Potomac Basin Comprehensive Water Resources Plan

[amabdallah]

Adel will contact Renee Bourassa at the Potomac Basin to ask about the availability of water withdrawal data.

https://www.potomacriver.org/focus-areas/water-resources-and-drinking-water/water-resources/planning/basin-wide-comprehensive-plan/

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Reported Water Use in the Potomac River Basin
https://westernstateswater.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/NatWaterUseDataConf_NummerFantozz_Updated.pdf

Summary
Stephanie Nummer-Fantozz, Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB), participated virtually and reported on their water use and withdrawals database. She gave a quick history and covered key points related to the Potomac River Basin. The Commission was created in 1940 to manage water resources in the Basin, which is a mix of tidal lands and water from the Atlantic Ocean (roughly 8,045 km2 ) and non-tidal lands (29,950 km2 ). The predominant land use is forests, followed by irrigation. Stephanie outlined the challenges of managing five different jurisdictions and datasets.

Stephanie noted two 2015 studies were used for early versions of the database: (1) Ducnuigeen et al. 2015 Geospatial Analytics Tool for Estimating Watershed-Scale Consumptive Use -- Potomac River Basin study; and (2) Ahmed et al. 2015 Washington Metropolitan Area (WMA) Supply Study – Demand and Resource Availability Forecast for the Year 2040

In 2018, ICPRB released the Potomac River Basin Comprehensive Water Resources Plan, which identified four challenge areas with 14 recommended actions. The goal was to ensure sustainable water use and supplies basin-wide, addressing water uses, projected demands, and consumptive demands. This led to the more modern database, which includes 2015-2019, 2020, and quality control measures to ensure all available data.