Laserfiche WebLink
<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />CWCB Agenda Item 17.h., <br />November 23-24, 1998, <br />Page 2 of 4 <br /> <br />B. Work Group Leadership <br /> <br />The Forum's Work Group consists of state employees from water resource and water quality <br />agencies in the 7 Basin States appointed by their respective Forum members. The Work Group does <br />the bulk of the technical evaluation, research, and coordination with federal agencies for the Forum. <br />Historically, the Work Group has been chaired by a state employee from the Lower Basin, most <br />recently Arizona, and previously California. . The chairman and his home agency staff supported <br />the Work Group by setting the agenda, chairing subcommittees that evaluated projects and modeling <br />efforts, arranging meetings, and drafting various reports and documents. This spring the Forum was <br />advised that the Chairman from Arizona, Tim Henley, would be stepping done in 1999 at he <br />completion of the 1999 Review. A decision on chairing the Work Group will be made next spring, <br />and there may be an opportunity for Colorado to assume a leadership role if the Board is interested. <br /> <br />At the September meeting the Board considered four options for chairing the Work Group, and after <br />brief discussion and comments from Colorado Forum member David Robbins, the options were <br />rated in the following order: <br />1. Rotate the responsibility between all 7 basin states on an annual or bi-annual basis so that each <br />state periodically bears the increased work load. <br />2. Colorado volunteers to provide Work Group chairman on a somewhat permanent basis using <br />CWCB staff, and committing a portion of an FTE to the task. <br />3. Colorado volunteers to provide Work Group chairman on a somewhat permanent basis using <br />personnel from the Colorado River Water Conservation District. Dave Merritt from the District <br />participates on the Work Group in addition to CWCB staff, and the District has indicated a <br />willingness to make him available to chair the Work Group as a new Chairman. <br />4. Increase Forum dues to pay additional consultant time to staffthe Work Group. The CWCB <br />pays Colorado's share, approximately 20% or $25,700 in FY 1999. <br />The Board may wish to continue discussing these options and the staff resources that would be <br />necessary to meet various levels of commitment. <br /> <br />C. USDA EOIP <br /> <br />EQIP is the 1996 program through which USDA now participates in the CRBSCP, primarily through <br />implementation of "on-farm" irrigation efficiency improvement projects. EQIP is a nationwide <br />program through which USDA now attempts to provide all ofthe resource conservation services it <br />previously carried out as separately funded and managed programs. There are active EQIP funded <br />salinity control project areas in four Colorado counties: Delta, Mesa, Montezuma, and Montrose. As <br />explained earlier there have been serious funding limitations involved in implementation ofEQIP <br />so far and the Forum is actively seeking designation of the Basin as a national priority area to <br /> <br />C'SR-\<lun'OBiEllAL"""WMEM',,"1117IlWPD <br />