IWR Delegation Travels to Japan for Signing of a Five-Year Extension of Partnering Agreement

Figure 1: Japanese and US Delegations at the 4th Meeting on Flood Control and Water Resources Management between USACE and MLIT of Japan on 26 February 2008 in Tokyo, Japan. (view larger picture)

Figure 2: Signing of the extension of the USACE-MLIT partnering agreement. Left: Mr. Kenyu Kohmura, Director-General of the River Bureau, MLIT. Right: Mr. Lloyd Pike, Chief of the HQUSACE Pacific Ocean Division Regional Integration Team." (view larger picture)

ALEXANDRIA, VA – March 21, 2008.  A U.S. delegation including two representatives from the Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) traveled to Tokyo, Japan as part of a Water Resources Technical Exchange meeting between USACE and the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism (MLIT) from 26-28 February 2008. A key part of the visit was the signing of a 5-year extension of the USACE-MLIT partnering agreement, which was scheduled to expire in March 2008.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense approved the extension to the agreement on 20 February and Mr. Lloyd Pike, Chief of the HQUSACE Pacific Ocean Division Regional Integration Team led the U.S. delegation on behalf of Mr. Woodley. Mr. Pike signed the extension for USACE on 26 February at the close of the first day of the exchange meeting (Figure 2). Mr. Kenyu Kohmura, Director-General of the River Bureau, MLIT, signed for MLIT.

IWR was represented in the delegation by HEC Director Christopher Dunn and HEC Water Management Systems Division Chief Tom Evans, who is the Corps team leader for the execution of the USACE-MLIT partnership. Corps division and district representatives included Jim Barton, Chief of the Columbia Basin Water Management Division, Northwestern Division; Stu Townsley, Chief of the Water Management Section, Sacramento District; Mary Roth, USACE Representative to the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee, Northwestern Division; and Kyle Keer, Hydraulic Engineer in the Water Management Section, Sacramento District.

During the meeting in Tokyo, members of the U.S. and Japanese delegations (Figure 1) presented papers reflecting current activities in four areas: Response to Global Climate Change, Management of Flood Risk, River Environment, and River Information Systems.

Further discussions on water resources, hydrologic, and hydraulic engineering technologies were held the following day, 27 February, at Tsukuba Science City at the facilities of the Public Works Research Institute and the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management. On 28 February, members of the U.S. delegation visited sites of engineering interest in and near Tokyo, including the Hamura weir on the Tama River (Tamagawa) and regulating reservoirs and super-levees along the Ara River (Arakawa) in Tokyo.

The Corps also recently hosted Makoto Kutsukake, a deputy director of the Water Administration Division in MLIT’s River Bureau, on a 5-month residency technical exchange with HQUSACE and IWR. Mr. Kutsukake was awarded a grant by the government of Japan to study abroad and elected to visit USACE, FEMA, and others to focus on "New measures to prevent flood disasters, based on the appropriate mutual relation among construction of levees and dams, flood insurance and land use restriction in flood-prone area - Taking Hurricane Katrina into consideration." While in the U.S., Mr. Kutsukake also visited HEC in California and gave a presentation on Japanese River Administration and Flood Management to the Intergovernmental Flood Risk Management Committee, comprised of the leadership from FEMA, USACE, ASFPM, and NAFSMA.

USACE will continue to partner with the MLIT, and there is potential for a visit by USACE to various water-related governmental agencies in the Japan.

Learn more about:

• Presentations from the meeting
• USACE Partnership with MLIT
• Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC)