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s c s r r a s ' By Amanda Goebel, Senior Environmental Specialist, Washington County, and Camilla Correll, Emmons & Olivier Resources Over the last five years, Washington County has made a strong commitment to understanding and protecting its groundwater resources. It has allocated a significant amount of resources to planning, data collection, and water governance. In addition, the County has made a commitment to bringing together Water Management Organiza- tions and encourages the sharing of information about a resource that does not conform to existing political boundaries. Accomplishments In 1999 the County published the Water Governance Stu This study was performed to identify and evaluate the best governance structure for water management from a countywide perspective. One of the key recommendations of this study was the establishment of a county-wide Water Consor- tium whose objective has been to work on surface and groundwater issues that cross local water unit boundaries. Members of the Consortium include local water units, cities and townships, state and lo- cal natural resource agencies, and County Depart- ments. Currently the Water Consortium is in the process of developing groundwater rules that can be in- corporatedinto existing and newly developed wa- tershed district rules. These rules include: A. GroundwaterAppropriations B. Volume Control C. Groundwater Quality D. Groundwater Dependent Natural Re- sources At this point, the Water Consortium is reviewing the draft language for the proposed rules and de- fmingthe next steps in the formalization of these standards. On a parallel track, the County adopted the Wash- ington County Groundwater Plan in December 2003. This Plan identifies County-wide goals and corresponding implementation strategies that the various stakeholders (the County, Water Manage- ment Organizations, Local Units of Government, state agencies) should perform over the next ten years. Over the last few years the Water Consortium has been responsible far accomplishing a number of tasks that are paving the way for efficient and effective water management. In the spring of 2003, it pub- lished a Co~arative Review of Watershed Dis- trict Rules and Recommendations for Standard- ization. This report provides a comparison of the rules and standards adopted by all of the watershed districts and water management organizations located in Washington County. In 2004 the County completed the North Wash- ington Groundwater/Surface Water Interaction Study and initiated its sister-study, the South Wash- ington Groundwater /Surface Water Interaction Study which will be completed in 2005. Both. of these studies provide local decision makers with planning level information on groundwater re- sources in their area and data to support manage- ment strategies and policies protecting lakes, wet- lands, streams, and water supplies dependent on groundwater resources. The presentation at the annual MAWD Meeting will discuss all of these accomplishments in more detail.. The work that Washington County and the Water Con- sortium have performed to date is setting a precedent for watershed management: it's acknowledging the link between surface water and groundwater and provid- ing the resources and mechanisms for its protection.. Learn more at the Annalltfeetig Friday, Ileceber 3 - 2: DD pm - SeminarA