Welcome to the U.S. Army Engineers (USACE) Institute for Water Resources (IWR) website. IWR was formed 45 years ago to provide the USACE Civil Works Program with the capability to analyze and anticipate emerging water resource trends and issues facing our nation. From its beginnings, responding to the sweeping changes in water development policies and the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act in 1969, IWR has been tackling the water resources challenges coming from an ever increasing public demand for water projects and the policy and technological challenges of the 21st Century. As such, there remains a compelling need for professional, independent scholars to pursue innovative approaches to solving these new problems in a collegial and nonpartisan environment that IWR provides.
IWR occupies a unique position within the USACE Civil Works program. It is not part of the USACE Headquarters or a District or Division, but rather a field operating activity under the supervision of the Director for USACE Civil Works. IWR’s challenging mission remains integral to shaping the evolution of the Federal water resources policy as decision-makers at all levels within USACE look to IWR for insights into a host of perplexing economic, environmental and social issues.
The goal of this website is to provide the user easy access to our many products and services. Our comprehensive online library includes not only the entire IWR library but also bibliographic data about the donated personal collection of the late Professors Arthur Maass and Gilbert White. (This collection is housed in our renowned Maass-White Reference Room located at IWR). This site also includes access to Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) software and user guides, Navigation and Civil Works Decision Support Center (NDC) publications, U.S. Waterway Data, the National Drought Atlas, Corps Planning Manuals, and hundreds of other studies and reports.
Most recently added to this website has been a wealth of information on dam and levee safety courtesy of the IWR’s new Risk Management Center (RMC), international water resources and the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) in connection with IWR’s new International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM) (under the auspices of UNESCO), and an updated publication library associated with our Conflict Resolution and Public Participation Center of Expertise (CPCX).
Our site also includes links to many of our ongoing activities such as Value to the Nation, Responses to Climate Change Program, USA Section of PIANC (the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure), National Flood Risk Management Program, Corps Risk Analysis Gateway, Shared Vision Planning, and the National Shoreline Management Study.
We are committed to continuously updating our website’s content to highlight our current activities and to reinforce the importance of America’s contemporary water resources challenges to serve policymakers, stakeholders and concerned citizens.
Bob Pietrowsky, Director