Water Information

[Toni M. Johnson <tjohnson@usgs.gov>]

Hello fellow participants. My name is Toni Johnson. I work at another Federal agency, the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, VA, part of the Department of the Interior (DOI). I currently manage an Advisory Committee on Water Information, which advises Federal water-related agencies, including both the EPA and the DOI, along with several others*, about ways to improve cooperation and collaboration among Federal water agencies, especially in order to improve public access and understanding of water data and information. The membership of the Advisory Committee on Water Information includes not only Federal agencies, but state and local governments, universities, volunteer monitoring organizations, non-govermental/non-profit and private sector organizations. The Advisory Committee also has several subcommittees, who work on improving specific aspects of water information exchange, including monitoring for water quality, and the use of spatial and geographically-based data to improve the delineation of watershed boundaries. I am interested in observing this dialog, so that our Advisory Committee may also benefit from the advice that many non-Federal participants will pass along to the EPA, and also as a student of public administration and public policy. It is great to see so many of your from various organizations around the country participating. I look forward to the continued dialog.