Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable watergs/wicp/acwi/swrr/

1. Sustainable Water Resources Roundtablehttp://water.usgs.gov/wicp/acwi/swrr/ Tim Smith, Coordinator Bob Goldstein, Co-Chair

2. 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 SWRR convened meetings during 2002-2004.Active Sponsors include:

3. 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

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

5. 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

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

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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

10. Selected Key Presentations • Peter Gleick – Pacific Institute • Larry Flowers – NREL • Toby O’Green – 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

12. Latest Congressional Legislation Concentrates on Technology Development • National Water Technology R&D 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 R&D 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)