Utah PROJECTS

• Major Projects (view all)
  • Great Basin Ground Water Availability
  • Stream Stats
  • Great Salt Lake Nutrient Cycling
  • Salinity Load Assessment

• NAWQA Program
  • Great Salt Lake Basins

ABOUT THE UTAH WSC

• • Office information
    • Locations
    • Employee directory
    • Office organization
    • What we do
  • Newsroom
  • Outreach/Education
  • Information requests

• • USGS Phonebook
  • Employment

USGS IN YOUR STATE

USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.

Hanksville Flood Plain Study

Project Chief: Terry Kenney, USGS Salt Lake City, Utah
Cooperator: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Period of Project: June 2007 to June 2010 (Complete)
Publication: Flood Plain Delineation for the Fremont River and Bull Creek, Hanksville, Utah

PROBLEM

The Fremont River and Bull Creek flow adjacent to and through the rural community of Hanksville, Utah. Currently, the flood plains for these two streams in Hanksville, Utah, associated with the 100-year peak discharge, are not defined. Delineating the flood plain would aid municipal and county managers in mitigating future flood related loss of life and property. Section 206 of the Flood Control Act of 1960 (PL86-645, as amended) provides the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) through its Flood Plain Management Services Program (FPMS) with resources to aid communities, such as Hanksville, in flood plain issues. In support of the USACE, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Utah Water Science Center will conduct an analysis to delineate the 100-year flood plains in Hanksville, Utah, for the Freemont River and Bull Creek.

OBJECTIVES

The principle goal of the proposed project is to delineate the 100-year flood plains for the Fremont River and Bull Creek in Hanksville, Utah.

RELEVANCE AND BENEFITS

This study fulfills several USGS project goals as outlined in USGS Water Resources Division (WRD) Memorandum 95.44, including (1) advancing the knowledge of a regional hydrologic system, and (2) furnishing hydrologic data and information that contribute to protection of life and property. The proposal also addresses USGS activities as described in the USGS Strategic Plan, 1996-2005, to meet the needs for earth science information critical for developing strategies to mitigate property losses from natural events.

APPROACH

Flood frequency analyses will be conducted for the Fremont River at Hanksville, Utah, and Bull Creek at Hanksville, Utah, to estimate the 100-year discharges to simulate in the hydraulic model. High resolution digital elevation datasets will be obtained for Hanksville, Utah. These datasets will be used to map the predicted water surface elevations generated from the hydraulic model of the 100-year flood. Cross sections for each study reach to be input into the one-dimensional hydraulic model will be surveyed using a real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTK-GPS). One-dimensional hydraulic models will be developed for both the Fremont River and Bull Creek near the town of Hanksville, Utah, using the USACE River Analysis System (HEC-RAS). Predicted water-surface elevations for each reach will be used to define the 100-year floodplain.

PRODUCTS

Results will be provided to the USACE in the form of a peer reviewed, web published USGS Open File report. A map, both in hardcopy and digital form, outlining the 100-year floodplain will accompany the report.