As chair of the panel that funds flood control investments throughout the nation, U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan has secured funding for new technology that will be available throughout the Red River Valley to help prepare for and better predict flood events. The Tri-College University International Water Institute, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, leads the project, called the Red River Basin Mapping Initiative.
Dorgan secured $750,000 for the initiative, which collects high-resolution elevation data from the entire Red River Basin and makes it available to area communities and the public. The data, called Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), will be used to expand existing technology tools and to develop new applications that area leaders and residents can use to help prepare for and predict future flood events.
“The key to successful water resource management in the Red River Basin will require coordinated efforts to gather, assemble and present quality information in a way local land and water managers can understand and use to make defendable decisions in the aftermath of the 2009 flood,” said Charles Fritz, director of the Tri-College University International Water Institute. “Sen. Dorgan's efforts will enable us to work closely with local managers to develop a decision support system to consolidate, archive and analyze Red River Basin information using new Internet-based technologies.”
The funding was part of legislation recently signed by President Obama and will help complete the mapping initiative. The sophisticated project will provide accurate mapping within three to six inches of elevation at points in the Red River Valley as opposed to five feet just a few years ago.
Dorgan’s support for this project began before this year’s spring flooding. In 2008, he secured $2.6 million to launch the project and collect the initial information.
On Nov. 11 at Richard H. Barry Hall, Dorgan participated in a demonstration of these technologies, including interactive elevation data, a National Weather Service Flood Forecast Tool and a sandbag calculator that determines the number of sandbags needed to protect a specified building or area. The funds will make these tools, which are now only available in the Fargo-Moorhead region, available throughout the 41,700 square mile basin with the newly collected LiDAR data. New applications will be available to the entire Red River Valley basin as well.
“The flood fight in the Red River Valley requires the entire area to work together to develop a flood control strategy, and it also requires the latest technologies that can be used to prepare for flooding,” said Dorgan. “I’m proud to have helped secure these investments which will help protect the Red River Valley from flooding, regardless of what kind of flood-control project is ultimately decided by local leaders.”
