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• Board Meeting Date: 5/21/2008
• Description: OWCDP Section - Presentation on the 2008 Statewide Water Education Task Force Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Colorado Water Education Task Force May 12, 2008 Update
Background
The Colorado Water Education Task Force (WETF) is an initiative to better understand the current
status of water education in Colorado. The primary purpose of the WETF is to provide guidance on
cost-effective ways to improve the understanding and stewardship of our water resources through
education. This initiative is funded by the Colorado Water Conservation Board in partnership with the
Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education and the Colorado Watershed Network.
More than 75 task force and focus group participants have been working since November of last year
to describe key aspects of current water education efforts and to evaluate gaps, barriers and
opportunities for improvement. The task force is working toward consensus on a united platform for
Colorado water education and is currently formulating specific recommendations for improvement.
The WETF planning team will compile these recommendations and all supporting materials in a final
report for distribution to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources Executive Director's Office
and Governor Bill Ritter's Cabinet.
Survey of Water Education Providers
A survey of 293 respondents has been completed and members of the task force and focus groups are
completing the survey analysis, fine-tuning our understanding of programs and materials currently
available to water educators in Colorado.
According to survey respondents, the biggest barrier to achieving their water education goals is limited
funding and a lack of staff resources. It is important to note that a true effectiveness analysis is
beyond the current scope of this effort, and there is some discussion of future studies to evaluate the
actual effectiveness of water education efforts. One of the task force participants recently summarized
the goals of this WETF survey as an effort to gather data on `Who has what?', `How to deliver it?',
and `Is itwell-implemented?' .
Survey results will be summarized as a catalog of water education programs and materials currently
available in Colorado, including answers to specific questions about funding, geographic coverage,
and perceived gaps in water education. This information will be included as a stand-alone appendix to
the final WETF report.
Preliminary Results
The WETF focus groups are organized around three themes: water providers from State Agencies, and
providers who focus primarily on either adult audiences or youth audiences. This approach is intended
to provide a wide variety of perspectives from across the state. After reviewing the survey results, the
focus groups explored the possibility of establishing a common water education objective that would
be embraced by the majority of water educators.
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