How the Shenandoah Valley Science Consortium HappenedFrom the Perspective of

Richard Wertz, Executive Director of the Foundation for Earth Science

October 23, 2007

ME

America RiversMost Endangered River Sections

2006

• Pajaro River • Upper Yellowstone River• Willamette River• Salmon Trout River• Shenandoah River

WertzCounty

SupervisorStaelin

What Are You Doing About My River?

Shenandoah River Water Resources Problems

Water Availability• Average Annual Rainfall Equal to San Antonio, Texas• Drought Prone Area• Rapid Population Growth in Northern Valley

Water Quality• Fish Kills• High Mercury Content from WWII-Vintage Waste Sites• Agricultural Waste Run Off

Complicating Factors• Karst Geographic Features• River Is the Reservoir/Storage Facility• Impact of Air Pollution from Ohio River Coal Burning Electricity

Generating Plants• Multi-County, Interstate

Regional Resources Policy Committee

Elected Officials from 9 Virginia & West Virginia

Counties and Cities Represented

Created a Strategic Plan for Regional Policy to Provide Long-Term Protection of the and Plan for Using Ground and Surface Water

STRATEGIC PLAN

Strategy #1 – Meet Virginia requirements for water supply planning.Strategy #2 – Establish a regional drought awareness and response

system Strategy #3 – Cooperatively build local government tools to address mutual water issues.

Strategy #5 – Establish partnerships among localities and stakeholders.Strategy #6 – Make existing laws more effective through thru coordinated

enforcement.Strategy #7 – Develop a better picture of short and long-term water quality

trends.Strategy #8 – Develop an education and outreach plan.Strategy #9 – Engage more local and regional elected officials and

decision-makers in the process.Strategy #10 – Further develop “greenways/green space” as a regional

water quality tool.Strategy #11 – Develop a marketing strategy that creates economic

incentives for agriculture, rural businesses, industry, and local communities to practice water stewardship.

Bedrock of the Strategic Plan

Strategy #4 – Develop a “Shenandoah Valley Water Resources Science Plan” to provide decision-makers with the ability to better see how policy actions affect future watershed conditions.

Science Resources Available

REGIONAL SCIENCE

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

GREATVALLEY WATERSCIENCE FORUM

SHENAIR LOCALGOVERNMENT

COMMITTEE

REGIONALWATER RESOURCES

POLICYCOMMITTEE

SCIENCE QUESTIONS POSED TO USGS

• 1. What is the inter-relationship of flow between groundwater and stream flow in the Shenandoah Valley?

• 2. What are the current levels of groundwater pollution in the Valley (How much of the problem is caused by natural causes, septic failures, farming, urban runoff, etc. and how can these be remediated and prevented?)

• 3. Can groundwater budgets be defined by local area? • 4. If #3 is not possible, can underground “watersheds” be defined for

karst areas?• 5. What is the potential for deepwater reservoirs as either a source

of water or as a storage AREA?• 6. What is the interrelationship between air quality and water

quality? (The NOAA funded, ShenAir project should provide useful data but the data will need to be studied and interpreted.)

• 7. What is the interrelationship between soil quality and water retention and water quality?

What Can the Foundation Do About Our River?

Wertz Staelin

So, Who’s On the Hook?

FOUNDATIONFOR EARTH

SCIENCE

UNITED STATESGEOLOGICAL

SURVEY

Foundation for Earth Science

Operations Arm of the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP Federation)• http://www.esipfed.org

ESIP Federation Includes More than 100 Partner Organizations• NASA, NOAA and USGS Data Centers• Government Research Labs• Universities• Technology Developers• Education, Nonprofit and Commercial Resource Providers

NASA, NOAA and EPA Are Strategic Partners More Than 400 Individuals Involved

ESIP Federation Contributions to the Shenandoah River Science Consortium

Satellite and In Situ Data (including models, visualizations and decision support tools)

Data Fusion Technology Technical Assistance for Using and Interpreting

Data

**ESIP Contributions are supplemental and complementary to USGS Field Science Work.

So, How to Proceed?

Regional Water Resources Policy Committee, USGS and Others Formed Shenandoah River Science Consortium.

Consortium Planned Shenandoah River Natural Systems Symposium• “Taking Care of the Water”• October 15-16, 2007 in Winchester.

Symposium Objective: Aggregate Science Input and Resource to Develop A Water Resrouces Science Plan.

Building the Consortium

US Geological Survey Involve USGS Science Centers Involve USGS Regions Involve USGS Headquarters Provide Symposium Funding

Water Policy Committee Involve VA and WV State Agencies Involve Local Elected and Appointed

Officials Involved Local Citizen Action

Committees

Foundation for Earth Science Involve NASA, EPA and NOAA Involve ESIP Water Management

Cluster Members Involved Area Universities Involve Private Sector

ShenAIR Committee Involve Air Quality Interests Involve More Universities Involve More State and Local Officials Fund Science Writer

Expected Results From Symposium

• Broad-Based Water Resource Community of Practice Formed.

• Inter-Disciplinary Science Plan Will Be Developed.

• USGS Will Fund Additional Research.

• Other Federal Agencies Will Use the Valley as a Testbed.

• ESIP Federation Demonstrated the Value of Inter-Disciplinary/Inter-Agency Collaboration.

Collaboration Tools

Brand Niemann Created Wiki for Symposium:• http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ShenandoahValleyScience

Conference Calls and Wiki Enabled Symposium Planning. Wiki Produced Almost Instant Record that was Used in Breakouts.

Webcasting Allowed Remote Participation; Video-Casting almost Allowed Governor to Participate.

Wiki will be used for Follow-Up Science Inventory and to Draft Science Plan.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• As Tammany Hall Boss George Washington Plunkett, Perhaps the Greatest Collaborationist of any Generation Once Said,

“I SEEN MY OPPORTUNITIES AND I TOOK ‘EM”.

• The Shenandoah Valley Science Collaborative Resulted when the Unexpected Alignment of Need, Common Interest and Mutual Benefit Created an Opportunity.

• We need to be Positioned to Recognize Opportunities like this, Take Advantage of Them and have the Communications Tools Required In Place to Support Creative Collaborative Initiatives.

Questions

Richard WertzFoundation for Earth Science540-837-9613dick.wertz@earthsciencefoundation.org