The Santa Ana River Flood Forecasting System

A real-time flood forecasting and reservoir operations simulation system has been developed for the Santa Ana River Basin, located in southern California. The system consists of generalized computer software developed by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center and the Los Angeles District, and a set of data models describing the characteristics of the Santa Ana River Basin, the flood control system, and the data collection and reporting networks. The water control system includes data retrieval and processing, hydrologic data management, streamflow forecasting and simulation of reservoir operations. The water control system provides a coherent set of tools to increase the effectiveness of the water control manager in identifying future flood problems and evaluating alternative measures for mitigation on the Santa Ana River.