Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable http://water.usgs.gov/wicp/acwi/swrr/

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Sustainable Water Resources Roundtablehttp//wate
r.usgs.gov/wicp/acwi/swrr/

• Tim Smith, Coordinator
• Bob Goldstein, Co-Chair

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SWRR convened meetings during 2002-2004.Active
Sponsors include

• Interior Dept
• Electric Power Research Inst
• EPA
• NOAA
• State of Minnesota
• CEQ

• Agriculture Dept
• Univ Council On Water Resources
• Water Environ Fed
• Ecol Soc of Amer
• AWRA
• Univ. CA Santa Barbara

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Major Actions

• Meetings in Dec.2002, June 2003, Nov.2003,
  Mar.2004, June 2004, Sep.2004
• Sessions at July 2003 UCOWR conference
• Recommendations for water indicators at Jan.2004
  Natl Conference on Science Environment
• Talk at July 2004 UCOWR conference
• Ongoing outreach effort to public and private
  sector WEFTEC.04 05, AWRA04

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Reports Publications

• All meeting proceedings on web site
• Water Resources Update, issue 127, Feb.2004,
  UCOWR
• Water Environment Technology, June 2004, Water
  Environment Federation

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Work Groups

• Developing a conceptual model of water
  sustainability
• Compiling existing water indicators from other
  efforts
• Identifying criteria for water sustainability
• Defining what research is needed about
  sustainability

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A Criteria Indicators Model
Goal
Sustainability of Water Resources
Ecological System
Social System
Economic System
Criteria
System Condition or Capacity
Sub-criteria
Indicator Categories
Human Health
Water Quality
Water Hazards
Processes
Outputs
Indicators
Human Effects
Ecosystem Effects
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Draft Model Outline

• Ecological System
• Capacity to make water of appropriate quality
  quantity available to support ecosystems.
• b. Integrity of ecosystems.
• Social System
• Social well-being resulting from use of water
  resources.
• Social well-being resulting from use of
  water-related ecological resources.
• Social conditions that impact water resources.
• Social capacity for management of water related
  land resources.
• Economic System
• a. Capacity to make water of appropriate
  quality quantity available for human uses.
• Economic well-being resulting from use of water
  affected land resources.
• Capacity to achieve economic value from the use
  of water related ecological resources.
• Capacity to manage land use to maintain or
  enhance quality or quantity of water.

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Future Activities

• Report to ACWI by Oct.2005 on conditions trends
  in water resources that affect long-term
  sustainability
• Forest Service plans use of SWRR info for their
  2005 Resources Planning Act effort
• Identifying national and regional conferences for
  SWRR presentations and sessions
• Continuing SWRR meetings to identify issues and
  indicators

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Palo Alto Meeting

• EPRI Palo Alto Office
• March 2-3, 2004
• Approximately 40 attendees
• Most attendees from CA
• Diverse organizational representation federal
  and state agencies, universities, industry,
  nonprofit research, consulting, environmentalists

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Selected Key Presentations

• Peter Gleick Pacific Institute
• Larry Flowers NREL
• Toby OGreen UC Davis
• Bob Wilkerson _ UC Santa Barbara
• William Alley USGS
• Robin Newmark LLNL
• Carl Chen Systech Engineering
• Sujoy Roy Tetra Tech
• Bill Mills Tetra Tech

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Latest Congressional Legislation Concentrates on
Technology Development

• National Water Technology RD Program, (S.2658,
  Domenici, Bingaman, Craig, Durbin, Feinstein, and
  others)
• Establishes within DOE a research and development
  program to improve access to existing and
  untapped water resources
• Major elements include
• Focus on water supply technology development and
  technology transfer
• Regional Centers, focused on Labs/University
  partnerships
• Specified RD themes for each Lab/University
  partnership
• Block grants to regions, plus competitive and
  cost-shared funding
• Policy Institute (UNM)
• Program Coordinator (SNL) and Advisory Panel
• Ultimately, 225M/yr for 5 years
• Companion House Bill (H.R. 4835, Pombo, Calvert,
  Pearce, Wilson, and others)