Laserfiche WebLink
WATF Co-Chairs <br />Jack Byers, Deputy State Engineer, Division of Water Resources (DWR) commenced the meeting and <br />introduced Veva McCaig, Section Chief for the CWCB's Office of Water Conservation & Drought <br />Planning. With Jack Byers, she will co-chair the Water Availability Task Force (WATF). <br />Mr. Byers discussed the current efforts by the co-chairs and WATF members to improve the <br />communication and coordination with the Governor's office regarding findings of the Water Availability <br />Task Force and issues and concerns raised by the impact task forces. Further discussed was the <br />importance and need for more dialogue between the meeting presenters and the rest of the WATF as to <br />how to effectively carry out the objectives of the Colorado Drought Response Plan. <br />Veva McCaig explained the need to create more opportunities for the impact task forces to share <br />information at the WATF meetings. While the impact task forces are not officially mobilized unless the <br />State is in a declared drought, it is vital they participate and contribute pertinent information about their <br />sectors at the WATF meetings. The co-chairs are also working to respond to a request from the <br />Governor's office for information on the status of the State's water availability. The mechanism for such <br />response has yet to be determined as well as the frequency of updates. It may be in the form of monthly <br />or quarterly reports. The task force co-chairs are also working with NOAA to gain a greater <br />understanding of the available forecasting tools that NOAA uses. This cooperative effort will result in <br />presenting the best forecasting information in a user-friendly format at future WATF meetings. <br />Report from the Governor's Office <br />A representative from the Governor's Office was not in attendance. However Frank McNulty, from the <br />Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) Executive Director's Office, provided some information. <br />DNR's Policy Analyst, Dennis Ellis, is now the Director for the State Department of Health. He will <br />continue to work with the WATF in his new capacity. The new Budget/Policy Analyst for DNR is Jason <br />Brinkley, and he will be using his knowledge of water issues to work with the WATF in the future. <br />Report from the State Climatologist <br />Nolan Doesken announced that this is the 25th anniversary of the Water Availability Task Force. <br />Information for his presentation came from the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University. <br />December 2005 was warmer than average, and precipitation statewide was slightly above average. <br />Temperatures for the current water year are not far from average. <br />The 3-month Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) shows to be very dry. However, October 2005 was wet. <br />Parts of Colorado have had little precipitation in the last two months. <br />The 6-month SPI indicates that wet conditions in October 2005 were beneficial to the eastern plains. <br />Without this precipitation, this area would currently be experiencing dryer conditions. <br />The 12-month SPI indicates favorable conditions with the only dry areas being the Colorado Springs <br />Pikes Peak region and a small portion in southeastern Colorado. <br />The 24-month SPI shows a mixture of conditions. <br />The 48-month SPI indicates Colorado is still experiencing the consequences of the 2002 drought. The <br />2002 drought will seem to disappear from the long-term drought scale if Colorado stays somewhere near <br />normal precipitation. <br />