Arid Regions Policy Committee
Agenda
Tuesday June 12, 2012
9:00 – 10:00 AM Pacific Time
Dial-in number: 1-218-936-4700, Access Code: 226215 (9 am PDT, 11 am CDT, 12 pm EDT)
[Notes by Tom Walker]
1. Introductions and Welcome – roll call by state to identify new participants.
 Bob Davies hosting the call – call started at 9:05 AM PDT.
2. Status of planning for next Arid Regions conference. The date for the conference has been
set to start on October 15, 2013. (Mark Forrest)
 Mark Forrest not on call today, so detailed discussion deferred until the next call. The
conference theme has been decided; the committee is putting together a list of topics
for the Call for Abstracts. Those wanting to help on the organizing committee should
contact Mark Forrest.
3. Policy Committee Meeting de-brief by Bob and Jeanne.
 Report by Bob Davies. The Arid Regions Policy Committee meeting took place on
Monday during the annual ASFPM Meeting in San Antonio. Approximately 19
members attended. Minutes of the meeting will be prepared & posted on the Arid
Regions Committee page on the ASFPM website. The results of the survey of the
membership were presented & discussed. Among the issues discussed were the
alluvial fan discussion paper & the riverine erosion hazard white paper, both of
which have been projects of subcommittees of the Arid Regions Committee for the
past several months. One focus of discussion during the meeting was the question
“What is it that makes arid regions special & unique? What are the differences
between arid regions & other areas? In what ways are levee issues different in arid
regions?
 Tim Murphy, Mitigation & Technical Programs Branch Manager at the Flood Control
District of Maricopa County, did a presentation to the committee on problems with
development on sloping alluvial fans. Under certain conditions, required wall heights
can be extremely high, perhaps 10-12 ft high or higher, when based on a water
surface elevation from an upstream location.
4. Status of the Alluvial Fan Discussion Paper Working Group – Ann Moynahan
 Ann Moynihan not on call today, so discussion deferred until the next call.
5. Results of survey of committee members about future action items for the committee to
include in the work plan – Bob & Jeanne
 Report by Bob Davies. There were 117 responses to the survey, out of 509 surveys
sent out to members. Jeanne Ruefer & Bob are recommending that the three toprated results from the survey be made priorities for focus by the committee for the
next year. The three top-rated results are (drum-roll, please):
1. Review NFIP regulations & make recommendations for action to modify
them to make them applicable to & appropriate for arid regions.
2. Promote research on methods for hydrologic & hydraulic analyses for arid
regions.
3. Promote research for evaluation of riverine erosion hazards, carrying
forward the preliminary work done recently by the subcommittee that
produced the Riverine Erosion Hazard white paper.
6. Identify Action Items
 Bob Davies will post summary of results of survey on the Arid Regions web page.
 Bob Davies will post minutes of Arid Regions Policy Committee at the national
ASFPM Meeting on the Arid Regions web page.
 Tom Walker will post minutes of today’s conference call on the Arid Regions web
page.
8. Next meeting date July 3, 2012, unless group decides to push back a week.
 By consensus, the committee decided to postpone the July conference call from
Tuesday July 3, 2012 to Tuesday, July 10, 2012, at 9:00 AM PDT.
The call finished at 9:55 AM PDT.