Capital Region Water Board Meeting
Minutes-January 15, 2004
At Susquehanna River Basin Commission
1721
N. Front Street, Harrisburg
Marshall
Goulding, Executive Director opened the meeting at 9:15 AM.
Because of snow the meeting began late and Betty Conner, Chair was not
present.
Present: Jack
Stabley, Jr,
City of Harrisburg, Bureau of Water; George Lazorchick, SRBC; Walter
Lyon; CRWB
Julie Yu, PA Emergency Management Agency; Kevin Laptos, Gannett
Fleming;
Marshall Goulding, CRWB; Cindy Metzger, CRWB; Thomas McElroy, DCNR PA
Geologic
Surgey; David Jostenski, PA DEP, Kevin Breen, USGS
Minutes were approved as presented.
Phase
II POS & Need for Funding: Marshall Goulding
reported that David Ladd of SRBC is in the process of formulating the
text for
the Board to review regarding the Phase II Study. There was discussion
about
getting the attention of the Appropriations Committee of Congress to
finance
our Study as part of the Lower Susquehanna Basin Regional Water
Committee under
act 220. The request or project description needs to be submitted by
April to
the Energy & Water Subcommittee of Congress. We need the
endorsement of
local elected officials, SRBC, DEP. The Congressional Committee, and
the LSB
Planning Committee. Our scope of work needs to be in line with the Act
220
scope.
Walter
Lyon motioned that in order to implement Phase II, we will be
contacting appropriate congressional committees, DEP, SRBC, Congressmen
and
Senators representing the Lower Susquehanna Basin (LSB), as well as
members of
the State Legislature and the Lower Susquehanna Regional Committee
under Act
220. In seeking the support and
cooperation of the Lower Susquehanna Basin Committee, we would seek
their
comments on the scope of study so that it will meet their requirements
as well.
Dave Jostenski seconded the motion and the motion passed.
Then
Walter asked if this process should be facilitated by a
subcommittee. Everyone agreed that a subcommittee should be appointed
and
Walter accepted the assignment of leading the Committee and Dave
Jostenski
agreed to help as available.
Marshall
gave three website addresses pertaining to State Congressional
Contacts: As soon as the draft is completed and available it will be
put on our
CRWB website.
1. House Appropriations Committee =
http://appropriations.house.gov/ ; look under Energy and Water
subcommittee where
water resource funding is provided.
2. Senate Appropriations Committee = http://www.senate.gov/~appropriations/
; look under Energy and Water subcommittee.
3. Water Resource Development Acts =
http://www.usace.army.mil/inet/functions/cw/cecwp/branches/leg_manage/#wrda
; look under Water Resources Development Acts; then WRDA 1986, Sect. 105( a ) for basic 50-50 cost sharing requirement.
Since 1986,
changes have been made which allows the non-fed cost sharing to be a
combination of cash and in-kind services.
Dave Jostenski reported that there are actions being taken at DEP to communicate better between organizations, divisions and committees so that information may be shared more easily.
The
report that comes from the Regional Water Resources Committee will
be computer based and not produced in volumes. It will be available on
the web
and available by CD. The report and study will be done in phases, from
an
overall aspect and then more detail aspects.
Walter
said that the budget should include a reserve in the water
quality assimilation capacity.
Groundwater
Committee Report-
Kevin Breen
Kevin
handed out the specifics of the scope of work his committee
intends to look at
The
proposed scope
of work for the Groundwater Committee of the CRWB would be threefold:
(1) work with the CRWB membership committee to ensure that groundwater
users in
the Capital Region are informed of the work of the CRWB and the
Groundwater
Committee of the CRWB, made aware of the http://www.crwb.org/
website, and notified of opportunities to attend CRWB meetings and
become
members of the CRWB;
(2)
consider
technical matters relating to groundwater issues and make
recommendations to
the CRWB for technical studies to address data needs or questions
relating to
groundwater resources in the Capital Region; and
(3)
recommend to
the CRWB those groundwater issues or topics suitable for periodic
roundtable
discussion in order to provide an interagency forum for promoting
information
transfer on groundwater issues of interest in the
Capital Region..
The Board agreed with his proposal. The Ground Water Committee will
cooperate
with the Regional Study Committee.
Walter
Lyon motioned to endorse the scope of work as presented by the
Groundwater Committee. Marshall seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Kevin
asked for more members for the Committee. Intend to meet at least
twice a year & as needed as issues come up. Tom McElroy has a
merged database
that includes USGS, DEP, SRBC, etc., with groundwater information that
will
soon be published. Tom McElroy volunteered to serve on the committee
and share
the information on the database.
George
Lazorchick mentioned that the website still lists Walter Lyon’s
address as the office address. Cindy Metzger said she would take care
of
changing it.
Bylaws
Committee- Dave
Jostenski reported that the Bylaws Committee
is working on suggesting several changes to the bylaws (attached).
Currently
the Committee only has Marshall Goulding and Dave. They are asking for
more
volunteers to be on this committee.
Office
Update- Marshall Goulding
reported that there is now a
personal services contract with Jen McDonel for accounting and Cindy
Metzger
for secretarial work, which was previously agreed upon. Office services
have
been arranged using the Capital RC&D office with a Memorandum of
Understanding. The office address will remain Marshall Goulding’s
address and
the address to reach Cindy Metzger by email is cmetzger@crwb.org.
Insurance
Update- Roger Karsnitz
and Louise Knight were unable to
attend because of snow. Marshall reported that the Western PA
Conservancy has a
grant to help non-profits with legal issues. There was some discussion
about
whether it would be necessary for our type of Board to have insurance.
We will
revisit this again next meeting.
Basin
Conditions- George
Lazorchick reported that the hydrological
conditions report is available on the SRBC website and it updated
daily.
December 2003 continued above normal precipitation. Summary of 2003,
reported
that depending on where you were in the basin was either the 2nd
wettest year on record at Harrisburg International Airport or the
wettest year
on record for Baltimore. January 2004 is already reporting above
normal. Snow
pack virtually non existent but since the ground has not been frozen,
the rain
has not been running off, but saturating the ground.
Old
Business- George
Lazorchick reported that at our last meeting
it was indicated that a chart was missing from the report on the CD.
The Corps
has corrected that and the new CD’s include that chart. CD’s are
available from
the SRBC. We will make sure that our web page indicates availability
and who to
contact.
Marshall
Goulding asked about the Swatara study not listing the existing
reservoirs in the Swatara Creek Watershed. George Lazorchick said he
didn’t
believe that the original scope of the Study included that. This would
be hard
information to gather because all the databases are incomplete. He said
that
SRBC downloaded several databases and still had difficulty attaining
all the
sites. SRBC is working on a database that identifies bodies of water
over ten
acres. Marshall will check with Frank Skidmore to see if the Swatara
Study
actually included this information and it was omitted from the final
report
accidentally.
New
Business- Walter made
a motion to have a resolution to convey
to the LSRB Water Resources Committee that the Capital Region Water
Board
intends to fully cooperate with them in connection with water
management
planning in the CRWB’s part of the basin. At an appropriate time the
Board
would be happy to brief them on the work we hope to do. George
Lazorchick
seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Dave
Jostenski reported that the LSRB Regional Water Resources
Committee’s next meetings are February 2, and then April 5. Dave is
going to
ask that CRWB be put on the agenda for the April 5 meeting.
Cindy
Metzger suggested that the Board think of a snow policy.
Next
meeting- March 4 at 10
AM at the SRBC. Meeting rescheduled
to March 1, 10 AM at SRBC
Meeting
adjourned at 10:50 AM
Action Items:
1.Contact
appropriate Congressional Committees, DEP, SRBC, Congresman &
Senators,
State Legislature, LSR Committee under Act 220 for comments on the
scope of our
study. Walter Lyon Committee
2.
Update
Website to reflect change in office. Also,
check our website to make sure that it
lists who to contact for a copy of Swatara Study CD. (SRBC) Cindy
3.
Marshall
check with Frank Skidmore about whether the
existing reservoirs were supposed to have been listed in the Swatara
Study
Report.