Note: Powerpoint presentations referenced in these minutes may be accessed on the Council’s website at http://acwi.gov/monitoring/ppt/palm_beach/. Attachments referenced in these notes are available in hard copy by request only.
Welcome
Gail Mallard, Co-Chair, welcomed members and guests. Gail also acknowledged new members to their first Council meeting; they are Tom Leahy, Tamim Younos, and Chris Piehler.
Welcome to South Florida
Linda Lindstrom, South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), gave pp presentation (#1) on the South Florida Water Management System. Florida has five water management districts. The boundaries are hydrologic. Walt Disney Land is part of the SFWMD. The SFWMD covers over 18,000 square miles and 16 counties from Orlando to Key West. Florida is basically flat and is very wet or very dry. At the turn of the century much of the area was wild and wet. Historical problems started in the early 20th century. In 1949 Central and South Florida Flood Control District was formed which was a precursor to the SFWMD. There are more than 1800 miles of canals and levees; 200 major structures. The agency works closely with the FBI because of security issues. SFWMD is one of the world’s largest and most complex water resources management system in the world. There are major challenges in applying integrative regional management approaches to balance multiple water resources objectives which are often conflicting dealing with Florida’s climate extremes. They are exploring new territory in Certificates of Participation on the New York Stock Exchange. This will be a more creative way for funding what they do at the SFWMD.
FLORIDA WATER RESOURCES STATE COUNCIL
Ellen McCarron, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas (CAMA) gave a pp presentation (#2) on the start of the Florida Water Resources Monitoring Council. Before the Council, things were not done very well in promoting monitoring. Statutes in Florida give department authority for responsibility and authority to establish standards for water resource data. The Department of Environmental Protection has the authority to provide an advisory staff to do these things and that is the authority that established the monitoring Council. Data sharing is difficult to get everyone to agree. We are still working with NWIS and EPA STORET. We need to identify where our programs are similar. The structure of the Council came from stakeholders. There are ten voting members, one representative from each state agency with significant water quality monitoring responsibilities; one representative from each Water Management District; one representative from the Florida Local Environment Resource Associations (FLERA). FLERA represents county/local governments. Each member has an alternate. Linda Lindstrom, SFWMD, is an alternate. Ellen is a director. Meetings are open to public. The first meeting of the Council had to do with logistics and getting organized; the second meeting is upcoming. Linda said they would keep the National Council apprised of what they are doing. Membership on most councils goes from 10 up to 30.
Gulf of Mexico Governors Action Plan
Steve Wolfe, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, gave pp presentation (#3) on Gulf of Mexico Governors Action Plan. Steve coordinates the water quality monitoring network. History came from Pew Report in 2003 saying that the Nation’s oceans are hurting and state and federal governments need to increase their work. U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy developed in 2004; Governor Bush invited Gulf governors to form GOMA in 2004. The idea was to focus on four Gulf States and involve the Mexican Gulf Governors. As a result of the Commission’s report, it directed Federal support; 23 Federal agencies formed GOM Regional partnership Federal work group in early 2005 to support GOMA. There is not significant Federal funding at this point. They have met with citizens and agencies within states and among states to identify common problems and needs across Gulf states. From full list, five action areas were identified: identification and characterization of Gulf habitats; wetland and coastal restoration; environmental education; reducing nutrients inputs to coastal ecosystems; water quality for healthy beaches and shellfish beds. With this large list of problems, we need to identify priority in all five states. This could be completed within 36 months. Governors Action Plan released at Gulf of Mexico Summit in Corpus Cristi in 2006. Gulf of Mexico Alliance is interested in becoming pilot for the National Water Quality Monitoring Network. www.dep.state.fl.us/gulf is website for Gulf of Mexico Alliance.
www.FlordaOceansCouncil.org is website for Florida Oceans and Coastal Resources Council.
CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBEX PRESENTATIONS
Status of National Monitoring Network
Chuck Spooner gave pp presentation (#4) on update of activities on the NMN. Great support from NOAA. We are talking with our component agencies at every opportunity. Interagency coordination staff from OSTP, EPA, NOAA, and USGS. Gail, Chuck, and Jawed are included in this group including Toni Johnson. Chuck reviewed the structure of the design—nine resource compartments. Design will not provide data on small rivers, lakes, and local acquifers. Four phases are 1) Network design (done); 2)develop and carry out pilot studies; 3) demonstration projects; and 4) nationwide implementation. We hope to have a work plan in January and are looking for variables and locations and specific organizations to conduct the monitoring. We plan to have a final report in 2008.
Status of Planning for 2008 National Monitoring Conference
Eric Vowinkel gave pp presentation (#5). Co-chairs for conference are Eric Vowinkel, USGS; Jawed Hameedi, NOAA; and Chuck Spooner, EPA. The conference will be held at the Pennsylvania Conference Center from May 18 to May 22, 2008. There are many organizations on board to host National conference. Philadelphia is a combination of water quality/quantity issues, estuaries, and coasts in the Delaware Basin. The convention center is located in Philadelphia off Rt. 95 and located between two rivers. One of the potential hosts is the Philadelphia Water Department. They are willing to host some field trips for us. It is a very nice place to visit; the convention center was originally the Philadelphia Train Station. The GSA had their conference there with over 6000 people attending. They can hold smaller or larger groups so if our numbers grow, the convention center can accommodate us. There is plenty of parking in the area; hotels are Marriott, Hilton, Hampton, Clarion Courtyard, and Loews. Marriott is anchor hotel. We will be working with the Water Environment Federation (WEF) on management and logistics of running the conference. It was stated that universities participation in the previous conferences was lacking. Tamim Younos offered the Water Resources research Institutes as co-sponsor for the conference and possibly an additional co-chair for the conference. Tamim will announce the 2008 conference to universities through the national Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR) to seek greater participation from academia.
Revised Approach/Plans for NAWQA Program
Donna Myers, U.S. Geological Survey, gave pp presentation (#6). The briefing paper “National Water Quality Assessment Program—Modifications to the Status and Trends Network and Assessment of Streams and Rivers” was distributed and goes along with the powerpoint presentation. (Attachment 1).
Florida Area Coastal Environment (FACE)
John Proni, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, gave pp presentation (#7) on FACE.
Land use Changes and Water Quality Impacts: St. Lucie Estuary, Florida
Jawed Hameedi, NOAA, gave pp presentation (#8) on St. Lucie Estuary. Also Jawed provided a handout (slides) of his presentation “(Attachment 2).
CUAHSI and CLEANER
Jon Duncan, Consortium for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, Inc. (CUAHSI) gave pp presentation (#9). Jon explained that Collaborative Large Scale Engineering Analysis Network for Environmental Research (CLEANER) Project office is funded and based in Arlington, Virginia. CUAHSI is focusing on why the earth works as it does. CUAHSI has developed a hydrologic information system that can access different governmental hydrologic data systems without having to go directly to those websites and can display information from USGS, NOAA, EPA for specific information at same time. Websites: http://cleaner.ncsa.uiuc.edu and http://www.cuahsi.org
Funding sources: National Science Foundation (NSF) grants; Office of Naval Research grant. Acknowledgements: Hundreds of researchers and educators from across the United States are contributing to WATERS planning process.
Everglades Restoration Presentations
Garth Redfield, South Florida Water Management District, gave pp presentation (#10) on the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (CERP). Almost 15 years ago, Florida was undergoing serious problems, poor water quality, losing water, losing wildlife (protection needed of many creatures (70 endangered species)). We lost about half the everglades through departmentalization. In 1992 a study was authorized by Congress by the Water Resources Development Act of 1992. The study was initiated in June 1993. An interagency team was established. We need to get quantity, quality, timing and distribution of water right. www.evergladesnow.org
Dr. Nicholas Aumen, Everglades Program Team, Everglades National Park, gave pp presentation (#11).
Elmar Kurzbach, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, gave pp presentation (#12), Implementation of the CERP Monitoring and Assessment Plan.
Linda Lindstrom and Garth Redfield led tour of the South Florida Water Management District including the Operation Control Room and Emergency Operation Center.
COUNCIL BUSINESS MEETING
Discussion on Council meeting structure
Group discussed ideas for keeping members through the entire meeting including the last afternoon of the meeting. Some suggested ideas were to split scheduling of work group meetings and business meeting on first and last days.
Water Information Strategies Work Group Report
Curtis Cude and Peter Tennant reported on activities of WIS. Curtis distributed WIS objectives and tasks (Attachment 3). Teams were created on the WIS. This document borrows heavily from the old WIS fact sheet and original goals and expectations. The teams will meet in between face to face meetings. WIS needs new active members to work on WIS teams and will seek members from NWQMC Others and NMN email lists. Work group membership is not confined to Council membership. Gail suggested sending draft WIS fact sheet out and seek response from various email lists. This might be an introduction into getting involved in the work group. We would like to have a session at the next conference that identifies work that has been accomplished since the 2006 or last National Monitoring Conference. Tasks earlier identified by WIS:
1)Develop a monitoring framework system; we knew that the Methods Board had been working on this; is it there; what can we do to give MB feedback;
2)Network for Wetlands;
3)Look at State Monitoring Strategies; take the two state members on team and work with them rather than having lengthy surveys from many state people at conference.
4)Methods of optimizing design; need information from Council members about what monitoring programs they are involved with;
5)Need reference site for network design.
Mary Skopec reported on data analysis. Technical report no. 1—what has been done since that report. We might ask for presentations from various agencies on how they do status and trends. We will try to get state strategies that were done in the last couple of years identifying gaps; what are preferred methods; how are these methods comparable and move toward guidance. There was much discussion about EPA performance measures. Question on how this is being done. How 305B assessments are done and how comparable they are among states. Need existing information.
Curtis Cude reported that NMN is foundation for what we want to do. We are looking at developing tools to use; making more data available; learning from CUAHSI presentation. There are modeling tools to use moving data back and forth, GIS information included. Network expansion opportunities will happen in three areas; getting data to EPA water data exchange allows other organizations to publish their data to water quality exchange service. There are strategies bridging from different web service networks.
Collaboration and Outreach Work Group Report
David Tucker and Val Connor reported on work group meeting for C&O and especially directed to conference planning for 2008. David Tucker reported. (See pp presentation (#14). Most of time was spent on conference. Theme is Monitoring: Keystone for Understanding our Waters. Tracks were discussed. We will try to get them down to five or six. Conference seems to be transitioning from one to promote the work of the Council to aspects of monitoring and assessment. We use to spend a lot of time on the last day of the conference listening to what we heard and have an open microphone discussion. We lost a lot of people during this time at the conference because they did not participate in this activity. Many people attended the last day of the conference in San Jose, and this was good. Based on the work plan that Curtis presented, we have a good agenda for the next 2 years. NAWQA had a huge presentation and volunteers felt well served by the showcasing they had. Can we make it happen again? Potential session topics were discussed; some are new topics; we need to take these ideas and make it more manageable. We are working on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with WEF as possible facilitator. We have letter ready to go to WEF; if you need to see this, contact Val Connor. Other topics discussed were website review: C& O members will review.
Get number of site visits (Judy) for discussion at a C&O Work Group conference call.
Putting together a toolbox of how we put a Council together (Val and Toni).
Another tool box on data assessment and interpretation (Jeff and Geoff).
Taking a look at communication strategy (Toni)-- member review and give feedback by December.
Review Council fact sheets and finalize by summer 2007.
Methods and Data Comparability Board
Eric Vowinkel reported-- see pp presentation (#13). MB has revamped website; updates on web done by Dan Sullivan, Executive Secretary of MB; upcoming meeting in Cincinnati November 15 and 16. Funds from USGS and CRADA (Cooperative Research and Development Agreement). The CRADA can bring in money from the private sector.
Membership Update
Gail Mallard and Chuck Spooner reported on membership. We have had good luck in populating our membership table. We have a long running vacancy in Agriculture (non-Government). We had a representative in 2001 and 2003 –neither of which attended any meetings. We do have a person interested in representing Great Lake Commissions—we need a category. Could we change the category of Agriculture (non-Government) and possibly replace with Great Lakes Commission. It will go to Council’s Steering Committee to resolve. Chuck discussed former U.S. Fish and Wildlife membership on Council; we are continuing to look for a member from USFW. Dave Shepp with COE intends to participate; we may have a backup with Elmar Kurtzbach. Mary Ann Nelson will serve as backup to Curtis. She may step in for Curtis as representative when he moves on. Chris Piehler may have an alternate. We have someone interested in Region 8; checking on this. Region 1, Neil Kamman has accepted and has talked to Paul Currier and Linda Green, and they told him it would be a benefit to his state; Region 3—looking for someone from Pennsylvania; state government has not allowed its staff to participate on outside groups; project keeps Chuck involved with Maryland. Talked to Tony Shaw who is interested in Council. Jawed has two strong industry contacts from Dupont and Weyerhauser. If either of these people are affiliated with American Chemical Industry or another industrial national association, this would work. Jawed will get back with us on status.
Other Meeting Updates
ACWI—Report on WebEx and Annual Meeting in January 2007. Toni Johnson gave pp presentation (#15). Ground Water Monitoring is proposed new group under ACWI. This is a followup from the October 4 WebEx meeting, and will be brought before ACWI at the January annual meeting. Satellite Telemetry reports to Subcommittee on Hydrology; Satellite Telemetry Interagency Working Group is not a program priority under NOAA; USGS working with other organizations to put in backup system; reported on Action Items for ACWI; NMN was major presentation; Chuck gave presentation to ACWI; OSTP was there being supportive of NMN; we continue to work with OSTP for tasking statement for NMN; ACWI is very supportive of NMN. New working group on Wetland Mapping Standard; presentation will be on ACWI website. ACWI will be meeting January 17 and 18, 2007. Fall of 2007, membership of ACWI needs to be renewed as well as Charter.
Council Meeting in Lafayette, Louisiana, National Wetlands Research Center,
Chuck proposed that we move the meeting to the week of March 18. Need to put a call or email out to members to see if this is a possibility. Judy will check if this is a possibility with the National Wetlands Center. Note: Meeting in Lafayette confirmed for March 20-22, 2007.
Council Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—
Date for summer meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to be decided.
Judith B. Griffin
Executive Secretary, NWQMC
Attendees:
Mary Skopec
Toni Johnson
Judy Griffin
Curtis Cude
Dan Radulescu
Tamim Younos
Barry A. Long
Don Dycus
Linda Lindstrom
Jim Laine
Paul Currier
Fred Leslie
David W. Tucker
Thomas M. Leahy, III
Charles Spooner
Art Garceau
Gail Mallard
Jawed Hameedi
Chris M. Piehler
Jeffrey Schloss
Leslie McGeorge
Val Connor
Peter Tennant
Guests:
Steve Wolfe, Florida DEP
Ellen McCarron, Florida DEP
John Proni, NOAA
Jonathan Duncan, CUAHSI
Nicholas Aumen, Everglades National Park
Elmar Kurzbach, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Carlton D. Hunt, Battelle
Sandy Williamson, USGS
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological
Survey
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Wednesday, 08-Aug-2007 15:05:41 EDT