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Interstate Water Management Committee Meeting Summary December 14, 2018 Conference Call

Meeting Summary

Interstate Water Management Committee

December 14, 2018

9 a.m. Mtn, 10 a.m. Central; 11 a.m. Eastern Time

  1. Call to Order—Chair Drew Dehoff, SRBC

Drew called the Committee call to order at 9:03 a.m. MST

  • Introductions of Participants on the call

Participants:  Brian Atkins and Tom Littlepage, Alabama DECA; Drew Dehoff, SRBC; Carlton Haywood and Heidi Moltz, ICPRB; Brian Carr, WV Bureau of Public Health; Ken Brazil, Arkansas NRC; Rhonda Manning, PA DEP; Sue Lowry ICWP Executive Director.

  • Standing up the Committee and General Guidance
  1. Review the ICWP Board’s direction for this Committee per its August 2018 strategic planning session
  2. Further refine issue definition and potential solutions/identify and prioritize issues
  3. Discuss a 2019 “work plan” for the Committee
  4. Determine plans for this Committee’s membership that would reflect priorities and activities

Drew summarized the charge to the committees from the Board at its Planning session in Estes Park in August, 2018.  Each committee member described the interstate activities they encounter or participate in as a part of their agency or position.  Several people mentioned that there is a general lack of awareness about how many interstate commissions and other organizations there are in the US, what their responsibilities involve and how they differ from one another.  

  • Initial Items for Committee to Address:
    • Review and Update the 2006 Interstates Report written by ICWP
      • Including an inventory of interstate organization and commissions across the U.S.

Sue will send out the 2006 Executive Summary to the Committee members and the full 2006 report will be uploaded to the ICWP website when the new one is launched in early January.  On the Committee call in January, reviewing the report and determining which areas to focus the update will be discussed. 

  • Develop an Interstate Water Management “Primer” document-

The National Leadership Institute held a panel on Interstate Water Management at its meeting in November in Baltimore and SRBC, DRBC and ICPRB all were on the panel.  Based on the questions generated during that panel, it is evident that many state water planning staff don’t have a good understanding of how the commissions work and what other interstate organizations exist for river management. In addition to developing the Primer, holding webinars and asking different states to describe how many compacts they are party to could help educate members.  Highlighting some of the recent interstate litigation, such as on the Republican River could also be good webinar topics.  Other topics that can be interstate in nature and could be addressed by the committee include:  fracking, cooling water for hydroplants and groundwater modeling.  

  • Other ideas?

The Primer could include a longer report as well as a one page, 2-sided fact sheet on Interstate Water Management and organizations. 

  • Any topics Interstate in nature for Panels at the Washington Roundtable?
    • This item will be on the January agenda as the panels and speakers will need to be identified by the end of January. 
  • Other items for the Committee’s consideration
  • Next call or webinar—Scheduling and discussion on frequency 
    • The next call was set for Wednesday, January 23 at 9 a.m. Mtn, 10 Central and 11 Eastern. 
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