WSP12258 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

on 1 t) b ,. . WESTERN STATES WATER t/fJCf March 25, 1994 Issue No. 1036 o recycled paper conserves water TIIE WEEKLY NEWSLETfER OF TIIE WESTERN STATES WATER COUNCIL Creekview Plaza, Suite A-201 /942 East 7145 So, / Midvale, Utah 84047 / (801) 561-5300 / FAX (801) 255-9642 Chairman - Dave Kennedy; Executive Director - Craig Bell; Editor - Norm Johnson; Typist - Carrie Curvin ENVIRONMENT Endangered Species ActJMissouri River Basin . The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced that completion of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Missouri River master manual review (which covers the project and system operating procedures) will be delayed until June 1. In the meantime, the Corps and U.S, Fish and Wildlffe Service will consider the impact of reservoir operations on two endangered birds and one endangered fish. The piping plover and least tern have similar habitat requirements. They nest on mainstem Missouri River sandbars. The needs of the pallid sturgeon, however, are quite different. While required consultation is normally conducted after a DEIS is complete, consultation began earlier in this case because of the direct impact that Endangered Species Act requirements will have on Missouri River system operations. Once complete, the Fish and Wildlife Service will issue a draft biological opinion and the Corps will select a preferred l!lternative for the DEIS. A 120-day public comment period will follow, during which the Corps will hold public hearings throughout the Missouri River Basin and in the Lower Mississippi Basin to gather input on the DEIS. WATER RESOURCES Infonnation Management Systems . The New Mexico State Engineers' Office, in association with the Western States. Water Council, sponsored i1s first Water Resources Information Management Systems Conference in Albuquerque on March 21-22. About 140 attended, representing 14 states, 8 federal agencies, 3 Indian tribes, numerous state and local agencies from New Mexico, and a number of private interests. New Mexico State Engineer Eluid Martinez was the keynote speaker. His Executive Assistant, Orlando Fernandez, was the conference coordinator.. Inilial feedback from participants was very posilive. The ambilious agenda included 20 presentations on topics covering geographic information and global posilioning systems, hydrologic modeling, water demand/supply modeling, environmental data bases, integration of water quantity and quality assessments, integrating water rights-related data, water use inventories, and remote sensing technology. Of note, the U.S. Geological Survey demonstrated i1s National Water Information Systems, which integrates water quality, meteorologic, and hydrologic data from many moniloring siles across the country. Also of note, the New Mexico Commission on Public Records described guidelines established by the state for legal acceptance of electronic records. The conference concluded wilh a valuable roundtable discussion among state representatives on their current information management programs, including existing data bases, past and present hardware and software, information systems management applications, and a number of issues such as establishing data collection and management standards, interfacing between federal and state agencies, avoiding duplication, identifying available data bases, data conversion problems, and the need for a continuing exchange of information and ideas. During the WSWC quarterly meetings next month in Seattle, the state of New Mexico will recommend that the Council establish an information systems subcommittee to address these and other issues and consider sponsoring an annual conference.