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Appendix E - Selected Water Resources Division Policy Memorandums

1. Transmittal letter for the survey
   
2. Blank Numerical Survey
3. Summary of Numerical Survey results
4. Written comments provided with the Numerical Survey

March 30, 1999

In Reply Refer To:
Mail Stop 409

Dear U.S Geological Survey Water Resources Division Cooperator:

As a participant in the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Federal-State Cooperative Water Program (Co-op Program), we are asking that you provide feedback about the program by completing the enclosed survey. The survey was developed by and will serve as input to an external Task Force that is reviewing the Co-op Program.

The Task Force to Review the Federal-State Cooperative Water Program (Task Force) was established in August 1998 by the USGS’s Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) to conduct an external review of the Co-op Program. The Task Force was commissioned to review four critical aspects of the Co-op Program and report their results and recommendations to ACWI by July 1999. The areas for review are:

1. the Co-op Program’s mission,
   
2. the way in which priorities are established for the Co-op Program,
   
3. the way in which work is conducted under the Co-op Program, and
   
4. the products resulting from the Co-op Program.

Copies of the Task Force’s Terms of Reference (the charter given to the Task Force by ACWI) and the Task Force membership are enclosed for your information.

The Task Force is in the process of meeting with different Co-op Program stakeholders and gathering input and opinions from a wide range of organizations, like yours, which participate in or use information generated by the Co-op Program. This survey is intended to help the Task Force understand the importance of the Cooperative Program to your organization, your level of satisfaction with the program as it currently exists, and your ideas for improving the program.

Please take a few minutes to help us by filling out the enclosed survey. Your responses will be compiled anonymously and used to help the Task Force reach conclusions and make recommendations to ACWI on the Co-op Program. Please respond by April 16, 1999, if possible. If you are unable to respond by the due date, survey responses will still be accepted up through June 1999. A return envelope also is enclosed for your use.

The input of organizations, such as yours, is critical to the Task Force’s success. Thank you for participating.

Cooperators

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact either of us. If you would like to offer additional comments about the Co-op Program feel free to call us or to contact any of the Task Force members. If you would like to speak with someone in the USGS about the Task Force and/or the survey, you can contact Steve Blanchard, Assistant to the Chief Hydrologist (Executive Secretary to the Task Force) at 703-648-5629.

Sincerely yours,

Larr Rowe, Task Force Chair	Mr. Frederick G. Lissner, Task Force Vice-Chair
Western Water Company 109 East 49th Street. San Bernardino, CA 92404 619-535-9282 lwrowe@discover.net	Manager, Ground Water and Hydrology Section Oregon Department of Water Resources 158 12th Street, N.E. Salem, OR 97310 503-378-8455, ext. 204 frederick.g.lissner@wrd.State.or.us

4 Enclosures

PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT STATEMENT: A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Public burden for collection of this information is estimated to average 15 minutes per response. Comments regarding this collection of information should be directed to: Desk Officer for the Interior Department, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503; and the Bureau Clearance Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, 807 National Center, Reston, Virginia 20192

OMB NO. 1028-0071; Expiration Date 2-28-2002

Blank Numerical Survey

Section 1: Introduction

This questionnaire relates to your overall experience with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Division (WRD) Federal-State Cooperative Water Program (Coop Program). For each Statement, please mark the appropriate box. If a Statement does not apply to your experience, please check the not applicable (NA) box.

The United States Geological Survey, through the Cooperative Water Program…

	Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree	NA
Provides products and services that are necessary for my organization to accomplish its mission.
Responds to the changing needs of my organization.
Keeps me informed of the types of products it offers.
Keeps me informed of the types of service it offers.
Coordinates with my organization on programs and activities that may be of interest to us.
Keeps my organization informed of programmatic and fiscal changes that affect us.
Responds to my requests in a timely manner.
Responds well to administrative needs (billing, agreements, etc).
Compared with other providers, the quality of products and services is worth the cost.
Provider of unbiased scientific and technical support and products.

Section 2: Proposals

Proposals from the Cooperative Water Program…

	Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree	NA
Address the needs of my organization.
Reflect work that is realistic in scope.
Are of appropriate content and length.
Are clear and understandable.
Present realistic work schedules.
Reflect reasonable pricing.

Section 3: Data Collection

E=Excellent; AA=Above Average; A= Average; BA= Below Average; P=Poor; NA= Not Applicable

Ground Water

Surface Water

Water Quality

Water Use

E

A A

A

B A

P

N A

E

A A

A

B A

P

N A

E

A A

A

B A

P

N A

E

A A

A

B A

P

N A

Adequacy of geographic coverage.

Length of data-collection period

Frequency of data collection

Field sampling techniques

Use of the appropriate instrumentation

Reliability of instrumentation

Precision of instrumentation

Instrumentation keeps pace with available technology

Innovative use and application of instrumentation

Overall dat collection performance

Section 4: Data Analysis and Interpretation

E=Excellent; AA=Above Average; A= Average; BA= Below Average; P=Poor; NA= Not Applicable

Ground Water

Surface Water

Water Quality

Water Use

E

A A

A

B A

P

N A

E

A A

A

B A

P

N A

E

A A

A

B A

P

N A

E

A A

A

B A

P

N A

Technical approach selected

Quality of the execution of the analysis and interpretation

Timeliness

Consideration of alternative interpretations

Overall data analysis and interpretation performance

Section 5: Products

Requests for data, reports, and information…

Reports (e.g., Water-Resources Investigations Reports, Open-File Reports, Data Reports)…

I have sufficient access to…

Section 6: Summary

Section 7: Cooperator Information

The following questions will be used only to identify similarities and differences among groups of customers. Thank you for your cooperation in providing the following data.

Please indicate your affiliation: (please circle)

Other (specify)_________________________________

Please indicate your area(s) of specific interest: (please circle any that apply)

Please indicate your organization’s involvement with the USGS: (please circle one for each column.)

(Optional Information): Your Name: __________________________________

Your Organization: ________________________________________________

Section 8: Comments

Are there any other comments that you would like to make regarding the Federal-State Cooperative Water Program, or any clarifications of your responses? (Attach additional sheets as needed.)

Summary of Numerical Survey Results

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION

1. Provides products and services that are necessary for my organization to accomplish its mission.
   
2. Responds to the changing needs of my organization.
   
3. Keeps me informed of the types of products it offers.
   
4. Keeps me informed of the types of service it offers
   
5. Coordinates with my organization on programs and activities that may affect us.
   
6. Keeps my organization informed of programmatic and fiscal changes that affect us.
   
7. Responds to my requests in a timely manner.
   
8. Responds well to administrative needs (billing, agreements, etc.).
   
9. Compared with other providers, the quality of products and services is worth the cost.
   
10. Providers of unbiased scientific and technical support and products.
    

Question

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

RAW:	Strongly Agree	76	25	17	16	28	23	52	39	42	77
	Agree	73	90	80	82	74	80	85	89	70	75
	Neutral	12	32	43	45	47	41	18	26	41	10
	Disagree	6	8	20	19	15	18	4	4	8	4
	Strongly Disagree	0	1	2	1	1	2	0	2	2	0
	Not Applicable	3	14	8	7	5	6	11	10	7	4
PCT:	Strongly Agree	44.7	14.7	10.0	9.4	16.5	13.5	30.6	22.9	24.7	45.3
	Agree	42.9	52.9	47.1	48.2	43.5	47.1	50.0	52.4	41.2	44.1
	Neutral	7.1	18.8	25.3	26.5	27.6	24.1	10.6	15.3	24.1	5.9
	Disagree	3.5	4.7	11.8	11.2	8.8	10.6	2.4	2.4	4.7	2.4
	Strongly Disagree	0.0	0.6	1.2	0.6	0.6	1.2	0.0	1.2	1.2	0.0
	Not Applicable	1.8	8.2	4.7	4.1	2.9	3.5	6.5	5.9	4.1	2.4

SECTION 2: PROPOSALS

1. Address the needs of my organization.
   
2. Reflect work that is realistic in scope.
   
3. Are of appropriate content and length.
   
4. Are clear and understandable.
   
5. Present realistic work schedules.
   
6. Reflect reasonable pricing.
   

Question

1

2

3

4

5

6

RAW:	Strongly Agree	37	30	25	29	22	23
	Agree	87	92	90	91	83	55
	Neutral	19	22	26	25	28	48
	Disagree	5	3	4	2	10	16
	Strongly Disagree	0	0	0	0	1	4
	Not Applicable	22	23	25	23	26	24
PCT:	Strongly Agree	21.8	17.6	14.7	17.1	12.9	13.5
	Agree	51.2	54.1	52.9	53.5	48.8	32.4
	Neutral	11.2	12.9	15.3	14.7	16.5	28.2
	Disagree	2.9	1.8	2.4	1.2	5.9	9.4
	Strongly Disagree	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	2.4
	Not Applicable	12.9	13.5	14.7	13.5	15.3	14.1

SECTION 3: DATA COLLECTION

1. Adequacy of geographic coverage
   
2. Length of data-collection period
   
3. Frequency of data collection
   
4. Field sampling techniques
   
5. Use of the appropriate instrumentation
   
6. Reliability of instrumentation
   
7. Precision of instrumentation
   
8. Instrumentation keeps pace with available technology
   
9. Innovative use and application of instrumentation
   
10. Overall data collection performance

Ground Water

Question

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

RAW:	Strongly Agree	11	11	10	26	27	20	22	22	14	18
	Agree	26	35	28	28	27	34	33	25	29	35
	Neutral	39	31	40	16	16	15	15	23	24	25
	Disagree	6	2	2	3	3	3	2	4	2	2
	Strongly Disagree	2	2	2	1	0	0	0	1	1	1
	Not Applicable	86	89	88	96	97	98	98	95	100	89
PCT:	Strongly Agree	6.5	6.5	5.9	15.3	15.9	11.8	12.9	12.9	8.2	10.6
	Agree	15.3	20.6	16.5	16.5	15.9	20.0	19.4	14.7	17.1	20.6
	Neutral	22.9	18.2	23.5	9.4	9.4	8.8	8.8	13.5	14.1	14.7
	Disagree	3.5	1.2	1.2	1.8	1.8	1.8	1.2	2.4	1.2	1.2
	Strongly Disagree	1.2	1.2	1.2	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	0.6	0.6
	Not Applicable	50.6	52.4	51.8	56.5	57.1	57.6	57.6	55.9	58.8	52.4

Surface Water

Question

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

RAW:	Strongly Agree	24	33	30	45	42	32	39	34	29	36
	Agree	48	64	47	43	49	51	48	46	39	64
	Neutral	43	29	49	28	34	37	31	42	47	33
	Disagree	14	5	6	2	1	2	3	5	5	1
	Strongly Disagree	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	Not Applicable	41	39	38	52	44	48	49	43	49	36
PCT:	Strongly Agree	14.1	19.4	17.6	26.5	24.7	18.8	22.9	20.0	17.1	21.2
	Agree	28.2	37.6	27.6	25.3	28.8	30.0	28.2	27.1	22.9	37.6
	Neutral	25.3	17.1	28.8	16.5	20.0	21.8	18.2	24.7	27.6	19.4
	Disagree	8.2	2.9	3.5	1.2	0.6	1.2	1.8	2.9	2.9	0.6
	Strongly Disagree	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	0.0
	Not Applicable	24.1	22.9	22.4	30.6	25.9	28.2	28.8	25.3	28.8	21.2

Water Quality

Question

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

RAW:	Strongly Agree	12	14	12	27	20	16	19	18	14	17
	Agree	21	27	21	31	32	33	32	27	27	37
	Neutral	30	28	35	15	16	16	15	24	23	18
	Disagree	17	9	12	4	3	4	3	4	5	6
	Strongly Disagree	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Not Applicable	87	91	90	93	99	101	101	97	101	92
PCT:	Strongly Agree	7.1	8.2	7.1	15.9	11.8	9.4	11.2	10.6	8.2	10.0
	Agree	12.4	15.9	12.4	18.2	18.8	19.4	18.8	15.9	15.9	21.8
	Neutral	17.6	16.5	20.6	8.8	9.4	9.4	8.8	14.1	13.5	10.6
	Disagree	10.0	5.3	7.1	2.4	1.8	2.4	1.8	2.4	2.9	3.5
	Strongly Disagree	1.8	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	Not Applicable	51.2	53.5	52.9	54.7	58.2	59.4	59.4	57.1	59.4	54.1

Water Use

Question

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

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RAW:	Strongly Agree