Development of a Water Monitoring Council in Texas
By
Harry McWreath, U.S. Geological Survey
Cindy Loeffler, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
David Thorkildsen, Texas Water Development Board
Texas has had a formally established Water Monitoring Council for just
over a year. Development of the Council, however, began over four years
ago and included two major events, the 1996 and 1998 Texas Water Monitoring
Congresses. These meetings, in many ways, define the development, status
and future directions of Council, as it exists today. This paper describes
the development of the Texas Water Monitoring Council to the present and
discusses some challenges for its future.
Efforts
to address the issues encompassed within the scope of "water monitoring"
in Texas began in 1995 when several federal and state agencies held informal
discussions on ways to work more efficiently together to improve the status
of data collection and the usefulness of water information. The forces
driving these discussions were the increasing cost of collecting water
data in the face of flat or declining funding and the often disparate
efforts of many agencies to collect similar, if not redundant, data -
data, which in turn, were limited in availability to external entities.
These discussions quickly focused on developing a mechanism to facilitate
and build consensus on approaches and responses to water data needs for
Texas. The result was formation of an ad hoc group of representatives
from federal, state, and regional water resource agencies to plan the
Texas Water Monitoring Congress, which convened in Austin in September
1996.
The
premise behind the Texas water monitoring congress was to:
- Provide
a forum for agencies with water data responsibilities to come together
to identify the issues of concern within the scope of "water monitoring";
- Develop
findings or recommendations to resolve or improve these concerns; and,
- Promote
the awareness of the need for good water resource information to solve
many of the problems that face Texas today and in the future.
1996 Texas Water Monitoring Congress
The
structure of the 1996 Texas Water Monitoring Congress was an opening general
session on the afternoon of the first day featuring keynote speakers from
the major federal and state water agencies, a second day of concurrent
workshops, and a concluding general session on the third day. The purpose
of the opening general session was to set the tone of the Congress over
the next two days. More than 200 attendees heard from agency heads and
leaders in water monitoring about the need for water data to assist in
water resource planning and management decision-making at the state level
and the need for better cooperation among the various agencies to coordinate
data collection and dissemination. The session concluded with the attendees
receiving their "marching orders" from the Congress chair on
what was expected of them for the remaining two days.
The
second day was a full day of concurrent workshops in which Congress attendees
dealt with the issues of water monitoring. Six workshops focused on current
and future uses of water data, funding data collection programs, emerging
technologies, data management and sharing, data optimization, and quality
assurance and quality control. Brainstorming, prioritizing of issues,
recording of comments and major points on flip charts, and consensus building
were techniques used to develop a set of findings or recommendations for
each workshop.
The
third morning concluded the Congress with a general session in which the
workshop chairs presented the findings and recommendations resulting from
the workshops. This general session allowed all the attendees to share
the results of the prior day's concurrent sessions. A wrap-up to the closing
session was an open-floor discussion of the "success" of the
three-day proceedings and the need or desire for future congresses. The
opinion of a large majority of the attendees was that the Congress was
a worthwhile effort and that it should be repeated in the future. A written
evaluation was submitted by most attendees that corroborated the floor
comments and provided useful information for the planning of future congresses.
Out
of the individual recommendations presented by each workshop, the Congress
developed four major recommendations. The first recommendation calls for
the establishment of the Texas Water Monitoring Council as a mechanism
to reduce redundancies, inefficiencies and inadequacies in existing data
programs. The second recommendation encourages the support for adequate
funding to maintain existing data programs and additional funding for
new mandates. The third and fourth recommendations emphasize the need
for standard quality assurance protocols, standard database exchange formats
and metadata (data that describes or explains data), and continuous availability
of water data through multiple outlets, including Internet linkages, as
a basis for integrating individual data collection programs.
A
major goal of the 1996 Congress was to produce recommendations and a record
of the general sessions and workshops' notes that could be carried forward
after the Congress had ended. A proceedings and a summary fact sheet were
prepared and distributed to all attendees and to key state agency officials
and members of the Texas State Legislature. The fact sheet was printed
in larger numbers than the proceedings for wider distribution across the
state as a means to promote the Congress.
Texas Water Monitoring Council
The
major success of the 1996 Texas Water Monitoring Congress was the actual
establishment of a council from the Congress' recommendation. The Congress
proceedings and fact sheet were distributed to select legislative members
and staff early in the 1997 session. A fortunate juxtaposition of the
Congress between a major drought in the summer of 1996 and the biennial
convening of the State Legislature enhanced the receptivity of the Congress
recommendations. More significantly, management officials and staff, from
the three principal state agencies responsible for water resources (the
Texas Water Development Board, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department), were working
with the legislature in drafting bills to address the continuing issues
of water resource planning, water quality monitoring, and watershed assessment.
The idea of a water monitoring congress seemed to fit in with this effort.
During
the spring of 1997 the 75th Texas Legislature passed an omnibus water
bill known as Senate Bill 1. The goal of Senate Bill 1 is to manage water
in Texas so that "sufficient water will be available at a reasonable
cost to ensure public health, safety, and welfare; to further economic
development and protect the agricultural and natural resources of the
state." Article 7 of Senate Bill 1 addressed Water Data Collection
and Dissemination. Subsection 8 of Article 7 directs the Executive Administrator
of the Texas Water Development Board to "lead a statewide effort,
in coordination with federal, state and local governments, institutions
of higher education, and other interested parties to develop a network
for collecting and disseminating water resource-related information that
is sufficient to support assessment of ambient water conditions statewide."
The 75th Legislature also appropriated funds to support the Texas Water
Monitoring Council. In August of 1997 the management of the Texas Water
Development Board, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and
the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department entered into a Memorandum of Understanding
for implementation of Senate Bill 1. Included in this MOU was the formal
agreement to support the objectives of the 1996 Texas Water Monitoring
Congress, including the recommendation to create the Texas Water Monitoring
Council.
In
late 1997, representatives of the ad hoc group of agencies that planned
the 1996 Congress met to establish the Texas Water Monitoring Council.
They were aware of efforts in other states to form similar monitoring
councils and information on organization and operation of a water monitoring
council was gathered from contacts in these states. A copy of the Maryland
Water Monitoring Council's charter was obtained. It was the model for
the Texas Council's charter. In January 1998, the Texas Water Monitoring
Council was formally established.
The
Texas Water Monitoring Council is composed of representatives from various
entities at the federal, state, regional, and local levels with mission
responsibilities for water data and water resource information. During
the organizational period in late 1997, the Texas Water Development Board
distributed a letter of invitation to these agencies to become charter
members. The criterion for charter membership was a written commitment
that the agency will select a person to represent the agency who can dedicate
resources (essentially the person's time and travel to meetings) to the
Council. At present, the Council is represented by three federal, three
state, and three river (basin) authorities, although several persons from
some of the agencies often attend Council meetings. The Council continues
to welcome additional charter members.
The officers consist of a chair, who leads the Council meetings and keeps
the council focused on the business at hand, and an Executive Secretary,
who provides the operational and administrative support to the Council.
The Executive Secretary is a Texas Water Development Board employee whose
position description includes responsibilities and duties to provide support
to the Council. The Executive Secretary records the meetings of Council
meetings, maintains the Council's Web page on the Internet, and administers
the financial and logistical aspects of Council business and the Congress.
Registration fees from each of the first two Congresses have been sufficient
to fund the Congresses, print and distribute the Proceedings, and to cover
ancillary costs.
The
Texas Water Monitoring Council operates on a biennial cycle. Council meetings
are scheduled quarterly, although during the year of the Congress, more
frequent meetings are held for Congress planning. Beginning in 1998, the
first year of the Council's business focused on planning for the second
Congress in September. For 1999, the focus of the Council is to establish
and maintain working committees whose purpose is to facilitate the progress
of, or track the fate of, the recommendations from the 1998 Congress.
1998 Texas Water Monitoring Congress
The
second Texas Water Monitoring Congress was held in Austin in September
1998. The structure and proceedings of this congress were essentially
the same as for the 1996 Congress. Four concurrent sessions, or focus
groups, were held on the second day to address data collection networks,
data management, quality assurance, and public outreach. The first three
were of the same nature as analogous workshops in the 1996 Congress. The
fourth focus group, Public Outreach, was a new topic that grew out of
discussions and recommendations from the 1996 Congress. It was clear that
informing the non-water resources community, including other government
officials as well as the citizen, was an important aspect of the mission
of the Council. In the Texas Water Monitoring Council Charter, "Raising
the public awareness of the value and use of water monitoring data,"
is one of the stated goals of the Council. The intent of these focus groups
was to review the recommendations of the 1996 Congress and assess any
progress since then, discuss the issues, and develop recommendations for
the closing general session. The recommendations are of a similar nature
to the recommendations from the 1996 Congress with the addition of promoting
water related educational activities. As in 1996, a summary fact sheet
and proceedings were prepared.
Since the September 1998 Congress, the Texas Water Monitoring Council
has held it's first quarter 1999 meeting with reports from the chairs
of the four focus groups. The focus group chairs reported on the status
of their group and the prospects for continuing as Council committees
for the next year to keep the recommendations visible and progressing.
Future of the Texas Water Monitoring Council
The
Council has no authority or mandate to implement Congress recommendations
or impose them upon governmental agencies. The Council recognized early
that the goals of the Council and the recommendations of the Congress
could only be achieved if agency officials and staff, who are involved
with the Council or Congress, take steps to assimilate the goals and recommendations
of the Council and Congress within their respective agencies and make
substantive efforts at interagency cooperation and coordination. To some
degree, this is occurring between the three principal state agencies responsible
for water resources, as mandated by Senate Bill 1.
The
major challenge for the Texas Water Monitoring Council is the same as
for any organization of voluntary members whose participation is incidental
to their assigned job responsibilities. To paraphrase a well-known slogan,
it takes a few good people with the personal motivation and commitment
to keep the Council active. The immediate challenge for the Council in
1999 is to keep the committees functioning. It is hoped that some progress
can be made over the next year and a half such that the work of the four
committees can provide an agenda for the 2000 Congress. Additionally,
some long-range planning and new initiatives beyond what has developed
as a result of the two Congresses are needed.
If
there was a weakness to the 1998 Congress it was that there was some redundancy
to the 1996 Congress. However, with the Council only established in early
1998, a reassessment of the 1996 Congress recommendations with a two-year
perspective and the addition of a new issue area (public outreach) were
an appropriate expectation.
The
major strength of the current organization and operation of the Texas
Water Monitoring Congress is the two-year cycle of the Congress. It is
difficult to achieve and measure progress of the Congress recommendations
in one year; simple in concept, but complex and lengthy in execution.
Two years allows enough time to develop an agenda and to plan and organize
the next Congress.
Periodically
convening a water monitoring congress provides several benefits to a water
monitoring council. It allows a much wider community of interested parties
to come together to exchange ideas, find out what others are doing, discuss
the issues of concern, and return to their respective agencies with new
information. A congress provides a milestone for assessing progress and
the current status of water monitoring. It provides an opportunity for
new participants to come into the process, and perhaps renew the level
of interest or enthusiasm among council members.
Texas Water Monitoring Congress Web Site
The
Texas Water Monitoring Congress has a Web site that is maintained by the
Texas Water Development Board. Included are the 1996 and 1998 Congress
Proceedings and the Council Charter. A notable feature of the 1998 Congress
Proceedings is embedded links to other Web sites that relate to or expand
on the notes and discussions recorded in the focus group sessions. The
Texas Water Monitoring Council home page is www.txwin.net/twmc/main.htm.
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