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Corps Water Management System
CWMS is the AIS that supports and enhances the decision-making process for the USACE water management mission. USACE is responsible for round-the-clock monitoring and operation of approximately 700 reservoir, lock and dam, and other water control projects. This responsibility also expands to approximately 120 Section 7 (non-USACE) projects during flood control operations.
CWMS provides critical information that is fundamental in achieving the full range of benefits of the authorized purposes of USACE projects. CWMS integrates real-time data acquisition, database storage, flow forecasting of watershed runoff, reservoir operation decision support, river profile computation, inundated area determination, consequence analysis, and information dissemination into a comprehensive software package. CWMS incorporates state-of-the-art modeling techniques such as spatially distributed rainfall-runoff flow forecasting, rule-based reservoir systems operation, steady- and unsteady-flow water surface profile analysis, 2-D flow analysis, and event-by-event flow impact for damage, population, life-loss, and structures. In addition to determining reservoir operations, the current and forecasted river stage/profiles and inundated flood area information can be utilized for flood fight decisions, flood evacuation warnings, and transportation interruption alerts. Additionally, GIS capability provides areas impacted along with specific parcel and structure information, if available. CWMS can also be used to estimate potential life-loss due to computed flooding scenarios.
CWMS is comprised of application client and server software which may run on dedicated or virtual hardware. Application software includes Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) developed modeling software, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) models and software, Operating Systems (OS), and Database (DB) software. CWMS software applications are classified as either core CWMS or CWMS integrated applications.
- Core CWMS Components include recognized data schema and model software that are fundamental to CWMS. The client-server architecture of CWMS allows hardware, software, technical resource sharing, and flexible scaling of the system for field deployment in single and multiple office installations.
- CWMS Integrated Applications are office specific applications like the Report Generation Interface (REGI) or partner developed applications used officially within the water management community like OpenDCS. These applications leverage the CWMS Database and data standards.
Please note that the CWMS National Implementation Plan (NIP) is addressed in its own multi-year program management document and separate PMP. The CWMS NIP is focused on the model creation and delivery for the CWMS AIS, i.e., building models of the watersheds regulated by USACE. The CWMS NIP does not fund CWMS project management or CWMS operations and support activities. A portion of the CWMS NIP funds software development and enhancement activities that will facilitate model development, implementation, and use of CWMS by the water management CoP.
The figure below illustrates the CWMS version 3.x modeling interface. The CWMS 3.x Control and Visualization Interface-Native Model Interface (CAVI-NMI) runs on a distributed HEC modeling package directly on a user's PC and:
- Allows the user to run watershed models developed using the latest software in a native PC based environment,
- Gives the user access to the modeling software native user interfaces, and
- Allows the user to run forecasts when not connected to the network/servers.
The figure below provides a graphical description of how the models are linked together from a CAVI perspective.
The table below outlines the release dates for previous and future versions of CWMS.
Version | Release Date |
v 1.0 | Sep 2001 |
v 1.1 | Jan 2002 |
v 1.2 | Jun 2003 |
v 1.3 | Jan 2004 |
v 1.4 | Dec 2005 |
v 1.5 | Feb 2007 |
v 2.0 | Jun 2010 |
v 2.1 | May 2012 |
v 3.0 | Nov 2015 |
v 3.1 | Feb 2018 |
v 3.1.1 | Mar 2019 |
v 3.2.1 | Sep 2020 |
v 3.2.2 | Apr 2021 |
v 3.2.3 | Dec 2021 |
v 3.3.0 | Jun 2023 |
v 3.3.1 | Dec 2023 |
v 3.4.0 | TBD |