NIBS – Scientific Resolution Panel Applicants

Hydrologists and Hydrologic Technicians:

The National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) is seeking scientific and technical experts to help review and resolve flood map challenges.

To serve on the Scientific Resolution Panel you must:

  •  Have a minimum of 10 years of proven experience with expertise in one of the following:
    • surface water hydrology
    • hydraulics
    • coastal engineering
    • other relevant engineering and scientific fields or a related field:
      • Coastal storm and hydraulic engineering
      • Coastal geotechnical engineering
      • Water resource engineering (surface water hydrology, open-channel flow hydraulics, hydrologic engineering)
      • Geotechnical engineering
      • Alluvial fan engineering
      • Levee analysis and mapping
      • FEMA guidelines and standards for flood risk analysis and mapping
  • They also must have expertise with riverine, lacustrine, coastal flood hazard, surveying, topographic information, hydrologic analysis, hydraulic analysis, coastal analysis or other pertinent experience applicable to the development of flood elevations and Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs).

To become a member of the panel or learn more about the scientific panel resolution initiative, or fill out an application: visit www.floodsrp.org/apply.

What Happens Next:

If approved, SRP Cadre members may be called to serve on one to three SRPs per year, averaging the equivalent of two to five days’ effort spread over three months.

Panels will be conducted virtually, with no travel involved. Panel members will be compensated for their services under contract with NIBS.

If you know anyone within your network who is also an expert and would be interested in participating, feel free to forward this information to them.

AIH Call For Articles – Deadline Extended!

The next issue of the AIH Bulletin is scheduled to be published in the Summer of 2022, for which the editorial team invites contributions from members.

Original articles on any aspect of hydrology (e.g., administrative, technical, socioeconomic) will be considered for publication. It is not required that the article be based on academic or scientific work; however, it should not be published elsewhere. Book reviews may also be submitted under this category.

  • Please provide an unformatted word document of your story without embedded images. You can signify where you’d like a submitted image using brackets.
  • Images you wish to be included with your article must not be embedded in the Word document; send them separately and labeled with names corresponding to where you’d like them used in the Word document.
  • Articles must have a brief title and a byline.
  • Authors must have the full name, title and agency or association. 
  • Supply a high-resolution head-shot of the author.
  • Article length must be between 500 – 1000 words.
  • Please include an “About the Author” post script, to provide our audience with the context of your perspectives. Include how you would like your name and title to be presented.
  • Avoid using too many bulleted lists, diagrams or graphs in your article.

Beside original articles, members may also submit leads to items of interest to the hydrologists’ community. Such items may include news related to the field of hydrology, conferences, new publications, etc.

If you are interested in contributing, please send articles or other items of interest via the Dropbox link below by May 27, 2022. Please ensure submissions are identified properly (example: TitleofArticle-FirstLastName.doc) and that supporting graphics/images are of the highest possible quality and attached, not embedded in the word document. Be sure to include your contact information within your submission as well.

Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact our office at admin@aihydrology.org.

EXTENDED – The American Institute of Hydrology (AIH) is issuing this Request for Proposals (RFP)

Update: We’ve extended the deadline from April 12 to April 19th! 

The American Institute of Hydrology (AIH) is issuing this Request for Proposals (RFP) to invite entities with specialized hydrology experience in hydrology and qualifications related to development of and training to support hydrology-related examination preparation. Responses are due April 19, 2022.

AIH intends to enter a multi-year contract with a single entity to provide certification exam support services. Note that the single contracted entity may enter into agreements with other entities or individuals to propose on services in responses to the RFP and for performance of services.

The American Institute of Hydrology (AIH) was founded in 1981 as a non-profit scientific and educational organization dedicated to the certification and registration of professionals in all fields of hydrology. AIH is the only nationwide organization that offers certification to qualified hydrologic professionals. AIH’s goal is to promote hydrology as a science and profession and to help protect public interest from non-professional practices.

View the Revised RFP

AIH – The Recertification Process

AIH – The Recertification Process

American Institute of Hydrology certified members provide expert knowledge, specialized skills, and adhere to the highest standards and ethics in the field of hydrology. Recertification of  members assures that they have continued to keep updated with current research, standards and practices. This ongoing educational requirement helps protect public interests and the profession from non-professional, sub-standard or unethical practices in a field involving complex water issues. Because of the continually changing nature of the field of hydrology and societal challenges, certified members need to continue their professional development throughout their careers and keep current in their specialty fields by engaging in professional practice, participating in continuing education courses, keeping up with technical literature, and attending professional meetings and seminars. Professional Development Hour (PDH), or Professional Development Credit (PDC), is defined as one contact hour of instruction, presentation, or study towards the goal of staying current in the field of practice. Specific competency requirements are determined by the Executive Committee on a periodic basis.

 

Certified members are responsible for keeping records of the number of PDH/PDC they earn along with associated documentation that can be validated by AIH. Documentation is due by January 15 of every 5 years, computed from the anniversary year of the individual member, in order to remain in compliance with certification. A minimum of 60 PDH/PDCs is required over 5 years to be eligible for recertification.

 

https://www.aihydrology.org/continuing-education-guidance/

Dates & Deadlines

Certemy has a notification system implemented for those in the recertification phase which notifies those who are approaching their application deadline 3 months ahead of time and again one month ahead. Given the recertification process spans over a 5-year period and requires professionals to provide proof of continuing education over this period of time, we understand that the notification process we currently have in place may not have been an appropriate amount of time to obtain the prerequisites for recertification – specifically the professional development credits component. As a result of this, we have restructured our notification process so that, moving forward, our members will receive notifications beginning 6 months ahead of time rather than 3 months. This will then be followed up by a 3-month notification with an additional final notification 1 month ahead of application due dates. 

AIH is revising the recertification process to make it easier for members to upload their recertification data. Implementation of this process is underway but not yet completed. This will be completed within the next 90 days. With that said, the Executive Committee recently voted on extending the recertification deadline an additional 6 months for any of our AIH professionals that are currently in the recertification phase. It is our hope that this will allow time to obtain the proper material needed to recertify. 

Certified members whose recertification is due in 2022 now have until July 15, 2022 to complete the process. 

 

Membership Dues

Annual membership dues are required every year, regardless of if you are in a recertification phase or not, in order to continue practicing under your earned credential.

 

Recertification Fees

Every 5 years, certified members must provide proof of eligibility to recertify, along with recertification fees. These fees are separate from your annual membership dues. 

The points above regarding dates & deadlines, membership dues, and recertification fees are what we hope is captured as a main takeaway from our members reading this message. We greatly value each of our members and we thank you for your continued support of AIH!

Awards Nominations

The American Institute of Hydrology (AIH) recognizes individuals for outstanding accomplishments in the fields of groundwater, surface water, water quality, and institute development. These awards are named after prominent scientists and engineers, who have made numerous lasting contributions to the hydrologic sciences. AIH Awards include:

  • Charles V. Theis Award for Groundwater
  • Ray K. Linsley Award for Surface Water
  • Robert G. Wetzel Award for Water Quality
  • Founders Award for Institute Development
Nominees Do Not Need to Be a Member of AIH!

The nomination packet for each award should contain the following:

  1. A formal nomination letter by the nominator, outlining the education, career, and a record of performance detailing accomplishments and noteworthy impact achieved by the potential candidate.
  2. A current resume of the nominee.
  3. A minimum of two and maximum of four supporting letters with a limit of three pages each.

The supporting letter writers should state briefly how they know the nominee and describe why the nominee is deserving of the award. Please submit your nomination to admin@aihydrology.org by Friday, March 25, 2022. Award winners will be notified and the awards will be presented at an upcoming conference to be determined later in the year.

The Charles Vernon (C.V.) Theis Award was established in 1986, to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions in groundwater hydrology. Charles V. Theis graduated with a PhD from the University of Cincinnati in June 1929 and made numerous contributions to the field of groundwater science throughout his life.

The Ray K. Linsley Award was established in 1986, to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions in surface water hydrology. Dr. Linsley made numerous contributions to surface water hydrology and was the principal author of the textbook Applied Hydrology, published by McGraw-Hill in 1949. He directed the PhD dissertations of 35 students at Stanford University covering research on mechanics of overland flow, rainfall synthesis, stochastic hydrology, and modeling of the hydrologic cycle. These efforts led to the development of the Stanford Watershed Model, a state-of-the-art tool of hydrologists worldwide.

The Robert G. Wetzel Award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions in the field of water quality. This award was dedicated in 2006, to the family of the late Robert G. Wetzel. Dr. Wetzel was a true leader in the field of freshwater science. His thoughts and brilliant synthesis of all aspects of lakes and streams are included in more than 30 books and 400+ publications including the definitive college textbook of this field, Limnology.

The AIH Founders Award was established in 1990, to recognize individuals who have provided outstanding, long and dedicated service to the Institute. It was established to honor the AIH founders Sandor Csallany, Alex Zaporozec, and Roman Kanivetsky. The award is given at the discretion of the AIH Executive Board to a member in good standing.

President’s Message

AIHPresident Jamil Ibrahim

Greetings! The end of the calendar year is a common period for self-reflection by individuals and organizations. As I look back while concluding the first year of my two-year term as your American Institute of Hydrology (AIH) President, I’m delighted about the accomplishments of your AIH leadership team during 2021. Our achievements this year, however, are not just a function of what we did during 2021 – they consider the steps taken by AIH over the past few years to address challenges and introduce new perspectives, along with the great work of your leadership team.

We did great things in 2021! Thank you to all who contributed. Here’s a snapshot of our accomplishments:

  • Boosted AIH’s membership by 22% compared to 2020 and received 35% more new member applications during 2021 compared to the previous year.
  • Held the Institute’s first virtual meet-and-greet event with AIH members.
  • Connected our AIH community through in-person Water New Year celebrations in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Sacramento, California. One of the three co-founders of AIH, Roman Kanivetsky, joined in the Minneapolis event!
  • Welcomed our first Hydrologic Technician (HT) to serve as a member of AIH’s leadership team on our Executive Committee (EC).
  • Completed a widely popular and informative webinar series on the topic of Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO). Our FIRO series, provided in collaboration with the American Water Resources Association (AWRA), featured our nation’s top experts on FIRO, an innovative strategy for water resources management that leverages use of advanced hydrological and meteorological data.
  • Convened a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force composed of AIH members and members from the EC. Stay tuned – you will have an opportunity to learn more and support the important activities our DEI Task Force will be initiating within the next few months.
  • Revamped our membership application and database system. Despite the glitches our administration team encountered after the rollout, we’re confident our modernization changes will improve ease of application development by prospective members, application review and processing by our Board of Registration, and provide enhanced member benefits through access of information and content.
  • Presented to audiences at professional conferences about AIH and the importance of Professional Hydrologist (PH) certification for hydrologists and HT certification for hydrologic technicians, including: Groundwater Resources Association of California’s (GRAC) Future of Water Conference; Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science’s (CUAHSI) Biennial Colloquium; AWRA’s 2021 Annual conference; and the University of Minnesota’s 2021 Minnesota Water Resources Conference.
  • Improved social media presence and member connectivity.
  • Coordinated with researchers for the U.S. Department of Labor on development of information on hydrologist and hydrologic technician occupations.

Also, we are nearly complete with revisions and updates to AIH’s Bylaws and a contracting solicitation for AIH examination support services–both scheduled for distribution early in 2022.

Again – Thank you to all who have stepped forward to take on roles to help advance the mission of AIH. Member participation is vital to AIH’s success and we are eager to engage more members in AIH activities. Even if not interested in taking on a leadership role for AIH or getting involved in various subcommittees or groups, we request all our members to be ambassadors for AIH and its certified members. Please contact me or others on our leadership team to learn more about how to get involved.

Sincerely,

Jamil S. Ibrahim PH, PMP, ENV SP

AIH President, 2021-2022

Former AIH President Delivers a Keynote Address at the Latin American Congress of Civil Engineering Students

Former AIH President Delivers a Keynote Address at the Latin American Congress of Civil Engineering Students

From November 14-20, 2021, over 120 civil engineering students from nine Latin American countries attended the COLEIC (Latin American Congress of Civil Engineering Students) 2021 event in Tarija, Bolivia.

Dr. Miguel A. Medina, Jr., PH (AIH President, 2009-2010) delivered a keynote presentation on November 17th titled “Water Resources of Bolivia, Integration of Hydrologic Cycle Processes, Climate Change Challenges, Adaptation and Professional Opportunities.” That same day he was invited to the Municipality of Tarija and presented with an ordinance declaring him a Distinguished Visitor. While at the Tarija City Hall, he was interviewed by a local journalist regarding his findings of potential climate change in Tarija.

Medina

The following morning a national Bolivian TV (UNITEL) news crew interviewed him live at the Hotel Vendimia lobby on the topic of Bolivian water resources and management, as well as potential climate change implications. The broadcast was also presented again that evening on a national news segment.

On November 18th, Medina also participated in a forum discussion on climate change implications for the civil engineering and hydrology professions.

For his presentation, Medina examined the annual maxima series of precipitation at three recording stations in the region: Tarija (1944-2020), Juntas (11976-2020) and Cañas (1977-2020).

Nonstationary time series analysis with the Generalized Extreme Value Distribution (GEV) was applied to the three stations.

Both Tarija and Juntas exhibited a slight decrease in precipitation. However, at a higher elevation over a mountain ridge, Cañas exhibited a substantial increase in precipitation.

Both deterministic and statistical methods were discussed, as well as surface-subsurface interactions across the hydrologic cycle. The presentation ended with recommendations for infrastructure adaptation to climate change, increased monitoring needs, and a review of current standards. Specific recommendations followed for future training of civil engineers and hydrologists to enhance their professional opportunities.

Membership Renewals

Membership Renewals

Please be reminded that your membership with AIH will expire on January 15, 2022. We encourage you to renew your dues now. Renewal of dues should be completed through the Certemy platform.

We hope you will take the time to renew your membership and remain part of our community. AIH’s dedication to the organization and commitment to the hydrology industry is unprecedented. You want to continue to be a part!

We value all contributions to AIH, as we recognize that without committed and involved members, AIH would not be where it is today. Your involvement is important and very much appreciated.

AIH offers numerous reasons to continue to stay involved:

  • Continuous membership is required to maintain current status as a certified member.
  • AIH offers access to its online membership directory in a member portal environment.
  • Receive peer, employer, industry, and client recognition of technical expertise in hydrology.
  • Hydrologist certification satisfies requirements for jobs in many states.
  • Access to National Registry of Certified Professional Hydrologists network.
  • Discount on AIH publications and events.

We would like to thank the entire American Institute of Hydrology (AIH) organization for its involvement and support this past year. We accomplished a lot!

If your certification type has changed since you last renewed, or you find yourself having issues accessing your Certemy profile, please contact the AIH office at admin@aihydrology.org or call (916) 231-2149.

Spotlight on Recent AIH Exams and on New Members

Spotlight on Recent AIH Exams and on New Members

Congratulations to those who recently passed their exams during November 2021 and all new members welcomed during the second half of 2021!

Hydrologist-in-Training

  • Dillon Vogt, HIT

Professional Hydrologist

  • Megan Arpino, PH (surface water)
  • William Chatron, PH (surface water)
  • Justin Coffman, PH (surface water)
  • Rheannon Hart, PH (surface water)
  • Matt Sparacino, PH (surface water)
  • Max Strickler, PH (surface water)
  • Kaveh Zamani, PH (surface water)

Book Review by Donald Anderson, PH, Cresta Hydrologics, LLC

By David Owen, Riverhead Books, 2017

The Colorado River is often referred to as “America’s hardest-working river.” As it winds through some of the driest land in the country, it supplies water for more than 40 million people and 5.7 million acres of irrigated lands in seven western states, plus a small slice of Mexico. It eventually dribbles into the dry soils of Baja California, Mexico before reaching its natural historic outlet – the Gulf of California.

The aforementioned population and irrigated acreage values should be considered rather provisional, given the ongoing drought that is diminishing the basin’s water supplies. The Bureau of Reclamation cites a 34% probability that water levels in the massive Lake Powell Reservoir, which stores runoff from the 108,000-square-mile “upper basin” and regulates that water for “lower basin” use, will drop too low to generate hydropower in 2023. This has never happened before Thus, Reclamation implemented emergency measures this year to move 181,000 acre-feet of water down to Lake Powell from its higher-elevation reservoirs in an unprecedented scramble to prop up reservoir storage.

How did America’s hardest-working river come to this sorry state? Where the Water Goes, by David Owen, takes the reader on a journey to understand the convoluted story of how and why the Colorado River can no longer provide what we’ve asked of it in the past.  Consider that  when Owen’s book was published just four years ago, Lake Powell still held 7.4 million more acre-feet of water than today!

Owen’s account is aimed at a broad audience. His writing is light on numbers but heavy on stories illuminating the people, places, and activities associated with the river and its myriad users. He winds his way down the river system in a rental car, from the Colorado headwaters through Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. We meet families irrigating vineyards in Colorado’s Grand Valley. We meet water managers in Denver and Las Vegas. We meet environmentalists seeking to re-hydrate desiccated wetlands in Mexico’s Colorado River Delta. We tag along with farmers in California’s Imperial Valley growing lettuce for America’s dinner tables, and forage for a global cattle market.

Through these stories, Owen (a staff writer for New Yorker) effectively describes the various hopes, expectations, regulations and stresses that have shaped management of Colorado River flows since the first 14-mile canal was hand-dug in 1890 to move water out of the basin’s headwaters to thirsty agricultural lands on the far side of the Rocky Mountains. His journey is a travelogue as much as a treatise on the Colorado River. This may annoy readers who might prefer more hydrology and fewer human-interest digressions. Nevertheless, through intriguing discourse, Owen skillfully portrays  the convoluted history of the Colorado River – a waterway that has produced, over time, the maddeningly complex body of laws and regulations governing its management.

Importantly, Owen also illustrates how this byzantine body of regulations frequently stands in the way of implementing effective long-term solutions to the problem of over-allocation. As Owen puts it, “If you picked just about any high school civics class in the country and gave its students a year to gather information and think, they could almost certainly come up with an approach to western water use that would be more rational than the arcane patchwork we have currently.”

But, as Owen notes, that’s not going to happen. Instead, those responsible for managing the Colorado will need to collectively determine a path forward through this tangled administrative puzzle by applying creativity, collaboration, and — inevitably — large sums of cash needed to overhaul the status quo.

Owen helpfully reviews various possible paths forward in his final chapter “What is to be Done?” Various proposals — ranging from cloud-seeding to reducing water allocations to importing water from the Great Lakes — are individually examined, highlighting each of their weaknesses. The clear take-home message is that there are no simple solutions. But, also, there is little time to waste. The river is grossly over-allocated, climate change will almost certainly aggravate supply shortages, and managers simply don’t have all the tools they need today to resolve the challenges they’ve inherited.

With Lake Powell now depleted to its lowest level since first filling in the late Sixties, and with the first mandatory water-use cutbacks already impacting water users in Arizona (thereare more to come), we’ve essentially run out of time. Where the Water Goes will help readers retrace the steps that brought us to this eleventh-hour dilemma.

About the Reviewer

Prior to his recent retirement from federal service, Donald Anderson served as the Instream Flow Coordinator for the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program, a public-private partnership that recovers endangered native fish populations while water development continues in the upper Colorado River basin. Mr. Anderson now provides his part-time consulting services through Cresta Hydrologics, LLC, based in Denver, Colorado.