PUB00144 (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Western States Water Council Water Resources Committee Minutes Washington, D.C. March 28, 2006 . Peter Evans: Since our meeting of stakeholders in Austin, you have talked about program costs and cost comparisons. What can you tell us about where you are regarding inking contributions, etc? Bob: We have collaborating efforts, but we need to do a better job across our offices. Some of our offices are good at it, while others are not. We will be putting some words together for them. Hal: In defense of Colorado's data, USGS may want to look at our costs again. I don't know who did the work, but you can follow up with Glenn Patterson on this. Bob: In the cost comparison, you have a total cost (numerator), divided by the number of gages (denominator) to come up with average costs. We fully recognize the important need for measurements being made available - for short term data. We are not in that business. Our charge is to gather and maintain long-term data records. Bob continued describing other USGS Water Resources programs. There are major water availability studies in the Great Lakes, and the Colorado River Basin. USGS is also reanalyzing water use in Denver and the Central Valley in California, as well as looking at the High Plains Aquifer. Bob observed that the former USGS Director, Chip Groat, left in June 2005. Pat Leahy is the acting director. He is a PhD level hydrologist. We are organized with three large regions, and a proposed reorganization would have six smaller regions. However, we are not sure given the changes in the Office of the Secretary whether that will go through. . Weir: Is the bottom line on streamgages is that you will see a decrease in the budget? Bob: Yes. Thanks again for the strong WSWC support. B. Stakeholder's Meeting There was a very brief discussion of the streamgaging stakeholder's meeting held in Austin, Texas on January 30 - February 1,2006. The WSWC cosponsored the meeting. Many of the issues described above were discussed then, and recommendations from the meeting are being prepared. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS/NWRA SURVEY - Bill Rinne, Deputy Commissioner, Operations and Tom Donnelly, Executive Director, NWRA Tom Donnelly, Executive Director of the National Water Resources Association(NWRA) mentioned an NWRA aging infrastructure survey, as well as the National Academy of Science (NAS) study. NWRA is trying to get ahead of the issue of aging infrastructure. Many of the projects built at the turn of the century have exceeded their design life. That does not mean they are falling apart. Many . have been well maintained, but they need to be modernized and thoroughly checked. A survey being 8