Thursday, December 4, 2025, 3:30 More Hall 230
(This is the final talk of the Fall Water Seminar Series; after this Thursday, we will resume in January.)
Title: Flood Risk Management with focus on the Puyallup and White River Basins
Abstract: Flood Risk Management is one of the primary mission areas of the USACE Civil Works Program. While flood risk management as a concept is straight forward, every river provides unique history and challenges. In this presentation Sara will discuss USACE approach to flood risk management studies and describe the day to day complexity of managing flooding in the Pacific Northwest; specifically in the Puyallup River Basin.
Bio: Sara Marxen, P.E. started her current role as the Hydrology, Hydraulics and Coastal engineering Branch Chief in 2022. In this position she oversees a team of engineers, scientists and technicians who conduct analyses and communicate the significance of technical findings to enable sound decisions in planning and operations on the nation’s rivers and waterways. The branch has three sections working in tandem to meet the district’s needs. The Water Management Section (WM) is responsible for determining the regulation of water at multi-purpose dams. The hydrology section develops, calibrates and maintains numerical models and undertakes flood risk management studies. The Hydraulic engineering section creates a variety of final products such as designs for dams, reservoirs, levees, harbors and revetments as well as analyses of river flows, flood plain management, habitat restoration, fish passage, dam removal, coastal conditions and dredging for navigation.
From 2016 to 2022 Sara was the Flood Risk Management technical lead and advisor for the Northwestern Division Columbia Basin Water Management Division (CBWM). In that role she worked directly with multi-agency teams in the Columbia River Basin. This included working with the U.S. team to modernize the Columbia River Treaty between the U.S. and Canada through Columbia River Treaty negotiations and leading Hydrology, hydraulics and reservoir operations studies to support the Columbia River System Operation Environmental Impact Study.
Prior to that, she worked for Seattle District in several different capacities including as an H&H technical lead and as Water Management Section Chief. Sara also has many years of experience in the private sector supporting diverse projects: from wetlands restoration to FERC relicensing to watershed planning studies.
