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<br />003Jl6 <br /> <br />comprise the NSIP framework along with tailored portions within each state which allows the direct <br />measurement or indirect estimation of streamflow from the nation's watersheds serving as the focus <br />of contemporary water management. <br /> <br />Most water supply and water quality issues, including instream flows, water right <br />administration, TMDLs, endangered species habitat management and reservoir inflow forecasts are <br />oriented on a small scale watershed basis, typically hydrologic units of HUC-] 0 or ] I scale, <br />Appropriate spatial gage coverage would provide direct measurements of streamflow generated <br />within those watersheds or create a set of index gages allowing extrapolation of gaged data to <br />estimate streamflow in ungaged areas. Maintaining an adequate density of gages throughout these <br />HUC-] 0/11 watersheds would provide assessment of changes in hydrologic response caused by land <br />and water use changes, <br /> <br />Unlike the NSlP HUC-8 sub-basin coverage, the location of gages within a HUC-lO/11 <br />would not have to be near the watershed terminus, In fact, the precise location of establishing HUC- <br />10/11 gages is a function of the localized water management need for such information. The concept <br />proposed here is to create an ideal spatial density of nationwide gages by supplementing the base <br />HUC,8 coverage provided by NSIP with the opportunistic placement of Co-Op supported gages <br />within a number of the HUC-lO/l] units comprising each HUC-8, The suggested metric for a <br />national watershed network of gages would be locating gages within at least 25% of the HUC,] 0/] ] <br />units comprising each HUC-8 sub-basin, All the while, the state or local cooperator maintains <br />complete latitude in the purpose, location and number of the Co-Op gages within its jurisdiction, <br /> <br />In establishing and defining the national streamgaging network in this manner, many of the <br />original goals promoted by NSIP or ACWI may be met within the context of discretionary cooperator <br />need, For example, streamflow data support for water quality monitoring may be provided by this <br />type of coverage, thereby providing streamflow for both impaired watersheds needing TMDLs as <br />well sentinel or reference watersheds or watersheds draining specific ecoregions, Gage location for <br />streamflow information in water right management would be directed by state water administration <br />agencies and would likely contribute better resolution on regional water use impacts on streamflow <br />than the intended goal proposed by the ACWI Task Force, Similarly, monitoring of flow for aquatic <br />habitat or informal cross-jurisdictional flow monitoring would be supported through Co-Op <br />programs if it were deemed a co-op priority, The key to this concept is that loca] needs would <br />continue to be met by the Co-Op Program, but the placement of the gage would contribute to the <br />national perspective of streamflow monitoring, <br /> <br />As a point of comparison between the basin coverage proposed by NSIP and the sub- <br />basin/watershed coverage proposed by ICWP, there are ]2 HUC-6 units within Kansas; whereas, <br />ICWP would propose NSIP coverage of the terminus of the approximately 80 HUC-8 sub-basins <br />within the state, supplemented by Co-Op gages within a number of the 330 HUC-] l's comprising <br />those HUC-8's in Kansas, <br />