1. business and industrial
2. energy
3. renewable energy
4. hydroelectric energy

2O14
Annual Report
Table of Contents
President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Officers and Board of Directors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Sustaining and Organizational Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2014 Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Financial Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Strategic Plan Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Advocate Imperative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Educate Imperative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13
Collaborate Imperative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14-15
Cultivate Imperative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Committee Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 – 22
President’s
Message
T
he USSD Board of Directors is pleased to present this
Annual Report to our members, strategic partners and
friends for fiscal year 2014, ending on December 31, 2014.
This document represents a first formal report under the
umbrella of our 2014 Strategic Plan and our associated
Strategic Imperatives:
An exciting list of opportunities has emerged through the
efforts of our Board and Officers that you will want to mark
on your calendars. These include:
1. A Workshop on Best Practices in Dam & Levee Safety
Risk Analysis, to be held in Denver July 27-30, 2015.
Registrations will be limited to 70 people.
• Advocate
• Educate
• Collaborate
• Cultivate
2. A
n excellent slate of workshops this fall, possibly at a Bay
Area location in Northern California.
3. A 2016 Annual Conference in Denver with the Bureau of
Reclamation as our Host.
USSD would not be successful without the dedicated service
of our members. Members are the lifeblood of all that we do
including managing and driving our committees, conferences,
workshops and participation with ICOLD committees and
activities. A special note of thanks also goes out to our
executive office, including Executive Director Larry Stephens,
Sue Anderson, Tamara Borden and Darcy Borden.
4. An International Symposium on Internal Erosion being
collaboratively hosted by a number of our Committees, to
be held in 2016.
5. Hosting of the 6th International Symposium on Hydraulic
Structures in Portland, Oregon, June 28-30, 2016. Our
partner for this event is the International Association for
Hydro-Environmental Engineering and Research (IAHR).
It has been an exciting
and challenging year. Highlights certainly include
completion of the strategic plan, a tremendously
successful annual conference and tour program
in San Francisco, a series of excellent technical
workshops, and initiation of many activities
aimed at important progress toward our strategic
goals. This report contains a summary of our
2014 finances, the work of our Imperative teams,
Committee activities, ICOLD business and more.
While the initiation of our Strategic
activities has not been without some
challenges, I believe that it is safe to say
that the state of USSD is sound, and the
future looks bright as we move forward in
2015. I encourage each of you to consider
ways you can become more involved in the
important work that USSD is doing.
Respectfully,
Keith A. Ferguson, P.E., D.WRE
President
3
Officers and
Board of Directors
Officers
Walter L. Davis
President: Keith A. Ferguson
Ex-Officio
Members
Vice President: John S. Wolfhope
Richard C. Armstrong
Lloyd A. Duscha
Consultant, Diamondhead, Reston, VA
MS
Secretary-Treasurer: Daniel L. Wade
Board of Directors
Ross Boulanger
University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
Robert P. Cannon
Schnabel Engineering, Inc., Greensboro,
NC
Dean B. Durkee
Gannett Fleming, Inc., Phoenix, AZ
Keith A. Ferguson
HDR, Denver, CO
B. Alex Grenoble
HDR, Charlotte, NC
Eric C. Halpin
Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC
William B. Bingham
Bruce C. Muller, Jr.
Gannett Fleming, Inc.,
Harrisburg, PA
Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, CO
Manoshree Sundaram
Harry L. Blohm
MWH, Chicago, IL
Consultant, Hollister, CA
Daniel L. Wade
Donald E. Bowes
San Francisco Public Utilities
Commission, San Francisco, CA
Consulting Engineer,
Anacortes, WA
John S. Wolfhope
Douglas D. Boyer
Freese and Nichols, Inc., Austin, TX
Corps of Engineers,
Denver, CO
Executive Director
John J. Cassidy
Larry D. Stephens
Consultant, Walnut Creek,
CA
USSD, Denver, CO
Karen A. Knight
Public Affairs Officer
James E. Lindell
Vienna, VA
Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, CO
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, Portland, OR
Robin G. Charlwood
Robin Charlwood &
Associates, Edmonds, WA
Ronald A. Corso
Charles F. Corns
Springfield, VA
MWH, San Diego, CA
Woodrow W. Crouch
Guy S. Lund
Consultant, Scarsdale, NY
URS Corporation, Denver, CO
4
Joseph L. Ehasz
URS Washington Division,
San Marcos, CA
John W. France
URS Corporation, Denver,
CO
Daniel J. Hertel
Consultant, Bozeman, MT
Daniel L. Johnson
Tetra Tech Inc., Boulder,
CO
David E. Kleiner
MWH, Chicago, IL
Eric B. Kollgaard
Concord, CA
Richard W. Kramer
Consulting Engineer,
Arvada, CO
Ronnie M. Lemons
Freese and Nichols, Inc.,
Fort Worth, TX
Robert L. Polvi
Salem, OR
Michael F. Rogers
MWH, San Diego, CA
John D. Smart
Littleton, CO
Kenneth A. Steele
Consultant, Stockton, CA
Arthur G. Strassburger
San Rafael, CA
Glenn S. Tarbox
MWH, Bellevue, WA
Constantine G. Tjoumas
Ellicott City, MD
Arthur H. Walz, Jr.
Bel Air, MD
Sustaining and Organizational
Members
Charter Sustaining
Members
Sustaining Members
Organizational Members
East Bay Municipal Utility District
ASI Constructors, Inc.
Advanced Construction Technologies Inc. FirstLight Power Resources, Inc.
GENTERRA Consultants, Inc.
Alabama Power Company
Bureau of Reclamation, USDI
Corps of Engineers
Barnard Construction Company, Inc.
Alaska Department of Natural Resources
Geo-Solutions Inc.
Freese and Nichols, Inc.
Campbell Scientific
AMEC Earth & Environmental
Geokon, Inc.
Gannett Fleming, Inc.
Emagineered Solutions, Inc.
ASI Group Ltd.
Givler Engineering, Inc.
GEI Consultants, Inc.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Barr Engineering Company
Global Diving & Salvage, Inc.
GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc.
Golder Associates Inc.
Bechtel Global Corporation
Griffin Dewatering Southwest, LLC
Hatch Associates Consultants, Inc.
Hayward Baker Inc.
Black & Veatch Corporation
JAFEC USA, Inc.
MWH
HDR
Brayman Construction Corporation
Kleinschmidt Associates
URS Corporation
Kleinfelder, Inc.
Bureau of Reclamation, Office of Dam Safety
Knight Piésold and Co.
California Department of Water
Resources
Nicholson Construction Company
AECOM
O’Brien & Gere
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Parsons Water and Infrastructure Inc.
Cascade Drilling, L.P.
Phillips and Jordan, Incorporated
CDM Smith
RIZZO Associates
CEI Enterprises, Inc.
Schnabel Engineering, Inc.
Tetra Tech Inc.
Colorado River Water Conservation
District
Worthington Products, Inc.
Condon-Johnson & Associates Inc.
D’Appolonia Engineering
Denver Water
Durham Geo Slope Indicator
5
Mead & Hunt, Inc.
OneRain Incorporated
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
RST Instruments Ltd.
Seattle City Light
Shannon & Wilson, Inc.
South Carolina Public Service Authority
Stantec
Tennessee Valley Authority
WEST Consultants, Inc.
Xcel Energy Corporation
2014
Box
Highlights
Title
Annual Meeting and Conference
San Francisco, California
More than 500 dam engineering
professionals and exhibitors — a record!
— attended the USSD 34th Annual
Meeting and Conference, held in San
Francisco, California.
Technical Program
More than 100 papers were presented
during the two days of Conference
technical sessions and a poster session.
The theme of the Conference technical
program, organized by a planning
committee headed by Daniel L. Wade,
was Dams and Extreme Events — Reducing
the Risk of Aging Infrastructure under
Extreme Loading Conditions.
Following the Opening Plenary Session
on Tuesday morning, 15 concurrent
technical sessions on Tuesday afternoon
and Wednesday.
Awards
Several awards were presented during
the closing banquet.
Lifetime Achievement
The Lifetime Achievement Award was
given posthumously to Alan O’Neill,
recognizing his 60 years of contributions
to the dam engineering profession.
O’Neill, who passed away March 12 at
the age of 89, began his career in 1951
with the California Department of Water
Resources. He also worked for the Corps
of Engineers and Converse Consultants
before becoming an independent
Scholarships
consulting
engineering
geologist, where
he worked
on dozens of
projects in the
U.S. and several
other countries.
He also served
on many boards
of consultants, most recently the San
Vicente Dam Raise Project in southern
California.
Four scholarships
were announced
during the
meeting. Beena
Ajmera, a PhD
student at Virginia
Tech, received
the $10,000
scholarship
to support
her research, Cyclic Shear Strength
Characteristics of Cohesive Materials.
Outstanding Papers
Award of Excellence in the
Constructed Project
Three awards were given for outstanding
papers, selected on the basis of the
technical content and quality of the
paper, as well as the presentation during
the Conference.
Originally built in 1898; Plant 1 at
the Snoqualmie Falls Hydroelectric
facility was the world’s first completely
underground powerhouse. The scope
of the Snoqualmie Falls Hydroelectric
Redevelopment Project included
rebuilding a concrete diversion dam,
enlarging the underground powerhouse,
replacing 800 feet of penstock, building
all new operator facilities above ground
for the second powerhouse, renovating
historical out buildings, and creating
public parks and trails.
Seismic Stability Evaluation of Dam
Underlain by Coarse-Grained Alluvium,
by Lelio Mejia, Jiaer Wu, Erik Newman,
and Michael Mooers was named the
Outstanding Paper.
Jared Deible received the Outstanding
Young Professional Paper Award as a
co-author of Treatment of Gravity Dam
Foundations During Construction. Other
authors were Conrad Ginther and Paul
C. Rizzo.
Owner Puget Sound Energy sought to
redevelop the facility for relicensing
and long-term use. Contractor Barnard
Construction Company, Inc.; Owner
Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; and Engineer
Klohn Crippen Berger were recognized
by USSD.
The Outstanding Poster Presentation
was given to Michael McCaffrey and coauthors Mark J. Gross, Tony Plizga and
Paul F. Shiers, for Seepage Investigation
and Erosion Scarp Repair.
6
The following students received the
$1,000 scholarships: Matthew W.
George, Brigham Young University
(Reservoir Sedimentation and
Sustainability); Jonathan Hubler,
University of Michigan (Assessment
of Post-Liquefaction Response and
Deformations of Dams); and Christopher
Krage, University of California, Davis
(Evaluation of Sample Disturbance in
Intermediate Soils).
2014
Box
Highlights
Title
Field Tours
Conference participants took field
tours to several area dams, including
Calaveras, Los Vaqueros and Lower
Crystal Springs. The meeting was
hosted by the San Francisco Public
Utilities Commission, who organized
the field tours.
Workshops
Four Workshops were presented during
the Annual Meeting.
Case Histories in Dam Safety
Risk Assessment
In the U.S. and overseas there is an
increasing number of organizations that
are applying risk assessment to support
dam safety evaluation and management.
Given the limited experience with
real world applications, and the new
concepts that are involved, there is
a great need for case histories that
illustrate how actual applications have
been conducted and how their results
have been used in decision making.
Eight case histories were presented and
discussed during this Workshop.
Seismic Design of Tailings Dams
Recent earthquakes in Chile, New
Zealand and Japan have created a new
focus on the safe design of tailings dams
in seismic regions of the world. This
Workshop addressed seismic hazards;
seismic design challenges for tailings
dams (slopes, drainage, materials,
pore pressures, rate of rise); in situ
and laboratory testing technologies;
construction methodologies; and seismic
upgrade design.
Next Generation Attenuation
Relationships and the Estimation
of Ground Motions for Dams
The workshop presented recent
updates to ground motion prediction
equations and the estimation of ground
motions for seismic stability analyses
of dams. Following an overview of
recent developments in GMPEs, a
panel of experts in seismic evaluations
discussed their experiences with
these relationships, issues with their
application and their views on priority
needs for future work.
Fall Workshops
ICOLD 2014
Denver, Colorado
Bali, Indonesia
The Workshop on Public Safety and
Security for Dams was organized by
the USSD Committee on Dam Safety
and Dam Security. The Workshop
introduced attendees to the different
Federal agencies’ public safety and
security programs for dams and related
hydropower and water supply reservoirs.
USSD President Keith Ferguson led
a delegation of more than 20 USSD
Members and guests. USSD Members
attended Technical Committee Meetings,
Workshops and a Symposium, in addition
to a number of tours and social events.
The centerpiece of the Workshop was a
field trip to two Bureau of Reclamation
facilities, Olympus Dam and Estes
Powerplant, and Carter Lake Dam.
A Workshop organized by the USSD
Committee on Construction focused on
two important topics — Cost Estimating
and Risk. Each subject was covered in
a day-long presentation, followed by a
field tour to Denver Water’s Marston
Reservoir Water Treatment Plant and to
Rueter-Hess Dam and Reservoir.
Examining the Role of Human
Error in Dam Incidents and
Failures
Most, if not all, dam safety incidents
and failures could be traced to an error
in judgment, such as a design mistake,
poor construction techniques, ignored
indications of developing problems, or
operational errors. During this interactive
Workshop, facilitators posed dam
safety questions in roundtable format,
and captured the discussion among the
participants. A summary of Workshop
findings was featured in the November
2014 issue of the USSD Newsletter.
Guidelines for Construction Cost
Estimating for Dam Engineers and
Owners covered several types of cost
estimates for use at each level of design,
including direct costs, indirect costs,
corporate overhead, contingency,
profit and owner’s costs. Managing
Construction Risks presented accepted
project risk management techniques for
design and construction of dam projects.
7
During the General Assembly, ICOLD
voted to accept Myanmar’s application to
become the 97th member country. New
Vice Presidents were elected: Leif Lia
(Norway) and Kyun-Taek Yum (Korea).
Upcoming Annual Meetings include
Johannesburg, South Africa (2016) and
the Czech Republic (2017)
A highlight of the meeting was the
Americans regaining the ICOLD Cup from
the Europeans!
Financial
Box Summary
Title
Note: the data and statements on these pages should be considered
preliminary and are subject to change until a third-party review is
performed by an Independent Accountant.
Table 1. Total Equity (2010 to 2014)
USSD continues to be in a good overall financial position for future
growth due to wise investment decisions by past USSD Boards and
very capable management by long-time Executive Director Larry
Stephens. As can be seen in Table 1, USSD’s Total Equity (including
the General Fund and all Investment Funds) has recovered nicely in
the last several years after taking a dip following the recent Great
Recession. USSD’s Total Equity at the end of 2014 was $509,255,
down slightly from $531,840 at the end of 2013.
As can be seen in Tables 2 and 3, the 2014 Operations Budget
proposed by the Finance Committee and approved by the USSD
Board included budgeted revenues ($562,545) that were $50,559
less than budgeted costs ($613,104). The decision to approve a 2014
budget with revenues less than costs was due, in part, to important
investments the Board decided to make in order to put USSD in
the best possible strategic position for future success and growth.
In particular, the 2014 Operations Budget included investments in
a professional facilitator to assist with Strategic Planning, a highquality Public Awareness Video, and additional travel/conference
expenses for USSD to exhibit at both HydroVision and ICOLD. In
addition, the 2014 budget included costs for two years of the ICOLD
Annual Subscription (2013 and 2014). Finally, the 2014 budget
included a projected loss for the 2014 Fall Workshops held in Denver
due to low attendance. Although total actual revenues were slightly
lower than expected, total costs were also lower, so the difference
between actual revenues ($552,951) and costs ($606,783) were
approximately on target with the difference between budgeted
revenues and costs.
Non-Operational revenue and costs are shown in Table 4. As shown,
Non-Operational revenues, including contributions, life member
dues, interest, dividends and realized/unrealized gains in investment
funds, totaled $48,804. Non-Operational costs included $18,377
in scholarships and travel/lodging costs for scholarship recipients.
Therefore, the net Non-Operations revenue was $30,427, which
Year
Assets
Liabilities
Equity
(All Funds)
2010
$491,519
($22,982)
$514,500
2011
$462,780
$16,347
$446,433
2012
$487,024
$15,496
$471,528
2013
$556,253
$24,412
$531,840
2014
$507,638
($1,617)
$509,255
Table 2. 2014 Operating Revenue
Item
Budget
Actual
Membership Dues
$163,300
$161,435
($1,865)
2014 Annual Meeting & Conference
– San Francisco
$354,000
$346,2521
($7,748)
2014 Workshops – Denver
$19,345
Variance
$19,720
$375
$4,173
$4,173
$500
$820
$320
$16,000
$13,128
($2,872)
Advertising Directory/Website
$7,000
$4,682
($2,318)
Contributions – Operations
$2,400
$2,741
$562,545
$552,951
2013 ICOLD Meeting
Publications
Advertising – Newsletter
TOTAL REVENUE:
1
$341
($9,594)
Additional revenue is due from the 2014 Annual Meeting and Conference (San Francisco), and will be recorded in the
2015 financial statement when received.
8
Financial
Box Summary
Title
Table 3. 2014 Operating Costs
Item
2014 Annual Meeting & Conference
– San Francisco
2014 Workshops – Denver
2015 Annual Meeting & Conference
– Louisville
2013 ICOLD Meeting
ICOLD Annual Subscription2
Table 4. 2014 Non-Operational Revenue/Costs
Budget
Actual
Variance
$274,000
$277,454
($3,454)
$25,000
$4,5121
$6,000
$6,884
—
$20,488
($884)
($660)
$660
$45,904
$45,904
—
ICOLD Translation
—
$349
($349)
Strategic Planning
$10,000
$11,627
($1,627)
Public Awareness
$13,500
$13,500
—
$2,200
$1,623
$557
$236,500
$245,589
($9,089)
$613,104
$606,783
$6,321
Website Maintenance
Operating Overhead
TOTAL COSTS:
1
2
Additional costs for 2014 Workshops (Denver) were paid in January 2015, and will therefore be recorded in the 2015
Financial Statement.
Costs for the ICOLD Annual Subscription represent costs for two years (2013 and 2014).
made a significant positive impact on the overall
financial position of USSD by partially offsetting the
2014 operational deficit.
As can be seen in the numbers, the importance
of membership renewals, new-member recruiting
efforts, and the success of our Annual Conferences
and Workshops cannot be overemphasized in order
to continue to provide the high quality technical
conferences, publications, services and benefits
that USSD members have become accustomed to
Item
Cost
General Fund
$14,059
—
Designated Scholarship Fund
$26,864
$18,377
Designated Life Member Fund
$3,351
—
Designated Future Congress Fund
$4,541
—
$48,804
$18,377
TOTALS:
Table 5. Membership
Sustaining Members
27
Organizational Members
41
Individual Members
Life
Senior
Young Professional
Student
enjoy. The Finance Committee will recommend to the
Board to consider continued investments in our 2015
Operations Budget to further the mission and success
of the organization as guided by our recently adopted
Strategic Plan. The Finance Committee will further
recommend that the Board consider investments
to help produce additional future revenues, such as
increased web-based advertising, online publications
sales, online training and possibly other sources of
revenue that could serve the dams community and
further the mission of the USSD organization.
9
Revenue
1,044
110
91
75
34
Year after year, the Board continues to re-affirm our
commitment to awarding scholarships to promising
students as an investment in the future of the
profession. In 2014, USSD distributed one $10,000
scholarship and three $1,000 scholarships to deserving
students who are making significant contributions
to dams-related professions and who we believe will
continue to make an impact on the advancement of
dams in society.
Strategic Plan
Summary
During the last five years, the U.S.
Society on Dams’ organizational focus
has been tested in response to industry
challenges and cultural influences on
the dams industry. The fundamental
relationship of USSD to the International
Commission on Large Dams, as well as
our commitment to dam safety, has not
changed and undergirds all aspects of
the organization’s Vision and Mission.
Key issues such as public perceptions
and influences on decision making, sustainability, multi-purpose objectives,
regulatory actions, and the demands to prepare a new generation of the community
of practices requires USSD’s role to shift. Thus, the USSD Board of Directors has
approved this Strategic Plan for 2014 - 2018 to replace the 2009 Strategic Plan.
USSD Vision
A world class organization dedicated to advancing the role of dam and levee
systems and building the community of practice.
USSD Mission
USSD, as the United States member of the International Commission on Large
Dams, is dedicated to:
ADVOCATE:
Champion the role of dam and levee systems in society.
EDUCATE:
Be the premier source for technical information about dam and levee systems.
The Strategic Plan includes an updated Vision Statement that broadens specific
language in USSD’s vision to include dam and levee systems as they relate to the
focus of our profession. This acknowledges USSD’s continued support to the levee
systems community of practice and provides an opportunity to engage professionals
who may not have previously considered USSD applicable to their fields of interest.
COLLABORATE:
Build networks and relationships to strengthen the community of practice.
CULTIVATE:
This Strategic Plan was the result of a deliberate, structured, and inclusive process
that began with a brainstorming session where fundamental concepts related to
the role of USSD and the organization’s leadership responsibilities to its members
were discussed. Following that theme, three Appreciative Inquiry sessions were
conducted to solicit similar input from a broader cross section of members as well
as industry professionals from outside the organization. Questions posed in the
Appreciative Inquiry were also asked of USSD members through an online survey.
Information from these activities was used in a one-day workshop with the Board
to refine USSD’s overall mission; this resulted in the four Strategic Imperatives of
the Mission Statement. For each of the Strategic Imperatives, a summary statement
was developed and specific goals identified that support each of these Strategic
Imperatives.
Nurture the growth of the community of practice with other agencies.
This Strategic Plan is a standalone document. The main body — the Strategic
Imperatives and associated goals — is expected to remain unchanged through 2018,
when the Board will review the Plan and determine whether it should be updated.
Visit the USSD website (www.ussdams.org) to download the Plan.
10
Strategic Plan
Imperatives
Advocate
Champion the role of dam and levee systems in society.
Champion: Keith A. Ferguson
Goal 1: Develop industry-wide
strategic messaging and be the
industry voice.
Goal 2: Provide technical information
and facts to legislators and policy
makers to prepare them for making
water resources and dam safety
decisions.
Goal 3: Assist members to
understand the implications
associated with legislative initiatives.
Progress in 2014 has been slow in launching specific
actions related to advocacy. Instead, attention has
been focused on preparing USSD responses to a
number of challenging attacks on the industry and
in supporting legislative initiatives. In March 2014,
The most notable legislative initiative under this
imperative involved efforts to support and pass the
critical dam and levee safety elements contained in
the 2014 Water Resources Reform and Development
Act. For this initiative, USSD partnered with ASCE,
ASDSO, NAFSMA, ASFPM and ICWP.
members of the Board responded to a request from
the Engineering News Record to address an article
published by Elsevier, Should we build more large dams?
The actual costs of hydropower megaproject development.
Authors of the article were associated with the Said
Business School, University of Oxford. While the ENR
article was sparse in utilizing information provided
by USSD, the need to be responsive to such an article
was a strong reinforcing message of the importance of
USSD in providing factual and balanced information in
response to such articles.
On May 7, 2014, the New York Times published
an article written by Yvon Chouinard, Tear Down
Deadbeat Dams. USSD prepared a “counterpoint”
opinion and submitted it to the NYT, but it was not
published; however, it was included in the July 2014
USSD Newsletter. Perhaps more important was the
opportunity this article provided USSD to fashion a
broad and encompassing summary of an industry
position on dams that will serve as a foundation
for future messaging and efforts to educate and
collaborate with a broad spectrum of government
agencies and other stakeholders.
11
A planning workshop will be held following the 2015
Annual Conference to initiate a plan addressing the
three primary goals under this imperative. A side
benefit of this plan will be further clarification of the
tools of communication that USSD will employ to
develop and deliver a balanced message as a “Trusted
Voice” (see Ferguson, March 2014 USSD Newsletter).
Strategic Plan
Imperatives
Educate
Be the premier source for technical information
about dam and levee systems. Champion: Manoshree Sundaram
Goal 1: Publish trusted and relevant technical
papers and presentations
Goal 2: Develop and
implement conferences
and workshops that attract
broad industry participation.
Technical Writing and Presentation Training
Half-day workshop(s) for the 2016 USSD Conference with the following overall
goals in mind:
Conference Planning Guide and Workshop Planning Guide
• Advocate: Provide the highest quality technical papers and technical
Draft Conference Planning Guide and Workshop Planning Guide are being
developed with the following overall goals in mind:
presentations for our conferences, associated conference workshops and
stand-alone workshops.
• Educate: Provide guidance on how to develop technically proficient papers,
presentations and collaborative workshop sessions (lecture and interactive).
• Collaborate: Work with professionals within USSD as well as other
professional organizations who are experienced in conducting this type of
training to bring this experience to USSD.
• Cultivate: Attract the community of practice with high quality papers and
presentations.
• Advocate: Plan and conduct conferences and workshops with speakers,
themes and topics that show USSD to be the technical leader in dam and levee
systems and bring the USSD conferences and workshops to similar status of
other organizations.
• Educate: Develop planning guides so that conferences and workshops are
conducted such that USSD is the premier source for the technical information
presented.
• Collaborate: Improve the involvement of technical committees in conference
and workshop planning as well as for paper reviews for conferences and
presentation reviews for workshops. Also improve networks and relationships
with other organizations to improve conferences and workshops (see Goal 4).
• Cultivate: Develop conferences and workshops that support the USSD brand
and attract all potential attendees and participants from all aspects of dam and
levee systems.
2015 Goals:
• Currently developing
outlines for
individual writing
and presentation
workshops and one
combined workshop.
Workshops
anticipated to be
interactive.
• Working with a third
party to determine
whether outside
consultants are
needed for effective
workshops that meet
all four Strategic Plan Imperatives.
Achievements:
• Draft Conference Planning Guide and Draft Workshop Planning Guide are
under development so that conference and workhop topics, speakers, themes
and locations can be developed with sufficient advance planning to be able to
meet the above goals. Working drafts currently in use.
2015 Goals:
• Develop Final Conference Planning Guide and Workshop Planning Guide,
incorporating lessons learned from 2015 USSD Conference and 2015
workshops. Documents to be ready for November 2015 Board meeting and for
discussion with new Executive Director in 2016.
12
Educate
Goal 3: Provide current,
comprehensive and accessible
online resources.
Goal 4: Provide current,
comprehensive, and
Technically up-to-date
workshops and training
sessions by USSD
committees and with
collaboration with other
agencies
Retool website, architecture
USSD website to be overhauled with the
following goals in mind:
• Advocate: The website is the obvious
online presence for the organization and should appear at the top of search
results for key words related to dams and levees. Tie-ins to potential social
media advocacy platforms to be incorporated.
• Educate: The website will be a source of information for sharing USSD’s
work including white papers and other presentations, information about
conferences and workshops, and educational references and links to
pertinent online resources.
• Collaborate: The website will support the work of technical committees
including communications and development of white papers and workshops.
It will also clearly represent USSD’s ICOLD affiliation as well as strategic
collaboration with other organizations.
• Cultivate: The website should attract visitors, especially those new to
the community of practice, to USSD by providing beneficial resources for
students and young professionals.
Develop stand-alone
workshops by USSD only
2015 Goals:
Possibilities for Fall 2015 include:
• Construction Cost Estimating and
Construction Risk Management
• Dam Decommissioning Guidelines
• Appropriate Instrumentation for
Dams and Foundations.
• Public Safety and Security for Dams
Development of workshops and training
with the similar goals as identified
Develop stand-alone workshops
for Goal 2, both for stand-alone and
in collaboration with other
collaborative sessions. Ongoing
coordination within USSD and with other agencies
agencies to develop commitments for
2015 Goals:
future workshops and training sessions. Planning for these 2015 events:
Develop workshops for
conferences
Achievements:
Technical workshops have been
selected for the 2015 USSD Conference,
including:
Achievements:
• Proposals were solicited from three small businesses from across the US.
• Risk Assessment Tools for
Each company was provided with a scope of work and example screen shots
from similar industry websites, and details regarding goals supporting the
Strategic Plan were discussed. Currently completing a detailed evaluation of
the three proposals.
Coal Tailings Dams and Ash
Impoundments
• Environmental Permitting and Public
Acceptance for Dam Projects
• Dams on Karstic Foundations
• Current Uses of RCC in Dams
• Underwater Investigation and
Construction
2015 Goals:
• Recommendation for selected web developer by April 2015 Board Meeting.
• Expand team.
• Solicit suggestions from USSD Membership, Technical Committees.
• Begin initial phase of implementation.
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• Best Practices in Dam & Levee
Safety Risk Analysis Workshop
(with USBR, July 27-30, 2015)
• WRRDA and other Levee
Developments (with ASDSO,
September 2015)
Planning for these 2016 events:
• International Symposium on
Hydraulic Structures (with IAHR,
June 28-30, 2016, Portland,
Oregon).
• Internal Erosion (with Utah State
University, Fall 2016)
Strategic Plan
Imperatives
Collaborate
Build networks and relationships to strengthen the
community of practice. Champion: Michael F. Rogers
Goal 1: Facilitate effective
communication and collaboration
within USSD.
Goal 3: Strategically collaborate with
targeted international professional
organizations in the dam industry,
including the International
Commission on Large Dams
(ICOLD).
USSD Technical Committee Collaboration:
Strive to develop collaboration opportunities
between USSD technical committees as part
of 2014-2015 rechartering (Champions: John
Wolfhope and Sheila Tripp).
International Professional Society
Collaboration: Strive to develop deeper
Achievements
• Sheila Tripp (Kleinfelder) has taken a new
position as Technical Committee Coordinator,
providing assistance to USSD Vice President.
• All USSD technical committees have provided
updated Terms of Reference.
2015 Goals
• Publish new Terms of Reference for each
committee on USSD website.
• Publish all technical committee white papers
currently in the Publication Review Committee
process.
Goal 2: Strategically collaborate
with targeted U.S. professional
organizations influencing the dam
industry.
Domestic (North American) Professional
Society Collaboration: Strive to develop
collaboration opportunities between USSD and other
professional societies in North America (Champion:
Keith Ferguson).
Achievements
• USSD President Keith Ferguson met with
Association of State Dam Safety Officials and
the Canadian Dam Association presidents during
their respective annual meetings to discuss
current and future cooperation.
2015 Goals
• Invite representatives of ASDSO to USSD Annual
Meeting to continue relationship.
• Look for opportunities to partner with other
organizations, including ASCE and the National
Hydropower Association.
14
collaboration between USSD and ICOLD (Champion:
Mike Rogers).
Achievements
• USSD President Keith Ferguson and Mike Rogers
met with ICOLD Secretary-General Michel
DeVivo during the ICOLD 2014 meeting in Bali to
discuss a proposal by USSD and the Norwegian
National Committee on Large Dams (NNCOLD)
to establish an ICOLD Technical Committee on
Dam Type Selection. Ferguson will serve as Vice
Chair of this new Committee when it is ratified by
the ICOLD General Assembly during the Annual
Meeting in Stavanger, Norway, in June 2015.
Collaborate
• Mike Rogers, former USSD President and Chair of the ICOLD 2013 Organizing
Committee, will be nominated by NNCOLD for the position as ICOLD Vice
President for the Sixth Post. The election will be held during the 2015 ICOLD
Annual Meeting in Stavanger, Norway.
• Robin Charlwood has
taken the lead to identify
opportunities for USSD
to support the Ethiopian
National Committee on
Large dams (ETCOLD).
He made a visit to
Ethiopia in 2014 and met
with representatives of ETCOLD. USSD has submitted a letter of support for
Michael Ebebe as ICOLD Vice President for the Africa Post.
2015 Goals
• USSD will facilitate an international group visit from the Chinese Committee on
• Encourage USSD members to attend the next ICOLD Annual Meeting and
Large Dams (CHINCOLD) on a technical tour with the Bureau of Reclamation
to discuss high arch dam design, including visits to Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon
Dam and Reclamation’s Denver Federal Center (note: this tour took place in
March 2015, as shown in photos on this page.)
Congress to be held in Stavanger, Norway,
from June 13-19, 2015, especially those USSD
members currently assigned to ICOLD Technical
Committees.
• Collaborate with other ICOLD National Commitees
to support the election of Mike Rogers for ICOLD
Vice President (term 2015-2018).
• Mike Rogers will represent USSD at the 7th World
Water Forum in Korea with a presentation on Why
is “adaptable” management strategy required for aging
of dam infrastructures?
• Collaborate with CHINCOLD to sponsor an
International Milestone Project Awards program at
the USSD Annual Meeting in 2016.
• Collaborate with ETCOLD for technical training
courses in the United States for Ethiopian young engineers, including technical
visits to dams in the United States.
15
Strategic Plan
Imperatives
Cultivate
Secure the health and sustainability of USSD.
Champion: Dean B. Durkee
The past year we have been quite active addressing some of
the issues facing USSD in the near future, particularly as they
relate to the Cultivate Imperative. Below is a summary of our
activities related to the Cultivate Imperative.
Goal 1: Secure the health and
sustainability of USSD
Our efforts since the last Annual Meeting have focused
primarily on Goal 1: Secure the health and sustainability of
USSD. This goal relates primarily to developing a search
process and identifying a new Executive Director to replace
Larry Stephens who will retire at the end of 2015. Larry has
served the organization well and his shoes are certainly not
easy to fill.
Achievements
• Established Ad-Hoc Committee to search for and hire a
new Executive Director. Ad-Hoc Committee includes:
* Dean Durkee, Chair
* Keith Ferguson (Current USSD President)
* John Wolfhope (Current USSD Vice President)
* Karen Knight (Current USSD Board Member)
* Eric Halpin (Current USSD Board Member)
* Gus Tjoumas (Ex-Officio Board Member, Former
USSD Vice President)
* Brian Becker (Chair, USSD Committee on Dam
Safety and Dam Security)
* Dan Hertel (Ex-Officio Board Member, Former
USSD President)
* Amanda Sutter (Chair, USSD Committee on Young
Professionals)
• Researched Association Management resources
through interviews with Association Management
Professionals and
review of information
provided by the
American Society
of Association
Executives (ASAE).
• Developed draft
position description.
• Performed a financial
analysis based on
previous years’
Executive Director
office expenditures.
2015 Goals
• Finalize position description.
• Prepare and issue RFP.
• Interview prospective candidates.
• Contract with new Executive Director. Three general
approaches are under consideration:
* Contract with an individual, similar to the the
arrangement we currently have with Larry Stephens
* Contract with a partner organization (i.e., ASDSO)
* Contract with an Association Management
Company
Goal 2: Foster career
paths in engineering to
increase talent pool
for our industry
Achievements
• Began writing a draft of the USSD
Story. This will tell our story in an
interesting and concise manner
to attract younger engineers to
pursue dam engineering as a
career path. Dick Wiltshire, Rich
Kramer, Brandon Vavrick and Tina
Stanard have been working on this.
2015 Goals
• Complete a first draft of the USSD
Story
Goal 3: Attract
young professionals into
the industry and USSD
activities.
Work on Goal 3 is on hold while other
Goals are being addressed.
16
Committee Reports
Awards
Concrete Dams
Chair: Kathleen Clarkson
Vice Chair: Christina Stanard
Chair: Michael F. Rogers
Vice Chair: Guy S. Lund
Recognize outstanding technical
contributions, lifetime achievement,
excellence in construction, and student
scholarship.
Examine the technologies used in the
design and construction of concrete
dams, including properties and
characteristics of materials.
In 2014, the Committee facilitated the
awards process for the following awards:
Outstanding Paper, Outstanding Paper
by a Young Professional, Outstanding
Poster Presentation, Lifetime
Achievement,
Excellence in
the Constructed
Project, and
Scholarships.
The Committee
solicited
feedback from
all session
moderators and
co-moderators
in order to
select the top
papers to be judged for the outstanding
paper award at the Conference. The
Committee recruited approximately 30
members to judge the awards prior to
and during the Conference. The awards
were presented by the president of
USSD at the dinner on Wednesday night.
The Committee also initiated an informal
mentoring program, pairing student
scholarship finalists with professionals
at the San Francisco Conference.
The Committee met during the February
2014 Annual Meeting in San Francisco
with about 15 in attendance. As a
member of ICOLD, the USSD Committee
on Concrete Dams provides support to
the parallel ICOLD Technical Committee
on Concrete Dams that has been chaired
by Robin Charlwood of USSD for the last
15 years. At the ICOLD 2013 Meeting
in Seattle, the Committee agreed to
prepare an update to ICOLD Bulletin 126,
Roller Compacted Concrete Dams. USSD
stepped up to author three important
chapters of this Bulletin:
sponsor a workshop at its 2015 Annual
Meeting to solicit input in these three
areas of RCC design. This workshop will
be held on Thursday, April 16, at the
USSD Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Committee also agreed to support
the establishment of a new ICOLD
which has been proposed by USSD and
the Norwegian National Committee of
ICOLD. A Technical Committee on the
Selection of Dam Types was discussed
in Bali as a coordinated effort between
several ICOLD technical committees,
including concrete dams, embankment
dams, and others to evaluate the
selection of the best-suited type of dam
based on the proposed site conditions
and restrictions. If the proposal is
approved, Keith Ferguson and Glenn
Tarbox will represent USSD on the new
committee.
Construction and
Rehabilitation
• Chapter 5: Construction. Primary
Author: Rafael Ibanez-de-Aldecoa
• Chapter 7: Performance. Primary
Author: Tim Dolen
• Chapter 8: Appurtenant Uses.
(cofferdam, spillway, foundation
replacement, buttress, etc.
applications). Primary Author: Mike
Rogers
Further work was done on this updated
Bulletin 126 during the ICOLD 2014
meeting in Bali, Indonesia, where the
entire bulletin update was reviewed.
For its part, USSD members agreed to
Chair: Daniel L. Johnson
Vice Chair: Samuel M. Planck
Provide guidance documents to assists
engineers and project owners in
initiating, performing, and completing
construction and rehabilitation
projects.
The Committee met during the April
2014 Annual Meeting in San Francisco
with about 22 in attendance. During
2014 the Committee was quite active
17
in several different venues. Members
of the Committee attended the 2014
ICOLD meeting in Bali, Indonesia,
where Dan Johnson participated as
Vice Chairperson of the Committee
on Operation and Reclamation, and
Frank Immel joined the subcommittee
to complete an ICOLD Bulletin
on Underwater Investigation and
Rehabilitation for Dams. During the fall of
2014, the Committee presented a threeday workshop on Construction Risk
Management and Cost Estimating.
In April 2015, the Committee is
presenting a workshop during the
USSD Annual Meeting and Conference
on Underwater Investigation and
Construction. The Committee’s white
paper on Managing Construction Risk
will be presented in final draft during
the upcoming April meeting. This
white paper will be presented to the
Publication Review Committee in fall
2015. Several Committee members are
planning to attend the June 2015 ICOLD
Meeting in Stavanger, Norway.
The Committee will meet in April
2015 to re-acquaint ourselves with our
updated mission and renew efforts to
expand our membership and activities
in accordance with the USSD ReChartering Process.
Committee Reports
Dam Decommissioning
3. Project Planning and Decision Making
Chair: Timothy J. Randle
Vice Chair: Michael L. Brown
4. Engineering Design Process
5. Sediment Management
Committee activities during 2014
have focused on completing the draft
Guidelines for Dam Decommissioning
Projects and preparing to host a
workshop to showcase the new
guidelines after they have USSD
Board approval. The Committee held
meetings in person and by phone and
had numerous e-mail exchanges during
2014:
6. Construction Activities
• In-person meeting on April 7, 2014,
during the USSD Annual Meeting in
San Francisco
• Conference call meeting May 8
The Guidelines for Dam Decommissioning
Projects is nearly ready for Board
approval and will have the following
eight chapters:
1. Introduction
2. F actors to Consider for Dam
Decommissioning Projects
The Risk Assessment Subcommittee of
CODSS has been working closely with
the USSD Board of Directors to develop
and present a training workshop on Best
Practices in Dam and Levee Safety Risk
Analysis. This workshop is scheduled for
July 27-30, 2015, in Denver, Colorado.
7. Performance Monitoring and
Mitigation
Several CODSS members are
participating on an Interagency
Committee on Dam Safety (ICODS)
sponsored joint effort to develop
Federal Guidelines on Dam Safety Risk
Management. Representatives from
the Bureau of Reclamation, Corps of
Engineers, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, Tennessee Valley
Authority, and Federal Emergency
Management Agency have finalized
and published these Guidelines, FEMA
P-1025, and are available from FEMA’s
webpage: www.fema.gov/media-library/
assets/documents/101958.
8. Selected Case Histories
The Committee will meet on April
13, during the 2015 Annual Meeting
and Conference to plan the next dam
decommissioning workshop, plan other
missions and expand our membership
in accordance with the USSD ReChartering Process.
Dam Safety and Dam
Security
Chair: Brian Becker
Vice Chair: Daniel J. Mahoney
Members of the Security and Public
Safety Subcommittee have been
participating in an ICOLD Public Safety
Committee effort to develop a State of
Practice Report on Public Safety around
Dams.
The Terms of Reference has been
updated this past year and will be
discussed at this year’s Conference
in Louisville. Members of CODSS
have been involved in several ongoing
endeavors:
• USSD Sponsored Workshop, Best
Practices in Dam and Levee Safety
Risk Analysis
• Joint Federal Risk Management
Workgroup
• ICOLD Public Safety Committee
Earthquakes
Chair: Joseph L. Ehasz
Vice Chair: Donald H. Babbitt
Identify seismic design needs for dams
to study, research or assemble updated
information, and disseminate it to
those responsible for dam design and
operation.
The Committee continues to work at
identifying topics for research regarding
seismic design as well as further studies
for the Committee to focus on. We
are working to complete a report on
Earthquake Analysis of Embankment
Dams. One of our major objectives is
continued collaboration with the ICOLD
Committee on Seismic Aspects.
The Earthquake Committee met twice
during the past year. Membership is at
thirty and includes two new members.
The membership represents private,
federal, state and academic interests
from all parts of the United States.
The Committee has spent its efforts
on advancing reports for publication,
updating guidelines, and trying to
develop new topics for future activities.
We also have continued our efforts on
completing report topics and guidelines
in support of the ICOLD Committee on
Seismic Aspects of Dam Design.
During a recent meeting, we focused on
improving our Committee operations
as well as identifying new and younger
members to join and participate in our
Committee.
18
Committee
Box Title
Reports
Embankment Dams
Chair: Rachael Bisnett
Vice Chair: Victor M. Vasquez
Keep the general membership informed
of the state-of-the-practice for design,
construction, operation, maintenance,
and rehabilitation of embankment dams.
The Committee met during the 2014
Annual Meeting in San Francisco with 21
people in attendance and through two
conference calls during the year.
During 2014, the Committee updated
its charter and focused on advancing
several white papers through the
development and review process. White
paper topics include the following:
• Design and Performance of Riprap
Slop Protection for Embankment
Dams
• Laboratory Testing of Fill Strength
Parameters for Embankment Dams
• Piping and Internal Erosion
• Riprap Bedding
The Committee also began to integrate
the topic of Cemented Materials Dams
into our goals and activities.
The Committee continues to be active
on the ICOLD Embankment Dams
Committee with representation by
Dave Paul. In addition, the Committee
continues seeking opportunities
to collaborate with both external
organizations and other USSD technical
committees to develop white papers or
workshops.
Environment and
Sustainability
The Committee has identified
external organizations to contact for
opportunities to collaborate on topics of
mutual interest.
Chair: Denise Bunte-Bisnett
Vice Chair: Jim Daly
Foundations
Promote strategies to accomplish
USSD’s mission to foster dam
technology for socially, environmentally
and financially sustainable water
systems.
Chair: Douglas D. Boyer
Vice Chair: Edwin R. Friend
Educate, train, and communicate the
investigation, evaluation, analysis,
design, and construction of foundation
systems for dams.
The committee met in San Francisco
and held a series of conference calls
throughout the year. New Terms of
Reference were developed to reflect a
broader purpose and updated mission
in support of USSD’s committee rechartering process. The name of the
committee was changed to endorse
the sustainability component of our
terms of reference. New members were
welcomed during the year to expand the
core group.
The Committee met during the 2014
Annual Meeting in San Francisco and
a committee conference call was held
in October 2014. Committee activities
during the past year include:
• Renewed efforts to complete a
white paper on Best Practices for
Surface Treatment of Foundations
for Dams with an anticipated
publication date of 2016.
• Led the organization of a workshop
on Dams on Karstic Foundations for
the 2015 Annual Meeting.
• Participated in the organization
of an international workshop and
symposium on internal erosion that
is currently planned for the fall of
2016.
• In the early stages of organizing
a potential workshop in 2017
on methods and procedures for
foundation investigation and site
characterization for dams and
levees.
During the past year the Committee
focused on organizing a full day
workshop for the 2015 Conference
in Louisville, Paths to Success —
Environmental Permitting and Public
Acceptance for Dam Projects The
Committee is involved with ICOLD’s
Environment Committee with
representation by Blaine Dwyer.
Committee members Jim Daly and
Denise Bisnett worked with the USSD
Committee on Tailings Dams to help
organize the 2015 workshop on Risk
Assessment Tools Applied to Coal
Tailings Dam and Ash Impoundments.
19
• Attended an Association of
Environmental and Engineering
Geologists Dams Committee
meeting at the 2014 AEG Meeting
in Scottsdale, Arizona. The
committees discussed potential
opportunities to leverage the
resources of both organizations to
help lead and organize workshops
and training resources.
The Committee webpage has been
greatly expanded in the last year to
include resources for practitioners and
includes an expanded bibliography of
key dam failures and incidents related
to dam foundations. Future website
updates will include literature for
dam foundation investigations and
characterization and links to other webbased resources.
The Committee is currently prioritizing
additional tasks to pursue, including
white papers, workshops, webinars, and
other outreach opportunities to provide
the dam and levee safety industry
technical resources related to dam and
levee foundations.
Committee
Box Title
Reports
Hydraulics of Dams
ICOLD Congress Papers
Chair: Martin J. Teal
Vice Chair: Gregory Paxson
Chair: Richard L. Wiltshire
Vice Chair: Dustin Mortensen
Activities during the past year focused
on two white papers in preparation:
Improving the Reliability of Commonly
Used Hydraulic Valves and Modeling
Sediment Movement in Reservoirs.
Although the first has been ongoing
for many years, it now needs to be
submitted to the USSD review process.
Review committee comments have been
addressed for the second white paper
and the authors hope to submit it to
the USSD Board before their meeting in
April.
Coordinate USSD participation in
ICOLD Congresses and the selection
of USSD papers for submittal to
ICOLD for publication in the Congress
Proceedings.
The chair and vice chair also updated
the old committee charter into a draft
of a new charter which will be discussed
at the next committee meeting. Future
activities include completion of the
white papers, attracting new members
to the committee, finishing the rechartering process, helping fill vacant
hydraulics-related ICOLD committee
positions, and preparing to host the
2016 International Symposium on
Hydraulic Structures. Committee
members serve as USSD representatives
to ICOLD on the following committees:
Hydraulics for Dams (James Lindell),
Sedimentation of Reservoirs (Martin
Teal), Flood Evaluation and Dam Safety
(Robert Swain), and Dams and River
Basin Management (Kenneth Steele)
initiatives were advanced in the last year.
U.S. Levee Coalition
Members of the Committee met with
representatives of several professional
organizations who are working together
to coordinate levee-related activities and
advance collaboration.
Midwest Levees and Rivers Technical
Exchange
The ICOLD Congress Papers Committee
was busy in 2014, handling the USSD
papers submitted to ICOLD for the 25th
ICOLD Congress to be held in Stavanger,
Norway, in June 2015. Committee
officers coordinated with the authors
and provided them with ICOLD’s
Guidelines for Authors. Eleven abstracts
for proposed papers were received in
response to USSD’s call for papers. The
Committee members reviewed the draft
papers submitted, provided the authors
with comments and editing suggestions,
and ensured that the finalized papers had
addressed those review comments. Five
papers were finalized and sent to ICOLD.
The Committee, led by Steve McCaskie,
assisted with the planning of the
Midwest Levees and Rivers Technical
Exchange held in St. Louis in October
2014. The event featured presentations
on levee repair and rehabilitation,
engineering and design, programs
and policies. Thirteen members of the
Committee participated as presenters
or moderators. The group developed a
USSD overview presentation and hosted
an exhibit at the MLRTE.
Levees
Chair: William Empson
Vice Chair: Elena Sossenkina
Research and Development
Collaboration
The Levee Committee and several
interested participants met during the
April 2014 USSD Annual Meeting in
San Francisco to discuss legislative and
regulatory updates, future actions of the
committee and hear updates from other
professional organizations. As a result
of the committee coordination, several
John Rice represented the Committee
at a Research and Development
meeting with USACE and the Dutch
Rijkswaterstaat. The Rijkswaterstaat is
developing an international levee R&D
inventory database.
20
Water Resource Reform and
Development Act of 2014
The Committee has been working with
other professional organizations with
public safety/infrastructure focus to
advocate for the creation of a National
Levee Safety Program. USSD joined
others in sending letters to Congress
supporting the Levee Safety Initiative
included in the Water Resource Reform
and Development Act of 2014.
International Levee Handbook
On behalf of the U.S. Levee Coalition,
the Committee is leading a nine month
roll out campaign on the International
Levee Handbook, including creation of a
website and bi-weekly webinars on the
technical content of the ILH.
Partnership with Deep Foundations
Institute
Building upon the successful partnership
with the Deep Foundations Institute
on the 2014 workshop on Levees and
Coastal Rehabilitation, USSD and DFI are
exploring ideas for future collaboration,
including hosting an International
Symposium on Seepage Control and
Remediation in the future.
International Levee Community of
Practice
The Committee supported efforts
toward development of a framework for
an international community of practice
on levees and flood risk management.
Committee
Box Title
Reports
Membership
Chair: William H. Hover
Vice Chair: John A. Wilkes
Assist the Executive Director and
Board with execution of the 2014 2018 Strategic Plan with respect to
membership issues, rimarily under the
Collaborate and Cultivate Imperatives.
Promote new memberships and help
renew memberships in USSD.
The Committee met on April 7, 2014,
in San Francisco. Participants included
Clare Raska, President of the Canadian
Dam Association.
Various action items were discussed
including:
• assisting Larry Stephens with
membership renewals.
• ways to promote and increase
new memberships through
university professors and younger
professionals.
• considering use of social media to
promote new memberships.
• evaluating potential changes
to membership types/grades/
benefits/fees with respect to
increasing membership; meeting
with the Committee on Public
Awareness and the Committee on
Young Professionals to exchange
ideas and coordinate activities.
• recruiting additional Committee
members.
• identifying engineering schools
Committee on Levees.
• A Subcommittee on Training of
On-Site Dam Operation Personnel
has been working for several years,
including recent efforts done jointly
with the Association of State Dam
Safety Officials. It is anticipated that
a white paper will be developed by
the Subcommittee on the general
topic of training on-site dam
operation personnel.
• A Subcommittee on Seismic
Instrumentation of Dams is working
toward developing a white paper.
• A Subcommittee on Fully Grouted
Piezometer Installations is gathering
data and information, with the goal
of producing a white paper.
• A Subcommittee has been
working to assess the potential
for presenting a USSD Technical
Workshop on Providing Appropriate
Instrumentation for Dams —
Developing and Implementing
Properly Focused, Cost-Effective
Monitoring Programs.
• A white paper titled Operation and
Maintenance of an Instrumentation
System is in the review phase.
• Several brief case history
summaries have been prepared for
inclusion in ICOLD Bulletin 158, Dam
Surveillance Guide.
Future goals and activities include:
in reasonable proximity to annual
meetings and promote attendance.
The Committee met in July 2014, to
develop, review and update Terms
of Reference, particularly under the
Collaborate and Cultivate Imperatives of
USSD’s Strategic Plan.
Monitoring of Dams and
Their Foundations
Chair: Jay N. Stateler
Examine the technologies used in the
design and construction of concrete
dams, including properties and
characteristics of materials.
Activities of the Committee during 2014
include the following:
• A meeting of the Committee was
held on April 7 in San Francisco
with 29 members and visitors in
attendance.
• A new draft charter for the
Committee was developed and
submitted to the USSD Board for
review on June 21, 2014.
• Fifteen Committee members
performed reviews of papers for
technical sessions during the April
2015 USSD Annual Meeting and
Conference.
• A Subcommittee on Monitoring
Levees has prepared a draft white
paper titled Monitoring Levees,
working with members of the
• Continue the efforts to publish the
white papers listed above.
21
• Conduct a USSD technical
workshop.
• Improve the interaction between the
Committee and USSD Conference
Planning Committees relative to
having the Committee coordinate
and perform technical reviews
of all papers to be presented at
USSD conferences that relate to
instrumentation and monitoring.
• Several Committee members are
planning to attend the June 2015
ICOLD meeting in Stavanger,
Norway.
Committee
Box Title
Reports
Newsletter
Public Awareness
Chair: John C. Lyon, Jr.
Vice Chair: Bruce R. Rogers
YP Vice Chair: Phoebe Percell
Chair: Rebecca Ragon
Vice Chair: William B. Bingham
During 2014, the USSD Newsletter
issues provided an overview of Strategic
Plan initiatives and latest activities
through articles and special features.
The November 2014 issue focused on
Young Professionals, with the majority
of technical articles authored and
presented by YPs. November 2015 and
2016 issues will continue to include a
summary of YP activities for each year.
The Newsletter Committee, beginning in
2014 and continuing through 2016, will
Increase the focus on levees, publishing
trusted and relevant technical articles
and provide current resource links. A
strong priority for Newsletter issues
is providing an opportunity for USSD
Committees to announce their efforts to
strategically collaborate with targeted
U.S.and international organizations.
The Newsletter Committee continued
to collaborate with USSD technical
committees to include committee items
(Committee Corner), workshops and
notices of USSD technical publications.
The overall focus remains to keep the
membership informed on items of key
professional interest, technical activities,
and USSD undertakings through the
publication of the USSD Newsletter.
Annual Meeting and Conference.
• José Clemente and Maddie Haidari
co-chaired two technical sessions
during the Annual Conference.
• Christina Winckler led a full-day
workshop on Seismic Design of
Tailings Dams.
• The Committee updated/revised its
Charter to reflect the USSD mission
imperatives.
• Committee Vice Chair Tatyana
Alexieva is working with the ICOLD
Tailing Committee on a new bulletin
entitled Tailings Dam Design —
Technology Update. The content
of the bulletin will be presented
and discussed during a workshop
that will take place in Stavanger,
Norway, in June 2015. The bulletin is
scheduled to be published in 2016.
• Robert Snow is leading the
organization of a full-day workshop
on Risk Assessment Tools Applied
to Coal Tailings Dams and Ash
Impoundments that will be held
during the 2015 Annual Conference.
Planning for the Workshop included
the preparation of a survey to
gather anonymous information
from the power and coal mining
industries relative to their use of risk
assessment tools. We collaborated
with the Utilities Solid Waste
Activities Group and the American
Coal Ash Association in the
dissemination of the survey.
The role of this Committee is to provide
information on the role of dams in
the management of water resources
to benefit society and the natural
environment. The main objective is
to better inform the public, Federal
and state agencies, environmental
organizations and professionals on the
role of dams and the benefits that dams
provide to society. This Committee
also provides support to two ICOLD
committees — Public Awareness and
Education and World Register of Dams.
This Committee would like to work with
the Association of State Dam Safety
Officials on an improved educational
website. There are also plans to update
the nationwide dam statistics and
general overview. We are looking for
new members with fresh ideas!
Tailings Dams
Chair: José L. M. Clemente
Vice Chair: Tatyana Alexieva
Engage in activities that contribute
to and support the USSD Mission
Imperatives of advocating, educating,
collaborating and cultivating.
The USSD Committee on Tailings Dams
remained active throughout 2014.
• The Committee met in San
Francisco during the 34th USSD
22
Young Professionals
Chair: Amanda Sutter
The Committee has been busy
promoting the YP cause within USSD.
We made our voices heard by helping to
create the new Strategic Plan and have
written a new Committee charter with
this in mind. One of the new initiatives
is to designate a YP Vice-Chair for each
of the USSD technical committees. We
have made significant progress on this
and hope to be close to full coverage
within the next year. We have also
written articles for the Newsletter.
Several of our members presented at
last year’s conference, including a lunch
presentation outlining the YP cause. We
plan to provide a lunch speaker again
at the 2015 Conference with the goal of
making it a tradition going forward. We
have been busy planning YP events for
the upcoming conference with a focus
on attracting new young members. At
the 2015 Conference, the YP Committee
will be hosting a panel discussion on
career advice for students and YPs
based on feedback from last year. We
have also been helping (not our initiative,
but lending support) to establish a 5k
fun run as a new Conference activity
to benefit the USSD scholarship fund.
Outside of USSD, we are maintaining
our ICOLD ties through the Committee
chair, who is also the Chair of the ICOLD
Young Engineers Forum.
United States Society on Dams
www.ussdams.org
1616 17th Street, #483
Denver, CO 80202
© 2015 U.S. Society on Dams
Designer: Victoria Lundy, Cuttlefish Arts
Editor: Sue Anderson
Printer: Siler Printing
United States Society on Dams
www.ussdams.org