February 6, 2002, 4:00 PM

Minutes Index

Location: Executive Conference Room, Science and Technology Park

Members Present: John Brown, Bob Wesseley, Bob Prendergast, Lucy Moore, Vince Tidwell, Howard Passell, Celina Jones, Reid Bandeen, Chuck Easterling, Mike Kernodle, Elaine Hebard, Matt Holmes

I ­ Introductions and CMT Overview

• Team member introductions
• Sandia National Laboratories introductions ­ SNL will provide the model codification during the CMT process (Howard and Vince)
• Utton Transboundary Resources Center introductions ­ Utton Center (UNM School of Law) will be providing meeting facilitation and process administration (Lucy and Celina)

Link to the Water Assembly

• Water Assembly provides public interest and group guidance
• Water Assembly serves as a link between development of the model and Water Assembly committees and teams
• Water Assembly will sponsor public presentations of the model

Context of the CMT role within the large regional water planning process:

• Assist in the water planning process by providing a tool for analyzing water management options
• Evaluate a set of alternative actions
• Aid in the effort to develop a budget for diversion and use of water
• Identify actions that result in the optimal budget → scenarios
• Present the scenarios to the Water Assembly and general public for comment and feedback

II ­ Model Demonstration (Howard and Vince)

Features:

• Modularity (the model is composed of discrete submodels that simulate particular basis processes, such as evapotranspiration)
• User friendly
• Transient capabilities ­ able to simulate the cumulative impacts of particular development or management actions into the future

III ­ Role of the CMT

A ­ Primary Goals of the CMT

• Provide a credible tool for quantifying the consequences of alternative water management and administrative strategies
• Develop an interactive tool for education and participation in water resource issues, including water administration and the water management decision process
• Provide link between the modeling effort and the constituency and working groups in the WA.

B - CMT will work with members of various constituency and working groups to prioritize management actions, and identify the actions or processes amenable to modeling

• Need for diverse input ­ fully cooperative process to integrate a wide range of views, needs, and purposes
• Model development process provides a forum for diverse input concerning water management approaches and objective
• Examples of possible actions:
  • Economic impacts (Vince mentioned that an economics module will be developed this summer at SNL)
  • Agricultural production
  • Climate control
  • Impacts of meeting endangered species habitat requirements
  • Water quality

C ­ CMT will Develop Modules to simulate these processes or actions. This requires:

• Data collection, drawing upon community expertise
• Research and development of algorithms that accurately represent the action or process
• Linking a module to the other modules to accurately simulate interrelated effects

D ­ Validation / Peer Review of the Mode

lE ­ Discussion

Group discussion focused on the work involved in section C above. There are in-house resources that may provide much of the expertise needed to develop the modules. The committees will be encouraged to contribute local expertise for certain actions. In addition, technical assistance may be available from the A-Team and the Specialists Group, although further clarification of the potential roles of these groups is necessary. The CMT will decide on the most efficient and productive way to utilize available resources.

The difficulty in agreeing on numerical values for certain processes was also mentioned. This led to a brief discussion of using the model as a tool for evaluating many different values, and the effects of looking at a range of values, and thereby eliminating some conflict. It was noted that peer review is an essential component of the process, and will be incorporated into the ongoing development of the model. Peer reviewers could include Papadopulos staff, ISC modelers, developers of other models in the region, as well as experts offered by the various committees and teams of the water assembly.

IV ­ Final Product

• Provide a model that is both specific to the needs of the MRG, but is generally applicable to other situations
• User friendly, easily accessible (WEB) software to allow for wide dissemination

V ­ CMT MembershipThe group agreed to invite the following persons to participate in the group, and Bob W. will issue an invitation:

• Bob Grant, or his representative, ISC
• MRGCOG Representative
• Debbie Hathaway, or her representative, Papadopulos & Assoc. Denver

VI ­ CMT LeadershipThe group agreed to proceed with meetings conducted by a facilitator, rather than to have a chair.

VII ­ Decision Making

The group agreed to make decisions by consensus.

VIII ­ Future Schedule

• Next Meeting ­ Wednesday, February 20, will be from 12:00 ­ 4:00 in the Science & Technology Park Executive Conference Room for model training. Lunch will be provided.
• Regular Schedule: 2 hour meetings on the first and third Wednesdays of every month, 1:00 - 3:00 -PM. Location to be determined.