Water Resources: Hydraulics and Hydrology
Yes, in that there are always unknowns.
A:
Q ..
Using your formula, knowledge, and figuring out this is going to happen, which it doesn't
necessarily always happen that way.
That is what Straub used to say, "Hydraulics is more an art than a science." Of course, it's
A:
what today's generation wants to put into equations and into the computer. I have
reservations.
Q:
Computers can help you, but they can't do all of that.
A:
They really can't--I think the biggest problem with computers today is that so many people
don't write the programs they use. They learn to use the programs, and they really don't
recognize all the approximations that go into them.
Q ..
So they adopt the school solution with the computer. Push a button, and you've got an
answer.
Yes.
A:
Q:
Whereas, you didn't do that.
A:
Work on the Arkansas predated computers. You can use the computer and get a very wrong
answer.
Q:
It goes back to that axiom about "garbage in, garbage out."
A:
Yes.
Computers in the Corps of Engineers
Q ..
From your experience, when did computers really begin to come into the Corps?
We got the first computer in MRD while Irene and I were in Omaha in about `54. It was
A:
used for reservoir routing for three-month projections of reservoir operation, primarily to
-48-
Previous Page
