Water Use Web Information

1. Water Use Web Information Michael Anderson - Iowa DNR – Water Supply Engineering

2. Water • Key Resource for a Sustainable Economy • How Iowa manages both the quality and quantity of its water resources has the potential to significantly impact the state’s economic growth. • The use of water by one person can affect other nearby water users and the general public. • What Are Our Water Resources? • How Much Water Do We Have? • How Much Water Do We Use? • Who Gets it and How?

3. Groundwater Quality -- Is it good enough for: • Human Consumption ? • Livestock Watering ? • Boilers/Cooling Water ? • Industrial Processes ? • Irrigation ? • Discharge ? • Quality affected by • both • natural constituents and “contaminants.”

4. How Much Water Do We Have? It Depends…… --It depends on where you are. --It depends on when you need it. --It depends on what quality you need.

5. Why We Allocate Water Usage • Iowans are adamant about good management of state assets-planning and management of water resources to identify existing problems and emerging issues is imperative. Improving and protecting water quantity and quality is wise management… • IA Code -- All waters are “public waters and public wealth” of Iowa citizens. Iowa statute provides an allocation system based on “beneficial use.” Waste, unreasonable use, and unreasonable methods of water use are prevented.

6. Water Use Allocation Regulating water allocation arises from the mission the State has to protect public health and welfare. • Iowa’s water allocation program attempts to sort through various competing uses, by doing the following: • An administrative procedure to resolve water use conflicts. • A permit review and evaluation program to ensure that there is an ample supply of water for all users. • Provisions for public involvement in issuing water allocation permits and in generally establishing water use policies.

7. Stakeholders • 3500 Permitees and All other Iowans involved in water use allocation. • State of Iowa. Water is critical for economic development and relocation of business and industries to the state. • Gov. Culver’s “Green Initiative” for Energy conservation. • Specific Stakeholders who participated in program evaluation meetings; • Irrigators, regional rural water, and municipal systems: water for the preservation of human life and welfare. • Quarries: water for economic development. • Power: water used incidental to the generation of power, and for emerging needs like biofuel plant location and development.

8. Improve Internal and External Decision Making • Provide information to public better/faster thru real time access to the web. • Assure integrity of water source location information using GIS coordinates • Improve efficiency of reporting, tracking • More complete data for compliance decisions • Fit in with overall Departmental goals/standards/One Stop effort

9. Improve Service • Stakeholders have specifically asked for this project, and it WILL meet their needs. • A better method to access, extract, analyze and share data using web-enabled technology. • Meets stakeholder, USGS and DNR needs. • Data integrity will be improved resulting from built-in accuracy checks. • Compliance-enhanced data-driven compliance reviews. • Permit Reviews and Evaluations – Improving the ability to make accurate long term decisions while preserving the rights of all stakeholders.

10. Water Management-Efficiency and Cross-functionality • Updated Assessment of Current Demand: • -- benefits IDNR Engineering • Enhanced Groundwater Level Monitoring: • -- benefits Iowa Geological Society • Updated Assessments of Aquifer Properties: • -- benefits United States Geological Service • Upgraded Assessment Techniques: • -- benefits Iowa Department of Transportation • More Thorough Hydrogeologic Reviews of permits: • -- benefits quarries, irrigators, commodity groups, & realtors

11. Web-Based Information Outlet Resource Assessments -Predictive Models -Forecasts -Permits Decision Support System for Resource Management Water Resource Enterprise Data System Aquifer Properties Withdrawals Geologic Characterization Ground Water Quality Ground Water Levels

12. To summarize: • Project is intended to help IDNR capture and access the data that we have in disparate databases and paper files. • Integrate it properly. • Collect data that we need but don’t presently have. • And store it efficiently for ease of retrieval by internal and external customers.

13. For Information: • Department of Natural Resources • http://www.iowadnr.com/index.html • Water Supply-Allocation Program • http://www.iowadnr.com/water/wse/allocation.html • Michael Anderson 515-725-0336 • Michael.anderson@dnr.iowa.gov • Iowa Geological Survey • http://www.igsb.uiowa.edu/ • Bob Libra 319-335-1585 • blibra@igsb.uiowa.edu

14. Authority 567—50.1 (455B) Scope of division. The department has jurisdiction over the surface and groundwater of the state to establish and administer a comprehensive program to ensure that the water resources of the state be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent possible, that the waste or unreasonable use, or unreasonable methods of use of water be prevented, and that the conservation and protection of water resources be required with the view to their reasonable and beneficial use in the interest of the people.