BOARD01058

• Board Meeting Date: 7/23/2002
• Description: ISF Section - ISF DSS Component of CDSS - Conceptual Demonstration and Input
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
www.cwcb.state.co.us

Bill Owens
TO: CWCB Members Governor
Greg E. Walcher
FROM: Dan Merriman Executive Director
Greg Espegren Rod Kuharich
Ray Alvarado CWCB Director
Dan McAuliffe
DATE: July 5, 2003 Deputy Director

RE: Agenda Item 25, July 23-24, 2002, Board Meeting-
Instream Flow Decision Support System (ISFDSS) Component of CDSS - Conceptual
Demonstration and Input

Back2round

On November 27, 2001, the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) entered into a
contract with Bishop Brogden Associates, Inc. to evaluate opportunities for developing an Instream
Flow Decision Support System (ISFDSS) component of the Colorado Decision Support System
(CDSS). The primary purposes of this contract are to further define the needs for an ISFDSS
system, and prepare an initial conceptual system design and associated work plan (including
activities, budget and time schedule). An ISFDSS component will provide an enhanced gateway for
CWCB problem solving and decision-making through application of geographic information
systems (GIS) technology with existing CWCB data and analysis procedures.

Ross Bethel is Bishop Brogden's primary contact on the current ISFDSS contract. At this
time, Ross and the CWCB staff have met on several occasions to discuss the staffs ISFDSS needs.
We have also evaluated several existing GIS-based information systems to determine whether they
contain features that are applicable to staffs needs and gathered a variety of GIS-based data layers
from state, federal, and private entities that may be useful for making ISF decisions.

Ross and the CWCB staff have developed a preliminary recommendation for the future
direction of the actual ISFDSS. Based on the information gathered to date, we suggest that the
ISFDSS should consist of two levels of user tools/interfaces, a Basic Information Retrieval
(BASEINFO) system and a Programmatic Information (PROGINFO) system.

We enVISIOn a BASEINFO ISFDSS that would be contained within the
STATEVIEW/TSTool component of the state's CDSS. The BASEINFO system would provide
individuals with an opportunity for map-based retrieval of ISF data and the non-spatial query and
data analysis features of CDSS. The target audience for the BASEINFO ISFDSS wo~d be the
general public, managers, and other persons who do not require extremely detailed querying,

Flood Protection. Water Supply Planning and Finance. Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation and Drought Planning