In a cooperative project, Pierce County and the U.S. Geological Survey have developed an operational tool called the Puyallup Flood-Alert System to alert users of impending floods. The system acquires real-time meteorological and hydrological data to make real-time flood simulations for the major rivers in the Puyallup River Basin and provides a flood-alert computer display. The system consists of a network of U.S. Geological Survey-operated river discharge and stage, precipitation and temperature gages, a numerical watershed and flow-routing model, and a computer interface. The Streamflow Synthesis and Reservoir Regulation (SSARR) numerical watershed and flow-routing model is the heart of the system that makes real-time and forecast simulations based on real-time data from the gaging network and precipitation and temperature forecasts from the National Weather Service.
The watershed model was calibrated to four storms in water years 1995 and 1996 and validated (runoff parameters held constant) with four storms in the 1996 and 1997 water years. Two-thirds of the simulated peak discharges for the calibration storms were within 36 percent of the observed peak discharge and two-thirds of the 5-day runoff totals were within 17 percent. For the validation storms, two-thirds of the simulated peak discharges were within 30 percent of the observed peak discharges and two-thirds of the 5-day runoff totals were within 24 percent.
SSARRMENU, a customized user interface for the Puyallup Flood-Alert System, is the central software that provides a graphical display of flood-alerts, model input and output, makes retrievals of hydrologic and meteorological data from the U. S. Geological computer, and makes both backup- and storm-mode flood simulations. With SSARRMENU operating on their computer, Pierce County has an increased ability to evaluate current and near-future floods and to efficiently allocate its resources to potential trouble spots.
Click here to view Power Point Slides on SSARRMENU program
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