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STATE OF COLORADO <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 721 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone: (303) 866-3441 <br />Fax: (303) 866-4474 <br />www.cwcb.state.co.us <br />TO: Colorado Water Conservation Board Members <br />FROM: Veva Deheza, Section Chief <br />Ben Wade, Water Conservation Coordinator <br />Office of Water Conservation & Drought Planning <br />Bill Ritter, Jr. <br />Governor <br />Harris D. Sherman <br />DNR Executive Director <br />Jennifer L. Gimbel <br />CWCB Director <br />DATE: May 21 2008 Dan McAuliffe <br />~ CWCB Deputy Director <br />SUBJECT: Agenda Item 26, May 20-21, 2008 Office of Water Conservation & <br />Drought Planning -Presentation on the 2008 Statewide Water Education <br />Task Force Report <br />Presentation <br />Rob Buirgy, the Water Education Task Force coordinator, will make a presentation to the CWCB <br />Board on the current status of the project and some task force preliminary recommendations. <br />Summary <br />In September 2007 the CWCB Board charged staff with coordinating a Statewide Water <br />Education Task Force and assigned the Office of Water Conservation and Drought Planning to <br />take the lead on this initiative. The Board's goal was to determine the current status of water <br />education throughout the State, and specifically to evaluate its status relative to the 2001 CWCB <br />Colorado Water Education Initiative, which served as the primary impetus for the creation of the <br />Colorado Foundation for Water Education. In addition, staff was to evaluate aspects of water <br />education coordination within the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) including financial, <br />technical and time investments, in order to optimize water education and outreach opportunities. <br />This initiative is being conducted by the Colorado Water Education Task Force (WETF), which <br />is funded by the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) in partnership with the Colorado <br />Alliance for Environmental Education (CAFE) and Colorado Watershed Network (CWN). In <br />order to better understand the current status of water education in Colorado, the WETF <br />conducted a survey to gather information from as many water education providers around the <br />State as possible. Over 300 completed surveys were received. Responses will be used to <br />compile a catalog of water education programs and materials currently available in Colorado. <br />Survey results will be discussed in three Focus Group meetings during February and April 2008. <br />The three focus groups were broken down to Adult Water Education, Youth Water Education <br />and State Agencies Water Education or programs. A final report will be compiled and presented <br />to the CWCB Board, the DNR Executive Director, and the Governor in early July 2008 outlining <br />the findings and recommendations ofthe WETF. The final report will be freely available in <br />electronic form to serve as a springboard for improving the availability and effectiveness of <br />water education in Colorado. <br />Water Supply Protection • Watershed Protection & Flood Mitigation • Stream & Lake Protection • Water Supply Planning & Finance <br />Water Conservation & Drought Planning • Intrastate Water Management & Development <br />