USGS Multimedia Gallery: (Video)--2011: Interior Thanks USGS for Flood Efforts

Anne Castle Message
8/3/11

Good morning! I’m Anne Castle, I’m the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at the Department of the Interior, and I have the great privilege of overseeing the USGS. I wanted to take this opportunity of this gathering of the Nation’s best water scientists in Minneapolis to thank you for the extraordinary work that you’ve done this year in these unprecedented water events that we have had. I know that many of you have been out at all hours repairing damaged streamgages, deploying rapid deployment gages, doing all sorts of work to take advantage of and respond to the extraordinary events that we have seen. I actually had the privilege of getting to see one of the rapid deployment gages when I was visiting the North Dakota Water Science Center in May. So I got a little bit of a flavor for the high water events that have been experienced and the kind of work that you are doing.

We’ve, this year, seen your work on water gages, not just stream flows though, but you are also out there measuring water quality and sediment transport, scouring around bridge abutments, changes in the channels, and all of those things that really make a difference to people on the ground. We’ve experienced this year not just high water events, although those have been prevalent, particularly in the Midwest. But we’ve also seen some record lows, some record droughts in areas like Southern New Mexico, and Oklahoma, and Texas, and parts of the Southeast. And your work there has been very important and really provided the baseline for declarations of natural disaster areas that have at least allowed some funding relief to be brought to farmers and farming communities. So, you have been out there doing amazingly cool science and really advancing the state of our knowledge about these extreme events, both highs and lows. And that’s particularly important right now when we’re thinking that these kinds of extreme events might become the new normal. So you’re helping us figure out how to respond to this changing climate.

But not only is your work important for the advancement of science, it’s crucial to the public health and safety. It’s the USGS data, from stream flows and water quality gages that’s being used by the Corps of Engineers to make decisions about when to open spillways, or weather to do intentional breeches of levees. It’s the USGS data that’s being used by the U.S. Coast Guard to give advisories about navigation, and currents, and changes in the channel. It’s the USGS data that’s used by the National Weather Service to give early warnings about floods that have been so critical in keeping people safe. It’s the USGS data from streamgages that’s used by the Bureau of Reclamation to make decisions about how to operate their reservoirs and dams. And it’s the USGS data that States are using to issue their own emergency orders, or evacuation orders.

So, that work that you are doing has been so critical, and really is responsible saving lives. You’ve been required to work at all hours, weekends, nights, you’ve been out there deploying those gages, repairing the ones that have been damaged, you’ve had to work nights and weekends. Some of you have been deployed to other states to help where help was most needed. So you’ve had to spend time away from your homes. And much of this has been done in dangerous conditions, or even uncomfortable conditions. So I want you to know that your work, particularly this year, has been recognized, it hasn’t gone unnoticed. I want you to know that you have my thanks and my gratitude, and Marcia McNutt’s also, for everything that you have been doing. Thank you!