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Institutional Integration and Collaboration
Pages 48-65

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From page 48...
... This chapter discusses the potential for such collaborative efforts. EXTERNAL COLLABORATION Collaborative studies with other agencies are not new to the USGS Water Resources Division (WRD)
From page 49...
... water managers with operational day-to-day responsibilities for public water supply, protection and distribution, wastewater treatment, reservoir operation, power generation, and flood forecasting, (2) environmental and natural resources managers, regulators, and planners in tribal, local, state, and federal governments and nongovernmental organizations, including burgeoning numbers of watershed groups, and (3)
From page 50...
... The Middle Rio Grande basin study (Box 3.1) , viewed by many as a prototype for future Ground-Water Resources Program (GWRP)
From page 51...
... Institutional Integration and Collaboration 51
From page 52...
... Bartolino, USGS.) The New Mexico WRD district office has hosted a number of formal and informal gatherings of workers and stakeholders, including three workshops featuring papers and discussions.
From page 53...
... Institutional Integration and Collaboration 53
From page 54...
... 54 Investigating Groundwater Systems
From page 55...
... . Collaboration in providing the science and databases to manage regional groundwater resources requires communication between WRD and stakeholders as well as vigorous partnerships on projects of mutual interest.
From page 56...
... Although the agency has an established mission, flexibility exists. It is helpful to view WRD employees as public managers who are expected to create public value (Moore, 1995~; WRD's activities ultimately are authorized and sustained by citizen perception that the agency is creating something of value.
From page 57...
... This does not necessarily recommend office proximity, but it does recognize that collaboration is a practical matter of individuals meeting face-to-face. WRD may if necessary take the initiative and follow the Middle Rio Grande basin model, hosting meetings and workshops, publishing abstracts or short papers prepared among partners, and maintaining Web sites for large collaborative projects.
From page 58...
... The National Research Program and the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program focus on important but rather specific inquiries that usually lack a regional scope. The HydroTogic Networks Program is largely confined to surface water flow measurement.
From page 59...
... Cooperative work can lead to projects in which there is more true collaboration, as other organizations assume the roles of partners in performing the work. The Middle Rio Grande basin study in New Mexico, which evolved from a Coop Program mod
From page 60...
... to the table. One test of the success with which the strategic objectives of regional and national synthesis have been successfully integrated into local cooperative studies may be the extent to which individual study managers have identified the feedback and relationship between the critical issues and drivers in their specific study areas, and the extent to which they have identified regional and national issues
From page 61...
... The American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) formally protested several USGS WRD projects in northern Arizona because the AIPG felt that the WRD had "marketed their services to and obtained projects from local entities, at the expense of private sector companies" (Garcia, 1998, p.
From page 62...
... Just as the NAWQA Program was initiated and refined through pilot studies in seven different regions (e.g., the Carson River basin, the Delmarva Peninsula, and the Central Oklahoma Aquifer) , the USGS's current regional assessments in the Middle Rio Grande basin can be viewed as a prototype for the development of consistent protocols for regional and national assessment.
From page 63...
... Toxic Substances Hydrology Program Another example of interaction is the Toxic Substances Hydrology (Toxics) Program, a program formally initiated in 1983 but existing previously as the Subsurface Waste Injection Program.
From page 64...
... One of the studies involves the fate and transport of chemicals in a contaminant plume from a sewage treatment facility of the now-decommissioned Otis Air Force Base. WRD personnel performed initial work, but later the WRD invited university researchers to conduct their own experiments (e.g., Krueger et al., 1998~.
From page 65...
... Existing models for information management, such as those used in the NAWQA and Middle Rio Grande basin programs, should be examined as potential prototypes for regional assessments. Technical advisory committees—consisting of water managers and planners, university researchers, representatives from local, state, and federal agencies and from citizens' and environmental groups, and other stakeholders should be established for regional study units.


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