Colorado Water Dec 2003

• Year: 2003
• Title: Colorado Water
• CWCB Section: Administration
• Author: Water Center of Colorado State University
• Description: December 2003 Issue
• Publications - Doc Type: Newsletter

MEETING
BRIEFS
tit
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION EXAMINES
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN WATER MANAGEMENT
he Bureau of Reclamation's Technical Service Center
hosted a Workshop on River Systems Management, No-
vember 4 -6, 2003, at the University Park Holiday Inn in Fort
Collins. The workshop, the eighth in a series held at intervals of
one to -two years, focused on priorities and new developments
that affect how Reclamation manages water resources. This
year, specifically, the focus was on how to reduce conflict in
water resources management.
Over 100 Reclamation managers, technical staff and invited
speakers from other government agencies, universities, stake-
holder organizations and the private sector participated in both
technical sessions and breakout workshops on such topics as
water resources modeling and optimization; collaboration in
water data collection and sharing; legal issues impacting water
allocations; ecologically based system developments; and real -
time flow forecast modeling.
Daniel P. Loucks, Cornell University, described the use of
new operations developments in reducing conflict in two case
studies: Lake Ontario -St. Lawrence River flow and lake level
operating policy study; and operation of Lake Okeechobee to
meet multiple objectives in real time, continuously on a weekly
basis, throughout the year. Aaron Wolf, Oregon State Univer-
sity, discussed lessons learned in resolving water conflicts in the
international arena.
Daniel Loucks, left, and Marshall Flug share perspectives
on river systems management. Flug is a hydrologist with
the U.S. Geological Survey's Biological Resources Division.
Information from the workshop will be posted at
www.usbr.gov /pmts /rivers /rsm in the near future.
Contact Don Frevert (DFREVERT(&do /usbr/ og_v)
for additional information regarding the workshop.
WATER 2025 WORKSHOP HELD IN DENVER
The Adams Mark Hotel was the venue for a workshop, on
November 4, 2003, on science and technology in support
From left. John Letey, Director, Center for Water
Resources, University of California, and Peter J.
Wierenga, Director, Water Resources Research Center,
University of Arizona.
of the Department of the Interior's Water 2025 initia-
tive to reduce conflict and crisis in western water
management. Chip Groat, Director, U.S. Geological
Survey, noted that to reduce water conflicts we need
to understand the water resource base, agree on what
we know and what we don't know, and determine
how to fill in the knowledge gaps.
Pat Tyrrell, Wyoming State Engineer, seconded the
need to closely measure available water supplies and
uses, especially to ensure that requirements of river
compacts can be met.
Don Wilhite, Director, National Drought Mitigation
Center, University of Nebraska, called for enhanced
translation of drought forecasts into information that
readily fits water resources planning practices.
In the discussion session titled, "Predictability of
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