DRAFT

Water Policies and Planning in the West: Ensuring a

Sustainable Future

Sheraton City Centre

Salt Lake City, Utah

October 10 – 12, 2007

Sponsors: Western Governors’ Association and the Western States Water Council

in cooperation with the following organizations:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

Council of State Governments-West U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-Office of Water

U.S. Geological Survey National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

National Tribal Environmental Council Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA)

National Association of Counties

Wednesday, October 10

10:30 am Registration

1:00 p.m. Welcome – Duane Smith, Executive Director, Oklahoma Water Resources Board and Western States Water Council Chair

– Pam Inmann, Executive Director, Western Governors’ Association

1:15 Keynote – Jon Huntsman, Governor of Utah

1:45 Keynote – Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

2:15 Panel #1 – What Role Should Water Policy and Planning Play in dealing with Growth for a Sustainable Future?

Given the population growth trends for the West, this panel will discuss their perspectives on what role water resources allocation, management and protection policies and planning should play in dealing with growth for a sustainable future.

Moderator: Lynn Martin, Environmental Planner, Institute for Water Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Speakers: Brian Walsh, Manager, Policy and Planning Section, Department of Ecology, Washington

Delia Carlyle, Chairman, Ak-Chin Indian Community

Dick Wimmer, Deputy General Manager, Las Vegas Valley Water District

3:15 Break

3:30 Continuation of Panel #1 – Non-Government Perspectives

Speakers: Melinda Kassen, Western Water Project, Trout Unlimited

Pat O’Toole, President, Family Farm Alliance

Jim Sims, Executive Director, Western Business Roundtable

Bill Wiley, Director of Sustainability, Arizona Public Service

4:45 Breakout #1

A number of concurrent breakouts (4) will be organized around specific issues, designed to discuss the plenary topic in the context of the related WGA water report recommendations - see proposed breakout topics. – A list of breakout issues is attached.

6:00 Reception – Hosted by Brown and Caldwell; Camp, Dresser, & McKee (CDM); CH2M Hill, and HDR Engineering, Inc.

Thursday, October 11

7:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast available

8:00 Reconvene – Duane Smith

8:15 Panel #2 – Water Planning at the Local or Watershed Level

This panel will discuss water planning with a focus on locally led or watershed/regional approaches, identifying both the level of commitment to such efforts at various levels of government, outcomes from its implementation, and recommendations for improvement.

Moderator: Walt Baker, Director, Utah Division of Water Quality

Speakers: Sara Schmidt,Regional Assistant Chief for the West, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Weir Labatt, Board Member, Texas Water Development Board;

Clayton Matt, Salish & Kootenai Tribes in Montana

Will Toor, County Commissioner, Boulder County, Colorado

Celeste Cantu, Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority

10:15 Break

10:30 Breakout #2

A number of concurrent breakouts (4) will be organized around specific topic areas, designed to discuss the plenary topic in the context of the related WGA water report recommendations - see proposed breakout issues list.

12:00 Keynote – Stephen L. Johnson, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Q & A – Benjamin H. Grumbles, EPA Assistant Administrator for Water

12:30 Lunch

1:30 Panel # 3 – Climate Change and Water Planning

This panel will discuss what the science is telling us about climate change and its implications with a focus on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4^th Assessment. The panel will then feature a discussion on potential adaptation strategies.

Moderator: Eric Kuhn, Manager, Colorado River District

Speakers: Roger Pulwarty, Climate Program Office, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Eric Kuhn, Manager, Colorado River District

Jeanine Jones, Interstate Resources Manager, California Dept of Water Resources - State: Findings of the WSWC Climate Change Workshop and the status of California adaptation strategies

Lorna Stickel, Portland Water Bureau & Regional Water Providers Consortium Project Manager

Dr. Jonathan Overpeck, Director, Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, University of Arizona

3:15 Break

3:30 Breakout #3

5:30 Reception – Cash Bar and hors d’oeuvres

6:30 Dinner – Keynote Speaker – Bob Johnson, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation

Friday, October 12

7:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast available

8:15 a.m. Reconvene – Duane Smith

8:30 Panel #4 Recommendations and Perspectives from the Breakout Groups

A panel of designated facilitators for the breakout groups will present the major findings of the breakout groups and share perspectives on those findings relative to the WGA report recommendations, identifying unaddressed and/or unresolved issues and challenges. This will be followed by discussion and response from the attendees.

Facilitators: Joan Card

Sue Lowry

Tom Stiles

Phil Ward

10:00 Concluding remarks/next steps – Duane Smith

11:00 Adjourn

Water and Growth Breakouts

This breakout session will focus on the following topics. Each breakout group will begin with a brief discussion to identify the topic by a panelist or other identified resource person. The facilitator for the panel will then facilitate a discussion on these and other questions raised by those in attendance.

Breakout Group #1. Integration of growth and water planning

(Resource: Will Toor)

- The relationship between population growth and water resources is significant, but too often not well understood. This discussion will facilitate the sharing of ideas on these questions, among others:

1. What are we doing now to identify water demands and impacts associated with future growth, and how can we do so more effectively?,

2. How can we develop integrated growth and water resource scenarios so that consequences of growth can be better understood and evaluated?,

3. What would constitute appropriate guidance on methods to manage growth through access to water supplies and facilities? (See Recommendation 1A)

4. Besides those actions referred to in questions 2 and 3 above, what steps should be taken to foster integration of growth and water planning?

Breakout Group #2. Watershed planning and growth

(Resource: Brian Walsh)

- Given the consensus that has emerged that local or watershed entities can serve well as a unit for management and action and that they provide a rationale framework for undertaking integrated resource management, this breakout session discussion will address these questions, among others

1. How local or watershed entities can effectively address growth management issues, with the desired outcome of balancing growth and protection of the natural environment?

2. What policy or institutional changes should be considered to enable local or watershed entities to more effectively deal with challenges associated with growth?

3. How should state and federal agencies respond to local/ watershed entity decision making relative to growth management. (See Recommendation 1B.)

Breakout Group #3. Growth and the Public Interest

(Resource: Pat Tyrrell)

- Virtually every western state has a public interest standard applicable to new water use applications, and this standard applies to transfers as well in most states. However, the definition and application of that standard varies. This breakout session will facilitate the sharing of experiences and perspectives on application of the public interest standard in water permitting, and then specifically the consideration of the following questions, among others:

1. To what extent can and should growth management issues and associated decisions at the local level be considered within a public interest review?

2. What are the relative merits of providing explicit authority to water officials to consider growth issues, along with other appropriate criteria, within a public interest review, particularly where the state has a comprehensive growth management strategy? (See Recommendation 1C)

Breakout Group #4. Ag to Urban Transfers

(Resource: Pat O’Toole)

- There is understandable support for allowing markets to operate to facilitate transfers from agricultural to urban use as a means to accommodate population growth. However, there is a consensus that third party impacts of such transfers should be taken into account, including potential adverse effects to rural communities and the environment. This session will invite discussion on the following questions, among others:

1. What is the extent of water transfers from agricultural to urban use in the West and what are the anticipated trends?

2. What principles and/or policies should apply to consideration of such transfers?

3. How can we identify alternatives that should be considered that would reasonably avoid adverse impacts of such transfers? (See Recommendation 1D)

Water Planning at the Local/Watershed Level Breakouts

Each of the following breakout sessions will be initiated with a brief discussion of the issues, by one of the panelists in other designated resource person, followed by facilitated larger discussion on the identified questions.

Breakout Group #1. Data, Data Gaps and Research

(Resource: Celeste Cantu)

- The purpose of this group discussion would be to explore the data and related research needed to provide a sound foundation for water resources planning and decision making at the local (watershed) level, identify any gaps, and examine approaches to fill any gaps in the most cost effective manner, finding new and stable sources of funding.

1. How reliable are your projections of present and future water demands and supplies?

2. What is the principal uncertainty in your supply and demand analysis?;

What data are needed to make future projections more accurate or precise?

3. What determines the boundaries of your local water planning areas – surface watershed/drainage basin boundaries, groundwater basin boundaries, political jurisdiction boundaries (single local agency), regional political jurisdiction boundaries (multiple local agencies), or some combination of these factors?

4. What factor should drive our investment in information gathering to improve supply and demand evaluations?

5. Should we emphasize additional studies or invest in long term watershed data acquisition so we have more certainty in our supply and demand estimates?

Breakout Group #2. Local Planning Programs and Strategies

(Resource: Dr. James Sedell)

- This group would address Recommendation 2F and issues related to increasing collaboration and cooperation between federal, state and local agencies, as well as other public and private groups, under a locally driven planning approach to water resources protection and development.

1. At what scale and dimension does watershed or local planning occur and which level (local, regional) of interaction does such planning promote?

2. Cite some examples where locally led planning activities led to improved coordination among agencies.

3. Is collaboration facilitated more by data sharing, cost sharing or program coordination among agencies?

4. Which level of government is better able to lead watershed oriented efforts in water protection and development?

5. What defines success for a local or watershed planning program or strategy?

Breakout Group #3. Planning to Meet Our Water Needs

(Resource: Weir Labatt)

- The purpose of this discussion is to explore and evaluate opportunities to build on local and regional planning in developing state water plans, and build on state water planning activities in the evolution of interstate and national water policy and planning efforts.

1. How do you use state planning to support locally proposed projects intended to address water issues?

2. How do you incorporate local efforts into development of a regional or state water plan?

3. Should state water plans be coordinated into a westwide strategy for water resource management?

4. What role do the federal agencies play in state and local water planning?

5. What conditions or issues would dictate the federal government take the lead in planning efforts?

Breakout Group #4. Interstate Streams and Western Water Problems

(Resource: Herb Guenther)

- This discussion is intended to address the need for interstate cooperation in resolving western water problems that cut across existing jurisdictional boundaries between states and federal agencies.

1. Why is an approach based on hydrologic boundaries (watersheds or groundwater basins) resisted when addressing interstate water problems?

2. Do interstate compacts constrain innovative use of watershed or groundwater basin management? If so, how should such constraints be addressed?

3. What type of interstate water problems lend themselves best to watershed or groundwater basin management solutions?

4. At what point does the federal government assume the lead in addressing interstate problems?

5. How does interstate coordination in planning become interstate collaboration in implementation?

Climate Change Breakouts

This breakout session will focus on the following topics. Each breakout group will begin with a brief discussion of the identified questions for the topic. The facilitator will then facilitate a discussion on these and other questions raised by those in attendance.

Breakout Group #1. "National Climate Service"

(Resource: Roger Pulwarty and Dr. Overpeck)

This discussion will allow participants to consider recommendations for improved monitoring and predictive capabilities, as called for in recommendations 5.A. and 5.B. The following questions, among others, will be addressed:

1. Why is a National Climate Service needed?

2. How would it be organized?

3. How would it interact with NIDIS? What role would it play in adaptation?

Breakout Group #2. State and Local Approaches to Climate Change Adaptation Strategies

(Resource: Veva McCaig)

An overview will be provided of innovative approaches to prepare for and adapt to climate change impacts. This following facilitated discussion is intended to engender a sharing of best practices so that state and local governments are aware of effective adaptation strategies. This will serve to respond to the recommendations 5.C.2., 5.C.3. and 5.C.4. In this regard, the discussion will focus on the following questions, among others:

1. What are the key components to a “Climate Adaptation Strategy”?

2. Who needs to be involved in developing and implementing the strategy?

3. How do you fund it, and build political support for it?

Breakout Group #3. Congressional Action on Climate Change –

(Resource: Anne Watkins and Robin Webb)

This discussion is intended to inform participants of the Congressional action on climate change, and could result in possible policy recommendations regarding such legislation. A facilitated discussion will focus on the following questions, among others:

1. What is the current status of legislation being considered by Congress?

2. What are the prospects for legislation passing Congress and being signed by the President?

3. What are the key provisions (and differences) in the bills?

4. Do any of the bills include provisions on research and adaptation? If so, what would the provisions do?

Breakout Group #4. Climate Change and Water Supply

(Resource: Barry Nelson)

This discussion is intended to allow a better understanding of the possible impacts of climate change at a more regional and state level, as called for by the Governors in recommendation 5.C.1. and 5.D. As a breakout, it will allow a more informal discussion with participants in a smaller setting about what the latest science is saying regarding how climate change could affect individual states and regions in the coming decades. The following questions will be addressed, among others:

1. What did the IPCC-particularly Working Group #2-find in terms of potential impacts from climate change on water resources?

2. What recommendations did they make on adaptation?

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