Wyoming State Water Plan
Wyoming State Water Plan
Wyoming Water Development Office
6920 Yellowtail Rd
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Phone: 307-777-7626
Wyoming Water Development Office
6920 Yellowtail Rd
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Phone: 307-777-7626
Presentations
The Bear River Basin Advisory Group met in Cokeville, Wyoming on April 20, 1998. After introductions and a welcome from the facilitator, the participants were given a number of presentations based upon information requests generated at the last meeting. Copies of various reports covering pertinent federal statutes, existing state water planning documents and copies of the Bear River Compact were distributed.
Aaron Waller of the Water Resources Center presented information on other state water planning efforts and the use of the Internet for sharing that information with affected interests. The current web site maintained by the WRC was also presented and demonstrations of information that can be accessed at that site were summarized.
Sue Lowry of the State Engineers Office presented information and slides on the history and current status of the Bear River Compact. This presentation generated a number of questions and Sue, Evan Green, Jeff Fassett and John Jackson provided additional insights on the compact, Wyoming water law and other issues. Gary Beach explained the role of DEQ in the establishment of Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) regulations under the Clean Water Act and the advisory group was solicited for participation in future public involvement approaches on this issue.
Draft Basin Scope of Services
Participants were asked to review and begin generating comments on the scope of work document distributed at the last meeting. The facilitator reminded the group of their role under the Basin feasibility study and the need to provide the Planning Team with substantive input regarding the contents of future Basin plans.
Participants reviewed the goals and tasks summarized by the facilitator and were reminded that their input would determine the validity of these items as well as determine if there are additional items that need to be evaluated and analyzed once decision makers approve a planning process. To summarize, the draft Basin Scope of Services included the following goals:
Tasks were presented to participants as follows:
Mission Statement
The Basin Advisory Group adopted the following mission statement for future activities:
Problem Identification
The group was then asked to identify problems and concerns that should be addressed under a Basin Management Plan. Using the 14 issues identified through the statewide survey, the group chose to begin with agriculture. The group then identified the following items as examples of how a basin management plan would address agriculture:
The group then recognized that most of the issues (14 from the survey) are interrelated and that it may be possible to prepare a list of problems and concerns that apply to all issues while recognizing there may be problems and concerns that are unique to any one issue.
The planning team and the facilitator agreed to prepare an exercise for the group to work on prior to the next meeting. This approach will allow the group to develop a more standardized listing of elements to be analyzed in a Bear River Basin Plan.