Report of the State Auditor 1993

• Year: 1993
• Title: CWCB CF Performance Audit Report of the State Auditor February 1993
• CWCB Section: Finance
• Author: State Auditor
• Description: Performance Audit February 1993
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

16

Water Conservation Board Construction Fund Performance Audit-February 1993

Board's Planning Process Has Not Been Fully
Developed

The management of water resources' is a long-range effort. Many projects require
, substantial and lengthy planning as well as several years to construct. Therefore,
planning efforts should consider water needs and concerns well into the future.

The Department of Natural Resources
developed a four-year plan in early
1992. The Board's input was included
in the plan. The plan has some goals
and objectives related to the Board's Construction Fund. However, the Board has
not developed its own long~term plan that-recognizes Departmental goals and
ensures the best use of monies available in the Construction Fund in achieving
those goals. The Board has not developed an implementation plan which:

The Board does not have a long-
term plan for achieving goals.

· Prioritizes projects consistent with long-term goals.

· 'Establishes milestones which monitor progress toward meeting goals.

· Provides performance measures to assess the effectiveness of activities.

Perfoimance measures are particularly important because they should measure the
effectiveness of a program as directly as possible. They need to be useful to
managers for monitoring projects and to legislators and policy makers. For
example, a performance measure might be the total cost of increasing the capacity
of existing dams per additional acre-foot of water storage compared to the total
cost of building a new dam.

Recently, the Board has begun to pursue a more active role. It has identified a
number of projects that it would like to accomplish over a period of years. The
Board, has also requested authorization for a new program which will enable it to
encourage the development of small dam sites. This may result in an increased
need for Board funds.

We recognize that Water issues are varied
The Board can help facilitate and complex. The Board cannot realistically
the resolution of water issues. set water priorities, for the State by itself.
However, it can perform a valuable role in
providing, a forum for diverse interests and helping to form collaborative
relationships in seeking solutions for state water issues.