Water Shortage Task Force

March 22, 2007 Meeting Summary

The Water Shortage Task Force conducted its meeting from 10:00 am to 12:15 pm (EDT) on March 22, 2007, in Conference Room A of the IGCS in Indianapolis. The following is a brief summary of committee updates, discussion topics, presentations, suggested action items and motions from the meeting:

Motion made for the election of a Vice Chairman for the Water Shortage Task Force; designate will be determined and named at next full task force meeting.

Committee Updates

1. Jim Butcher, Chairman; Monitoring and Assessment Committee
2. Carlton Curry, Chairman; Policy and Priority Committee

Discussion/Presentation Items

1) Development of “Glossary of Terms” for Water Shortage Plan.

• Scheduled to be placed on Water Shortage Plan Website for review and comment by June 15^th Task Force Meeting.
• DNR will include starter set of  “Glossary of Terms” on website ; input from interested parties requested by task force.

2) Review of minimum stream flow requirements for various stream uses/needs.

• 7Q10 currently recognized as recommended low flow.
• Stream gaging stations necessary for stream flow evaluation.
• Need for GIS coverage of various streams showing varied uses and designations.

3) Need for Task Force to obtain direction by investigating water supply/drought planning efforts of other states.

• Evaluation of water supply planning in Washington, Texas and Virginia.
• US Army Corps of Engineers have investigated water shortage issue; State of Kentucky has interest in participating with Indiana’s efforts.
• Proposed conference in Indianapolis with regard to water supply and demand.
• House Bill 1738 will require Indiana to evaluate water resources; need for task force to move ahead with this issue.
• Motion was made to bring in speakers for May 18^th Committee Meetings – Motion Approved
• Motion was made to appoint representatives (Jack Wittman, Bill Etzler, DNR) of task force to contact and arrange speakers for May 18^th meeting – Motion Approved

4) Evaluation of existing conservation ordinances to be used as templates for the Water Shortage Plan.

• Representation of conservation ordinance as Memorandum of Understanding.
• Provide template for communities to design their own specific policies and response to a water shortage.
• Existing conservation ordinance for the City of Carmel will be placed on Water Shortage Plan Website.
• Both urban and agriculture have specific water management plans.

5) Explanation of Palmer Hydrological Drought Index (PDHI)

• Proposal to have drought indicators presented by State Climatologist (Dev Niyogi) at April 20^th committee meetings.

6) Summary of web-based hydrologic data available from DNR and USGS

• Overview of Division of Water’s Water Resource Update page by Jerry Unterreiner of DNR, Division of Water.
• Overview of USGS Waterwatch website, USGS Groundwaterwatch website, and USGS Streamstats web site by Scott Morlock of the USGS.
• Approximately 20% of USGS hydrologic data network funded by outside sources (DNR, Army Corps, IDEM, INDOT, etc.).
• Line item funding may be addressed in next legislative session.
• Density of USGS data network typically dictated by needs and location.
• Siavash Beik of CBB Engineers investigating funding options for hydrologic data network.
• Climate data available on following websites: weather.gov/water; weather.gov/indy ; cpc.noaa.gov .
• Website link to Indiana River Rally to be added to Water Shortage Plan website.

7) Summary of Annex 2001

• PowerPoint Presentation of Annex 2001 [pdf version ] by Ron McAhron of DNR
• Approval required for diversions to straddling communities, straddling counties and interbasin transfers.

8) Evaluation of SWWF data to identify water use trends by category.

• PowerPoint presentation of SWWF water use and trends [pdf version ] by DNR available on Web.

9) Summary of reported ground water and surface water conflicts and resolutions; 1986-2006 .

• Map of  reported ground water conflicts and map of reported surface water conflicts developed for web page.
• Motion was made to accept conflict summary report with addition of location map – Motion Approved.

Establish Next Meeting Dates

1. April 20^th – Committee Meetings; 10:00 am and 1:00 pm at IGCS.
2. May 18^th – Committee Meetings; 10:00 am and 1:00 pm at IGCS.
3. June 15^th- Full Task Force Meeting; 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at IGCS.