Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The Assembly brought together thought leadership of Western water organizations to explore the latest thinking on how to create effective collaboration on water management, policy, and sustainability and how the WWN, as a region-wide organization, can help.  The meeting featured workshops to exchange views on,

• The best way to configure the Western Water Network so it effectively supports the work of existing organizations across the West and
• Looking ahead to a major water conference in 2023, consider what water topics should be included to make that meeting helpful to all who are working on western water security.

The meeting management process largely consisted of brainstorming, voting on the results, followed by reflection and recommendation-forming discussions. Work sessions made up the bulk of the agenda followed by a briefing session on the results for the WAAESD and WEDA leadership. 

The agenda was:

1. Plenary Joint Session with WAAESD and WEDA, featuring two presentations,
   1. Western Water Network Kickoff - Mike Gaffney
   2. Adding Value and Increasing Capacity to the Western Water Network - Tony Willardson
2. Work Session 1 – Adding Value and Capacity (three breakouts, one each for the WAAESD, WEDA, and WWN)
3. Work Session 2 – Organizing the WWN, Recruitment, and Partnerships (WWN only)
4. Work Session 3 – Brainstorm of Water Topics for the 2023 Water Congress (WWN only)
5. Work Session 4 – Priority of the Water Topics Brainstormed in Work Session 3 (WWN only)
6. Work Session 5 – Review of Day One ‘Lessons Learned’ (WWN only)
7. Work Session 6 – Meeting 2023 Water Congress Expectations (WWN only) - canceled
8. Work Session 7 – Pulling it All Together—What Does It Take to Build a Next Steps Vision Paper? (WWN only)
9. Leadership Briefing Session (WAASED, WEDA, WWN)

 A meeting record was created by combining these sources of information,

• For the in-person audience: collecting and transcribing wall notes from the facilitation activates, dot voting activities (https://dotmocracy.org/dot-voting/), and discussion.
• For the remote audience: collecting written input using virtual bulletin board software from https://padlet.com and discussion.
• For both audiences we used volunteer notetakers three times to capture a summary of the discussions.

Work Session 1
Adding Value and Capacity
Three breakouts on this topic with separate breakouts of,
Western Extension Directors Association (WEDA),
Western Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors (WAAESD), and the Western Water Network (WWN)

Each breakout group answered the same two questions by brainstorming ideas on how to address these questions or the needs their members have behind these questions.  The results are simple, unranked brainstorm lists of input from participants in the breakout rooms.

WEDA Breakout Discussion

Question 1: What are your members’ greatest needs that the WWN can help them address?  In other words, “What is holding them back from more effectiveness, efficiency, or impact that the WWN can help them address?”

• Collaborative
• Process Managers
  • has unique role and can convene and facilitate
  • Understand multiple users of water
  • Community Agriculture, health, recreational use, holistic view, and convener tribal partners. All users
• Understanding of why water is important to consumers. Water literacy.
• Social justice issues around water
  • Thinking about water before drought. Proactively support communities through drought.
  • Need educational playback for extension staff to understand and learn about water. So, they know if they are moving the dial. What is the intervention?
• Extension think about - where we place our water specialists - consider language we use when talking about water - change with different audience the value-proposition language with audience
• Ability to predict drought so that we can plan and educate proactively programming relevant.
• Technology adaptation - not widely available to our constituents
  • Pilot projects available
  • So, Extension is on the ground educating
  • Extension could regionally program.
• On the ground practical application.
  • Master Gardeners
  • Shared resources across state lines
  • Consistent programming

Question 2: What can the emerging WWN do that adds total capacity for everyone  working on water security in the West?

• Multi State programming around proactive planning.
• Shared Resources
• To encourage collaboration not competition
• Inform policy, not respond
• How can we put together a white paper of what works in the west? This is what the video service land grant Universities can do
• Identify gaps and expertise - get it grouped but identify
• Develop educational tool kits with recent research that educators can apply and use in their communities.
• Create some recognition so educators want to be involved - educator - advancement.
• Move beyond political focus.
• How can people understand. can be a partner in education.
• Facilitate convener for last use.
• With the conflict with water, Ext is trusted facilitator/convener. Ext pull can pull key people together to discuss water
• Work on value proposition
• Regionally - can Ext. put together regional teams that can come in and help us to add value.
• How it can help elevate water issue and host importance
• Western Water Academy that ext. staff/faculty could attend certificate program - Public engagement of water issues Public Health Certification
• Climate Language that is constituents can understand and buy into
• Climate smart. Extension can help lead
• Leverage success that Extension has had with Climate Hubs
• Extension Adds Value
  • Bring Community Context to water issues
  • Social Justice
  • Community values

WAASED Breakout Discussion 

Question 1: What are your members’ greatest needs that the WWN can help them address?  In other words, “What is holding them back from more effectiveness, efficiency, or impact that the WWN can help them address?

• Standard water resource centers within each state
• NIPMCC Model-region to national
• Great Lakes Watershed network
• Ogallala Water Coordinate agriculture project
• Connect with WRRI and AES at each,
• University
• Likewise, connection with engineering departments within each state universities
• Key point is to bring them all together
• Idea of Water Data Exchange – need skilled users too
• Stakeholder assessment – What do they need?
• Inclusion of social scientists – integration
• Diverse multistate research group addressing watersheds – and how are all communicating?
• Build on current knowledge (BMPs) – prepare for future offensive approach vs. defensive
• Linking policy with research; intentional research to guide policy and how to respond to policy (good or bad)?
• Data hubs for researchers to access
• Common terminology
• Create a Western Agric. Center to focus on Western-specific issues

Question 2: What can the emerging WWN do that adds total capacity for everyone  working on water security in the West?

• Rick Allen ET modeler works with ARS – need replacement
• Deal with repeated drought and wildlife (e.g., quality and erosion retention and storage)
• Cloud seeding
• Wildfire effects on municipal water – fuel load and mitigation practices
• Repository of data for scientists working in various aspects of water, etc.
• Collect available and future data for Big Data Analytics
• Big problems can be solved with effective coordination and collaboration (need structures to reward collaboration)
• Very different way of solving problems
• Focus effort on areas AES can control or influence (specialize on Ag)
• Deeper understand of how Ag uses water and what changes could mean
• Collection of data for determining point-sources of contamination
• Transfer WRRI under AES from VPR offices
• Prioritize where research makes the greatest impact
• Inform future funding – opps and program – new WSARE
• Determining priorities/setting federal priorities, vision/strategic plan – what can WWN contribute

WWN Breakout Discussion

(Separate results for the In-person and Remote Audiences)

In-Person Audience Results

Question 1: What are your members’ greatest needs that the WWN can help them address?  In other words, “What is holding them back from more effectiveness, efficiency, or impact that the WWN can help them address?

• Water availability (predictions?) – budget
• Assessment of management impacts
• Quantification of CU withdrawals
• Regional tools for adaptive H₂O management
• Collaborative/management
• Moving beyond silos (urban/ag/environmental/tribal/cities)
• Improved metrics (comprehensive, integrated metrics across silos)
• Building relationship with Tribes
• How to account for values? (beneficial use, cultural, traditional, historical)
• Understanding culture of water
• Learn from community systems that work
• Societal lens (community needs)
  • From competing demandsè collaboration
  • Integrated approach
  • Identity existing obstacles (public trust)

Question 2: What can the emerging WWN do that adds total capacity for everyone  working on water security in the West?  Integrated water planning (one water; all colors)

• Easily digestible and actionable data and impacts
• Burden of proof that change is needed?
• Regional management tools
• Collaborative policy (WDRC)
• Unsilo water
  • Community needs and values
  • Create metrics that facilitate exchange of and empathy for ideas
• Help with community integrated water management – water is part of cultural landscapes

 Remote Audience Results

Question 1: What are your members’ greatest needs that the WWN can help them address?  In other words, “What is holding them back from more effectiveness, efficiency, or impact that the WWN can help them Address?

• Declining faculty numbers not being generated and being replaced
• Connecting researchers across disciplines, also researchers + extension, etc.
• Research/information clearinghouse
  • Providing a clearinghouse of new projects/data/results from one part of the region that can be useful in other Help to avoid duplication of efforts and find complementarities.  This could also be a response to the other question (what can the WWN provide?)
• Making connections between academics and practitioners
  • Connecting academics to people that need data analysis/expertise. Also, the WWN could potentially provide data?  In a nutshell, maybe the WWN could provide data, questions, and connections to people that need answers to questions.

Question 2: What can the emerging WWN do that adds total capacity for everyone working on water security in the West?

• Have the WWN continue to develop relationships with policymakers (governors, legislators) so that members and member groups can have larger
  • Have WNN promote our success stories to that group
• Find grad students and postdocs -- networking and mentoring
• Regular meetings/webinars on existing work
  • It would be helpful to have a series of webinars on relevant It could be academic researchers or policymakers talking about actions taking place at the various states.
  • Funding always encourages collaboration
• Identifying political leaders that can be champion for WWN causes
  • Go to Congress?
  • Designed as collaborative from the outset

Other?

• Some notes left in chat
  • https://water.usgs.gov/wrri/files/2014-NIWR-USGS-Fact-Sheet.pdf  
  • https://water.usgs.gov/wrri/index.php
  • https://twri.tamu.edu/media/5511/final-conference-report-pdf
    

Work Session 2 Organizing the WWN, Recruitment, and Partnerships
WWN-only discussion. 
(Separate results for the In-Person and Remote Audiences)

In-Person Audience Results

Question 1: What are improvements you recommend for the Rules of Operation?

• How to incorporate all stakeholders in WWN? (Not weekly meetings…)
• Build from existing, state-level networks (research, extension, water user)
• What is the procedure for joining?
• How to achieve a mission with this structure?
• How do “we” [Reno attendee] move fund to build network from here?
• How do we bridge/link rules of operation with engagement?
• Within rules of operation define tasks to further priorities, e.g., maintain interstate groups to further the mission, these are engagement activities that will help us support/achieve our (move) aspirational goals.
• (Article V?)
• Define working group more explicitly
• Suggestions to be more intentional in naming partner/collaboration organization, e.g., Climate Hubs, WestFAST.
• Identify potential outcomes to keep [all] engaged

Question 2: What are ways to build out the WWN so it meets the needs of everyone working on water security in the West?  For example, how do we recruit participation, stimulate partnerships, and secure funding?

• Who else needs to be here? NSF - Funded grant out of NM.  WSES, BLM, other federal agencies
• WestFAST, 3 committees, funded by states, challenge of funding diversity of e.g., SEO v State EPA
• Challenge: people power, funding for, to build human capacity in state agencies
• Good [idea] from other group WWN: can’t be all things to all people. Need to choose a bit, e.g., Nat. CTr focused on East e.g., flood
• Suggestion to narrow focus to make more feasible
• Challenge of identifying goal verses chasing grant money
• One area of expertise: knowledge transfer
• Building out challenge: FTEs to move this find (we are all too busy already)
  • Executive director
  • Do-er
• WiII WWN make decisions or inform decision- makers?
• Not academic papers but inform water users/managers/stakeholders
• WWN is advisory or integrated?
• Degree of engagement between science, decision, and policy
• Currently collaborative or aspirational?
• Regional focus (across states) is important (How regionalize, overcome silos)
• If the focus is water security, it should be on a mission. Decision making for some purpose… [adequate supply?... quality?]
• “Western” Water North, Western regions, basins, State,
• How to nest efforts within basins, regions, states appropriately?
• Purpose of a mission: “Oh, this is what they’re about. I want to know more”
• Examples of what is meant by the Mission?
• What is different about this organization?
• Add unique value proposition statement longer more detailed
  • Tribal equity
• How to generalize across the West, where there are differences? -> case studies
• Assessment has a role
• Pre-policy, to post-policy (assessment)
• Decision versus policy is mission? (policy is more restrictive)
• But practices also decisions and important (incentives important)
• Science-based info can be used, so decision okay

Remote Audience Results

Question 1: What are improvements you recommend for the Rules of Operation?

• Connection with National Institutes for Water Resources NIWR
• base funding through USGS
• housed in land grant units
• state specific issues
• UCOWR connection
• Next year in Fort Collins, could build/expand
• Mostly land-grant unis - https:/ucowr.org/membership/directory/
• Involve NIFA program directors associated with water activities
• Involve NRCS
• WaterSmart innovation conference
• Every year in Las Vegas
• Involve Groundwater Management Districts Associations
• Are there NGOs and Foundations that should be involved
• Each segment of water (e.g., quality, quantity, environment, agriculture has their own trade/advocacy Irrigation association is an example, Professional faculty organization is too.
• We still could use some guidance on what specifically will drive the mission statement to completion. Ideas?  Funding?  Who governs?

Question 2: What are ways to build out the WWN so it meets the needs of everyone working on water security in the West?  For example, how do we recruit participation, stimulate partnerships, and secure funding?

• Contact your local NIWR Institute
• The NIWR board of Directors would be a good group to interact with directly
• Use NIWR network to connect with state USGS water centers
• Student funding (104b)

Question 3 (revised by this breakout group): How to stimulate engagement, partnership, and funding?

• Highlight some success stories so that others will know how to contribute
• Help to create multi-institutional teams
• Funding for key participants for the 2023 conference
  • Maybe have multistate committees highlight their work again
• Multistate collaboration
  • It seems like there's an important role to help with collaboration across states. This could be collaboration in reaching out to Congress/USDA for opportunities and having a joint/unified voice as opposed to individual states).  This could also help with adapting structure/funding for multistate projects to have more collaborative work.
    • This has traditionally been one of the greatest impediments to multistate work

Other?

• WWN Conference?
  • Conference-load saturated? Other alternatives?  Fold into other conferences?
  • 60 year anniversary joint conference in 2024 - NIWR, American Water Resources Association, UCOWR
  • Cautioning that existing networks should not be overlooked in creation of a new one - not to say there aren't strengths in a western-focused network
  • For 2023 conference, is a WWN-specific option better than holding it jointly with UCWOR/NIWR?

Notes taken during the discussion in this Session (by Robert Heinse)

Mission Statement: 

• What is the power the organization has? Is it decision making or facilitation?
• Sam: Proposal to fund activities will give power.  Advancing science-based decision making to make a difference for water in the west.  Is grant making part of the mission?
• Suggestion to: Write and implement policy (or pre-policy) as a role of the network.
• Discussion of aspiration vs. feasibility.
• Overcome regional limitations to research and extension; move the network to interstate connections/regional. How can we regionalize the unsiloing.
• Suggestion: explicitly include water security in the mission statement.
• Discussion on West. Is it western region, basin?  Nested scales?
• Carlos: what is meant by human and natural systems in this context.
• Back to how is WWN different from other organizations?
• Suggestion to add values to mission. What values/paradigms drive this institution?
• Sam: Distilling information from extension and research that is local but may be addressed better at a much larger –audacious—scale.
• Develop study cases that help inform decision elsewhere.
• Add adaptive to the mission statement.
• Thought: decision making is not the end, but part of a process which includes adaption.
• Suggestion: explicitly state policy making over decision making? How about practices?  Practices are outside of policy, but should be included rather than excluded from the mission.  Apparent consensus: keep decision making.

Rules of Operation:

• Suggestion: add a flowchart to the rules of operations
• Community connection/ regional initiatives how to include? Advisories?  How to involve stakeholders in the network?
• Draw on existing state network with peer systems across the west. State and functional integration.
• It is still unclear who all and how they would be involved.
• How to integrate our mission with the mission statement of participants?
• Can we define tasks that support the mission? Maintain a priority list of interest groups that may change with time, but give structure to the mission?  Is it aspirational enough?  
• Breaking down state boundaries by hydrologic boundaries (for purposes of the network).
• Suggestion: define tangible outcomes.

Question 2: What are ways to build out the WWN so it meets the needs of everyone working on water security in the West?  For example, how do we recruit participation, stimulate partnerships, and secure funding?

• Who needs to be at the table: NSF grant out of NM (look up)
• Tony W: funding avenues create silos (example: DEQ and state engineer).  How to build capacity in state agencies (education)?
• Educate the next generation across states (UG). Train networked students, knowledgeable on interstate and wider-regional issues.
• Make sure that funding (though important) doesn’t end up driving the mission.
• Start with pilot projects!
• Alex: important to have a core group that can focus on this without distractions.

Summary:

• In person audience: Should we go with similarities or pick differences that help leverage the power of the network?
• Online audience: Relative role of existing networks (UCOWRD etc.) and what relationships may look like. This organization should be more of a collaborator and cross-state actor (because most of the previous have a state mission).  Relationship with and between multistate groups to facilitate TRUE multistate collaboration in research.
• Q&A: Alex M. What exactly is the problem?
• Need for a roadmap. What can the audience contribute appears to be unclear as well as what they will get out of it.

Work Session 3 – Brainstorm of Water Topics for the 2023 Water Congress
WWN-only discussion.

Category 1: Research, Extension, and Education Needs

In-Person Audience (includes audience voting of their priorities)

• Improvement to forecasting water availability à seasonalàshort term (11 votes)
• Addressing the educational gaps: are water programs in the western states able to create the next generation of water managers? (10 votes)
• Professional development on how to engage in policy process (9 votes)
• Understand the risk tolerance of changing to drought-tolerant crips (8 votes)
• How to make local case studies as broadly and globally useful as possible (6 votes)
• Workforce development in H₂O professional careers (5 votes)
• UrbanàRural continuum (3 votes)
• More integration of work across R-E-E. Research pushed to future, Ed is current with some future, Extension lags due to time lag from innovations to application. Need to narrow gaps through integration for change.  (3 votes)
• Water storage with decreasing snowpack (2 votes)
• Complimentary and competing roles of water consultants, researchers, and extension specialists. (1 vote)
• Virtual water food production – exporting water with food (no votes)
• Are our water students learning? Water education in the West integration (no votes)
• Create a ‘good practice’ for H₂O (no votes)

Remote Audience

• Salinity management
• Where will irrigation be in 2040
• Intensifying crop production to feed growing world while not exacerbating water Doable but needs tech adoption.
• Note many specific items in other columns are actually REE needs
• Seems like a whole session on extension would be worthwhile
• Best practices, lessons learned
• Some innovation is occurring here

Category 2: Water Quantity, Water Quality, and Water Equity

In-Person Audience (includes audience voting of their priorities)

• One Water, match color with use (10 votes)
• Large gap between water quality regulations/policies and application of practices to mitigate. Resulting in never achieving water quality goal.  Need to prioritize goals and fund both sides (carrot and stick) for change.  (7 votes)
• Water quality and access for tribes with limited running water; increasing contraction from legacy resource extraction. (5 votes)
• Interaction of water quality and water quantity (5 votes)
• Understand trade-offs of quantity and saline composition of agricultural productivity (2 votes)
• Technology on water harvest, convey, and use/reuse. (1 vote)
• Defining Equity and discussing demographic ‘grouping.’ (1 vote)
• Equity should go first. Quantity and quality are components of equity.  (no votes)
• Sources of pollution and BMPs to address those issues, (no votes)

Remote Audience

• Climate vs. socioeconomic drivers / threats / contributions to scarcity
• Balancing rural and urban needs

• Tongue in cheek -- why do we care about destroying any given user group?

• Regional differences in high quality water availability (focused on household use)

• See first comment under last column

• Trends and impediments in water market development

Category 3: Spatial Scale: Global, Regional, and Local

• Data assimilation (e.g., Satellite imagery) to address scale issues (11)
• Determine Heterogeneity and unit of analysis for irrigation practices and outcomes (9)
• Water challenges are primarily local but need to be addressed regional, state, global to be resolved. Need better linkage of solutions from local that includes values, culture, to policies at regional state, etc. (9)
• Framework for “Attributes” mapping into sovereignty across spare - time
• Water management decision-making at multiple scales - determining “appropriate” scale (7)
• Consider unique issues of tribal water and how they connect at global, regional scales. (5)
• Work at appropriate HUC… even when crossing government boundaries (1)
• Precise definition of regional (no votes)

Remote Audience

• Interaction of US policy with world
• Cross-border agreements (US + Mexico, Canada)
• Informing public that geographic scale can be important in local priorities or constraints, e.g., may not adopt a technology because not economic.
• Scale of solutions is discussed in some other columns, but is very important in finding "adoptable" solutions
• Aligning modeling and policy with the appropriate spatial scale of the resource

Category 4: Groundwater, surface water, Coupled

In-Person Audience (includes audience voting of their priorities)

• Incentives to groundwater banking and recharge: who gets the benefits? (11 votes)
• Collaborative – Joint management approaches to groundwater-surface water systems (9 votes)
• How model of uncertainty in the presence of significant hydrologic non-stationarity (9 votes)
• Water supply augmentation Ex. Water treatment and re-use (6 votes)
• Artificial recharge and interaction with water quality for intended uses (6 votes)
• One Water – Research, Ed and Ext of coupled water systems to affect change. Reduce focus on individual components of water cycle – all connected (6 votes)
• Evaluation of groundwater extraction restrictions by locality, land-use, chance of drawdown, abatement, and NFIO (4 votes)
• Groundwater use threshold and recharge (2 votes)

 Remote Audience

• Existing tools for joint modeling
• Could be a useful before or after conference training session
  • Before / after training sessions are a great idea
• Discussion of policy innovations used and/or needed for coupled system management
• Clear statements that some systems are coupled to differing degrees and some are not so much coupled.

Category 5: Agricultural, Municipal, Industrial, Ecological use

In-Person Audience (includes audience voting of their priorities)

• How do we attach a value (economic) to different uses? Especially ecological service (16 votes)
• How to work within existing compacts, treaties, decrees to allocate water even when water supply is reduced? (11 votes)
• Measuring valuing externalities across space and sectors (6 votes)
• Improve characterization of ground water withdrawals for different uses. (5 votes)
• Market-based approaches to move water across uses (5 votes)
• Defining beneficial uses across states (Regional perspective) (4 votes)
• Consumptive use estimation (3 votes)
• How well does prior appropriation (include transfers within prior approval) meet equity goals and evolving societal values? (2 votes)
• Conduct Research, Ed and Ext work in water systems that incorporate multiple uses, values, culture to develop solutions. (Any water efficiency work affects other uses, don’t focus on one.  (2 votes)
• Evaluation of urban versus agricultural risk attitudes on water availability (2 votes)
• Appropriate weighting for different uses (1 vote)
• Cropping Systems - water relations. Water to the crops or crops to water?  Mindset change (1 vote)
• Need to be clear in communication between ‘divert’ and use… especially CU (1 vote)
• Definition of water productivity metrics for different use sectors (not only in economic terms) (1 vote)
• Interests demand from diverse groups, conflict that 0 to 1 or win-win? (no votes)
• Aldo Leopold’s statement about scientists versus public for economists specifically (no votes)

Remote Audience

• Balancing water source quality with end user usage. Can lower quality water be transferred to best user
• Municipal water. In my experience, utilities have many data problems.  They only measure consumption on a monthly basis usually.  They have no way of knowing how much customers are using at any given moment, which customers contribute to peaks, etc.  They also have poor data management so that even if you want to find out information about their customers, their data is pretty bad, and you can't figure it out.
• Developing tech to see in-home water use.
• Estuarian systems? Water reaching the sea and bays has a use
• Identifying/setting water prices to facilitate conservation but balance equity issues
  • Prices are fine in that they ‘regulate’ what is ‘economical'

Category 6: Data, Understanding, Synthesis, Implementation, Communication

In-Person Audience

• Transforming databases into knowledge bases (13 votes)
• How to communicate risk/uncertainty to stakeholders effectively? (11 votes)
• Modeling and visualizing agricultural land water - use (8 votes)
• How to build trust between scientists and stakeholders. (8 votes)
• Need more emphasis placed on learning from people working the land and using water to inform research education. Vocabulary is different (less technical focus) but they have unique understanding.  (Bridge the learning gaps) (6 votes)
• Visualization of data for better understanding and usage (4 votes)
• Ground-truthed accuracy assessment of water use and quality data (4 votes)
• Define best practices/processes for keeping online tools, systems etc., current and relevant (3 votes)
• Respecting tribal data sovereignty in gathering and sharing water access or use. (3 votes)
• Common useful metrics that can be collected and applied broadly (3 votes)
• Common data in architecture to facilitate data sharing (1 vote)
• How to deal with the science - illiterate productively. (no votes)
• Data collectable-> observable-> actionable (no votes)
• Need data/information shared in more comprehensive formats (e.g., lit review of various components) rather than individual websites, papers, etc.) (no votes)

Remote Audience

• Safeguarding data synthesis from misinterpretation
• Science literacy
• Connecting water sources with water users
  • This is useful and likely to improve greatly in next few years
• Real time use data
  • It would be useful to have real time use data across all types of users, e.g., ag, municipal, industrial, etc.
    • Maybe ways to anonymize data for research use. Cities are obviously reluctant to release household-specific data.
    • Indeed, they are but you can create partnerships in which they share data if the analysis is mutually beneficial.
  • Not sure if this is right for a conference or another WWN activity, but making data available and easy to access/visualize
  • Developing national accounts for water
    • From an economist's perspective - this needs to be approached with caution because the value of water in different locations varies significantly.
    • Also, might be a non-starter since Water Quantity typically seen as States issue under Article 10

Other Topics?:

In-Person Audience

• None

Remote Audience

• Grant writing -- match making for a Sustainable Ag proposal, for
• Economist's perspective
  • It would be nice to have the ability to manipulate prices. Working with utilities can be frustrating because they want to incentivize conservation or load shifting (water your lawn at different times of the day) but they are only willing to use non-pecuniary measures to do so.

Work Session 4 – Priority of the Water Topics Brainstormed in Work Session 3
WWN-only discussion.

In-Person Audience

• WWN Congress (How do we make it different and worthwhile?)
• Congress Theme new Organization (e.g., water quality ) (Tracks defined by working basins/themes/groups)
• Economics (Incentive surrounding water use change)
• Values
• Communication to stakeholders and establish a loop of flowing information
• Capacity building equals professional and educational development
  • Road map to develop network
  • Perspectives in water
  • Tribes
  • Complex problem - needs integrated approaches including diverse communities
  • Understanding the culture of water
  • One water
  • Color of water
    • Opportunity to expand and share practices
  • Understand where there is flexibility in the system
  • Collaborative management of surface and ground water (across state boundaries) 

Remote Audience

• Transferring water between uses
• This one seems really important going forward.  It was also mentioned above.  In particular, as droughts become more severe and populations increase, the demand for municipal water will put greater pressure on ag use.
• Identifying impediments to technology adoption
• Identifying stakeholder pain points that should be addressed
• Getting ahead of next crisis.
  • When we have to revisit the Drought Contingency Plans, for example, we could have a working group already in place.
• Implications of 'buy and dry' for rural economies
  • Amen
  • Some innovation occurring on Front Range of Colorado
  • Maybe focus on the solutions and success stories
• Current use and potential for wastewater reuse
  • use of non-treated water for outdoor household use
  • Maybe not as bad as non-treated, but with minimal needed trust
• How we can go from great idea to having "better chances" of getting funding.
• Plan for audience carefully
  • If audience can drive the speed of activity, we need to demonstrate what we can do

 Notes taken during the discussion in this Session (by Robert Heinse)

One water theme, one system across different uses, conjunctive mgmt…, managing across scales. 

• How to bridge that gap for policy decisions.
• Topics around supply augmentation, recharge, water treatment --- mitigate supply shortages
• Discussion around market based approaches for water transfer/banking. 
• Risk tolerance for cropping choices.
• Gaps in policy and adoption.  Carrot and stick possible?
• How to work within existing rules vs trying to change them.
• Incorporating tribal issues (in the context of shortages).
• Data and models.  Transform data to models (better visualization, communication).  Better forecasts for water availability to make better choices with non-stationarity, spatial heterogeneity. 
• Ground truthing data.
• Education and communication.  Building trust, communicate uncertainties, create training opportunities and professional development.  Emphasize learning from people on the ground (how to do that better) which includes better integration of extension and education.

 Online:

• Allen: Understand the needs for farmers and water users.  Making sure that extension meets the need of the audience.
• Travis: Connecting water to water users.  Implication of buy and dry (impact on communities).
• Freddie: Show successes and needs in extension.

 Open Discussion:

• Climate change is behind most of the topics without explicit mention.
• Ideas focused on collaborating and leveraging.
• Tribal issues are different and can’t be solved with the usual approaches.

Work Session 5 – Review of Day One ‘Lessons Learned’
WWN-only discussion.

Notes taken during the discussion (by Kristi Hansen)

Facilitator’s Introduction:  Yesterday, we discussed:

• What is the WWN?
• What is its mission and purpose?
• What is the role of the WWN vis-à-vis other organizations that already exist and work in this space; how does it add value?
• What are key topics of interest?

Summary of lessons learned so far from the participant discussion groups:

Group 1.  Jonathan Shuffield, national assn of counties, staff western region.  (Also in the group: Derek Godwin, OSU extension, watershed management; Qin from WWN Leadership Team; Jackie Tenetti.)

• Main issue: communication (section 6).

• Need to communicate risks with stakeholders, developing trust with stakeholders (farmer, cabinet secretary, many in between).  Communicating risks to stakeholders is particularly important.
• These topics that we discussed yesterday covers everything.  Do we need to focus?  We don’t need to solve every problem; we just need to help decision-makers work through problems.  We are all part of a loop for flowing information, knowledge.

Group 2.  Steve Buck.  (Carlos Ochoa, Robert Heinse, Kristi Hansen)

What is the purpose of WWN?

• Create a network structure of silo’ed states.
• The conference next year could be a CONCRETE way to make that happen.
• Create momentum for the Congress. One thing that popped out: water quality management, at various scales.
• Basin-level science and engagement.
• Other questions/thoughts:
  • How is a WWN different than other groups that are out there, such as AWRA, AGU, UCOWR,
  • How do we distinguish our Congress as something that people want to attend?
  • Should the Congress be organized by basins, cross-cutting themes? OR maybe having basin-specific working groups.
  • How do we build momentum for the conference by having really concrete ways to organize?

Group 3.  Hope, USU, water quality extension.  (Kirti, Nick Pates, agro-ecologist from Oregon State)

• We had pessimistic and optimistic people. The issues are the same now that they were 30 years ago.  What can we do differently now, then we did 30 years ago?

• How do we meaningfully move the needle on knowledge and behavior?
• Incentives surrounding water use, using economics as a driver
• One Water was a big topic yesterday.
• Values of water: how do people value water?

Group 4.  Ginger Paige (Also Sam Fernald, Maureen McCarthy, and ???)

We had different knowledge bases, so we just created our own little water network, to discuss issues that are happening in our own basins/locations.

• Making certain as we expand our network what the benefits are of WWN. Roadmap is important, so that we’re not re-inventing the wheel every time we get together.
• We have to make certain that tribes are include, and that they know they are included
• Perspectives on water and water’s value very important.
• Color of water is important, as a way to move management forward, “un-silo” water
• Important discussion yesterday: integrated approaches, including diverse communities.
• Rise-to-the-top topics

• Understand better where there are flexibilities in the system
• Collaborative management, coupling of gw and sw: it’s not just a vertical connection, that we need to be working across state boundaries as well.

Group 5 (Zoom).  Allen Berthoud assoc dir with Texas A&M. (Travis, Freddie, Jesse [?])

• Question of the group [?]: What is the general vision, direction that this group is looking to go?
• For the Congress: Developing roadmaps would be useful, organizing this in the form of a logic model, purpose of congress would be to develop a needs assessment, within certain themes [that I’ll touch on in a minute]. Researchers, extension professionals, practitioners, and agency personnel.
• This would create a document that could be referenced back to in, for example, grant proposals. And then, these proposals would be an outcomes of the Congress.
• Themes for the Congress

• Overarching theme: planning for the future
• Balancing urban/rural needs
• Ag prodn
• Municipal water

• Best practices and innovation in extension education

General observations from the audience

Sam Fernald.

• I think we already have a lot of needs assessment work done. We should post this on our website because that work is done.
• We need to create a matrix that shows diversity of water uses and water users [and I think Sam also said, the agencies and groups already doing work in this space] across the west.

What is the single most important thing you want people “back home” to understand?

• Jackie Tenetti: WWN is a learning community, within extension and across extension. We have heard a lot about silos.  WWN can help us teach and learn from each other.  How water is perceived by policymakers is different than how water is perceived by researchers. The work that extension does in youth development on water issues is important.  In sum: creating a new learning community, focused on water in the west; communicating the challenges and complexity
• Maureen McCarthy: We have heard a lot about challenges and impediments to water management. WWN can be a sharing network where we can:

• Talk across jurisdictional boundaries.
• Exchange information/facilitate getting things done on the ground.

• Steve Buck: This is a group that wants to facilitate communication, define what’s worth pursuing, rather than responding to grant calls. Planning forward rather than being driven by grant calls.  This is how science should be driven.

Work Session 6 – Meeting 2023 Water Congress Expectations
WWN-only discussion.

This session canceled.

Work Session 7 – Pulling it All Together—What Does It Take to Build a Next Steps Vision Paper?
WWN-only discussion.

Brainstorm of Potential Outcomes from the Congress ranked by the participants:

1. Product could be:  Proceeding?  Booklet published by WWN Formal scientific books 9 votes)
2. Papers to support an Audience Proposal (not just paper to publish) (9 votes)
3. Decide on committees and their operation structure (6 votes)
4. Define (well bounded) problem statement that are useful and manageable = attainable proposals (6 votes)
5. Design and Implement (plan) here to use other communication channels (5 votes)
6. Design and implement (plan) incoming communication from stakeholders (4 votes)
7. Report on progress, current status and road map for Western Water (4 votes)
8. Design and implement (plan) WWN communication (1 vote)
9. Assessment of the barriers, why they are there, and what can be done to address the barriers (by category) (no votes)
10. Pre-Congress - get clear on our target audience and invite them (no votes)
11. Pre-Congress decide how decisions will be made for congress outputs (no votes)
12. Pre-Congress prepare proposal for ratifying (not development) at the Congress (no votes)

Post Reno Actions (participants’ recommendations)

• Stay connected in WWN email list to do problem solving, do check ins, and next steps equal resource to leadership
• Create a concrete timeline deadlines and accountability
• How to create free time to work on the Congress and other tasks
• Funding source for baseline support of WWN
• Communicate need and request, for continued support and for our participation to our bosses.
• Institutional support for participation in WWN
• Reliable contact point in our WWN community
• Create WWN Website
• Primary current contact lead is Bret Hess
• Leadership Team Next Steps road map