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. . . Western States Water Council Water Resources Committee Minutes Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico October 28, 2004 APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the meeting held on July 15,2004 in Newport, Oregon were moved, seconded and unanimously approved. WESTERN WATER SUPPLY CHALLENGES WORKSHOP REPOR1: Dave Pope reported on the workshop on Water Supply Challenges held September 28-29, in Salt Lake City entitled, "How Do Western States Plan to Meet Expected Water Shortages?" He also briefly summarized the discussion between the states following the meeting with federal officials. The member states participating identified three priority areas for coop~~rative action: (1) Data Collection and Forecasting; (2) Water Development, Storage and Reuse; and (3) Water Conservation. A list ofthe topics considered was included in the briefing books under Tab K. Dave noted, with respect to water conservation, that he was surprised at the level of interest in the topic and related programs, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Environmental Quality Improvement Program (EQIP), administered by the Natural Resources Comervation Service (NRCS). He asked, "Are all these programs working in tandem as they should? For example, on-farm water conservation mayor may not facilitate and may even aggravat~: aquifer depletions counter to basin-wide conservation efforts." He asked further, "Do we have an appropriate definition of water conservation? " On data collection and management, he added that we've had some success in getting funding for the NRCS snow survey and water supply forecasting program. Water quality data is another area of interest, as is the U.S. Geological Survey's Cooperative Water Program. Dave reported that Bob Hirsch, USGS Assistant Director and Chief Hydrologist, also addressed the streamgaging program in his presentation. Related program cost increases are a problem, and some states are moving towards running their own gaging programs, while others are considering such action. Water development is also going to be important given our growing: cities in the West. Water development, as discussed, would include new storage, as well as other supply augmentation efforts such as water reuse. An extended discussion followed Dave's remarks. Kevin Ward exclaimed, "We need more information on USGS streamgaging costs and cost increases." The group discussed federal salary increases that are not fully federally funded, raising overhead costs that are passed on to the states and others under the cooperative program. There is a need to work with Congress and the Appropriation Committees to end the continuing downward spiral in funding and the loss of gages. Dave explained that five years ago or so he had served on an external review group looking at the coop program. "I came away with a surprising view that USGS costs are not out of line with 3