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<br />Western States Water Council <br />Water Resources Committee Minutes <br /> <br />Sioux Falls, South Dakota <br />May 3, 2007 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />NRCS/SNOW SURVEY BUDGET - Tony WiIlardson <br /> <br />Tony passed out information on funding for the NRCS Snow Survey and Water Supply <br />Forecasting program in the FY 2008 budget request. The request is for $10,678,000 or a little more than <br />the FY 2006 request of$10,547,000. However, this is still below what it has been in the past and the <br />$12.3 million the Council has supported. He noted thatNRCS has had discussions with the State of New <br />Mexico, which is willing to install 25 SnoTel (automated snow telemetry) sites, but they don't have the <br />FTEs to pay for the maintenance of those sites. <br /> <br />Tony also noted that the NRCS National Water and Climate Center, which runs the snow survey <br />program, has a new director. He described other funding needs. NWCC is looking to move it's <br />radiotelemetry master station in Ogden, Utah to a more secured place at the U.S. Army's Dugway <br />Proving Grounds, which also has less radio interference. Also, at present there is no "fail over" site, no <br />back-up system. <br /> <br />[Tony also addressed the hand-out concerning the budget for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, <br />noting that the unobliged balance in the Reclamation Fund is now at $7.8 billion. <br /> <br />STATE WATER PLANS - WATER USE. WATER SUPPLIES AND WATER NEEDS SURVEY <br />- Phil Ward <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Phil and Tony described the survey effort, which began with a compilation of USGS water use <br />information from 2000 and U.S. Census population figures for the same time and projections for 2030. <br />States were ' asked to estimate their future water use, compare that with projected supplies, and provide a <br />rough idea of how they intend to close any gap. State were asked to also provide a narrative summary <br />explaining their figures, presented in a matrix. Thirteen of the eighteen WSWC member states responded. <br /> <br />Also, under Tab P in the briefing books, there was a listing of state water plans, with dates, now <br />in the Council library. States were asked to send updated copies of their state water plans. In additional, <br />under Tab P was a copy of report by a Dr. Dziegielewski prepared for the Army Corps of Engineers, <br />entitled "U.S. Water Demand, Supply and Allocation: Trends and Outlook." <br /> <br />During the subsequent discussion, the general view is that we see water demand growing, but it <br />varies state by state. <br /> <br />Dave Tuthill: Is Idaho out of step because we use acre-feet as opposed to million gallons per <br />year? I would propose that we use acre-feet per year in the matrix. <br /> <br />One idea was to prepare a white paper summarizing the information we've compiled for the WGA <br />Annual Meeting in June. However, Craig Bell left that question for the Committee. "We need to provide <br />a progress report to the Governors, but not necessarily by their June meeting." <br /> <br />Jeanine Jones recommended taking more time and not using soft numbers. Shaun suggested <br />having the final report in October for the Watershed Conference in Salt Lake City. Also, it would be nice . <br />for the WSWC to have a repository of all of the state water plans. <br /> <br />8 <br />