16 ‎(4)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 3/18/2008
• Description: OWCDP Section - Presentation on the 2008 Statewide Water Education Task Force Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
1313 Shennan StreeL Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
',",Vi\V. C\VCb. state. co.us

TO:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

Bill Ritter, k
Governor

FROM:

Veva McCaig, Section Chief
Ben W ade, Water Conservation Coordinator
Office of Water Conservation & Drought Planning

Hanis D. Shennan
DNR Executive Director

Jennifer L. Gimbel
CWCB Director

DATE:

March 19, 2008

Dan McAuliffe
CWCB Deputy Director

SUBJECT:

Agenda Item 16, Ma.'ch 18-19,2008 Office ofWate.' Conservation &
Drought Planning - Presentation on the 2008 Statewide Water Education
Task Force Report

P.'esentation
Rob Buirgy, the Water Education Task Force coordinator, will make a presentation to the CWCB
Board on the current status of the project and some task force preliminary findings.

Summary
In September 2007 the CWCB Board charged staff with coordinating a Statewide Water
Education Task Force and assigned the Office of Water Conservation and Drought Planning to
take the lead on this initiative. The Board's goal was to determine the current status of water
education throughout the State, and specifically to evaluate its status relative to the 2001 CWCB
Colorado Water Education Initiative, which served as the primary impetus for the creation of the
Colorado Foundation for Water Education. In addition, staff was to evaluate aspects of water
education coordination within the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) including financial,
technical and time investments, in order to optimize water education and outreach opportunities.

This initiative is being conducted by the Colorado Water Education Task Force (WETF), which
is funded by the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) in partnership with the Colorado
Alliance for Environmental Education (CAEE) and Colorado Watershed Network (CWN). In
order to better understand the current status of water education in Colorado, the WETF
conducted a survey to gather information from as many water education providers around the
State as possible. Over 300 completed surveys were received. Responses will be used to
compile a catalog of water education programs and materials currently available in Colorado.
Survey results will be discussed in three Focus Group meetings during February and April 2008.
The three focus groups were broken down to Adult Water Education, Youth Water Education
and State Agencies Water Education or programs. A final report will be compiled and presented
to the CWCB Board, the DNR Executive Director, and the Governor in early July 2008 outlining
the findings and recommendations of the WETF. The final report will be freely available in
electronic form to serve as a springboard for improving the availability and effectiveness of
water education in Colorado.

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