., Austin, Texas, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas at Austin

Srikanta Mishra, Ph.D., Senior Engineer and Project Manager for Intera Inc., Austin, Texas, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas at Austin

Scientists and engineers dealing with water resources are often confronted with uncertainty caused by incomplete knowledge and/or natural randomness. Traditional deterministic modeling of uncertainty in water resource models often involves the use of best guess or worstcase assumptions about model inputs to quantify their impacts on model predictions. Alternatively, a set of optimistic and pessimistic values is sometimes utilized to provide upside and downside forecasts around a reference scenario.

Recently, there has been greater interest in the use of probabilistic uncertainty analysis methods, which allow a better definition of the range of likely outcomes and the likelihood of each outcome. This workshop will provide an introduction to several such methodologies including Monte Carlo simulation, analytical error propagation techniques, and probability/logic tree analysis method.

Curve Number Rainfall-Runoff: Professional Application

Presenters: Richard H. Hawkins, Professor of Watershed Resources, University of Arizona, and Donald E. Woodward, Natural Resources Conservation Service (retired)

Richard H. Hawkins, Professor of Watershed Resources, University of Arizona, and Donald E. Woodward, Natural Resources Conservation Service (retired)

The Curve Number method is widely used in applied hydrology and environmental impact analysis. Because of its authority, unique technological niche, and transparency, it is the premiere technique for converting event rainfall into direct runoff. It finds wide application in rainfall response for ungaged watersheds, and as a process component in continuous models. It is however, incompletely understood, often misused or misapplied, and realizations for application and developments beyond the original handbook are not generally appreciated. This short course will provide an open factual background on the Curve Number Method: origins and assumption, limits of applications, and recent findings, leading to more informed professional application of the method. Its role in understanding general rainfall-runoff hydrology will be explored and discussed. The workshop includes active, open discussion with peers and the presenters.

Conference Format

The four-day conference will include a plenary session, technical sessions, poster sessions, workshops, trade exhibits, technical, and several networking events. Proceedings will be provided onsite at the conference.