In Reply Refer To:
Mail Stop 405
                                MEMORANDUM

                                                September 9, 1999

To:          All Water Resources Division Employees

From:        Catherine L. Hill /signed/
             Associate Chief Hydrologist for Program Operations

Subject:     Instrumentation Committee's 5-Year Plan (1999-2003)

Attached for your information is a copy of the Instrumentation Committee's (ICOM)
5-Year Plan, Fiscal Years 1999-2003.  We encourage all Water Resources Division
(WRD) personnel with an interest in hydrologic field instruments or equipment to
read the plan. The plan, as well as information on other ICOM activities, can be
found on the Committee's Home Page.   
Should you have any suggestions orquestions, we urge you to contact your ICOM or 
Instrumentation Technical Advisory Subcommittee (ITAS) representative.  
A listing of the ICOM and ITAS members appears in the second attachment.  
The following paragraphs, that explain the purpose of the
plan and role of ICOM, are taken from the report's introduction.

This report reviews ICOM accomplishments of the past 5 years and defines a new
5-year instrumentation plan, for fiscal years 1999-2003, to guide the identification
and development of field instruments and equipment critical to fulfilling the
mission of WRD.  It considers the "Strategic Directions in Water Resources Division
Scientific Activities" document, as it relates to ICOM.  The following
field-instrumentation topics are addressed and constitute the framework of the
5-year plan.  These topics address the need to:

· Develop and implement a quality assurance and quality control plan for field
instruments and equipment;
· Evaluate alternatives to improve the efficiency of the Central Instrumentation
Facilities (CIF's);
· Ensure the long-term viability of the rental, sales, and service programs of the
Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF);
· Enhance the process for identifying and prioritizing the division's field
instrumentation and equipment needs; and
· Enhance the ICOM coordination role.

This report provides for each topic: (a) the issue needing resolution and
background,  (b) ICOM's proposed approach to developing and carrying out a plan to
address the issue, and  (c) milestones for the plan's development.  We expect that a
minimum of five issue papers will result from this 5-year plan, and these papers
will form the basis for future actions.

The ICOM has the primary responsibility for coordinating WRD instrumentation
development, evaluation, testing, and distribution activities necessary for the
collection of consistent, high-quality hydrologic data.  Maintaining a leadership
role in hydrologic-data collection is critical to the future of the division.