Dissolution of HASS in Water Resources Discipline


In Reply Refer To: 
Mail Stop 409 
                                                                           
                                                     October 16, 2001 

                                      Memorandum 

To:            All WRD Employees 

From:            Robert M. Hirsch   /signed/ 
            Associate Director for Water 

Subject:       Dissolution of HASS in Water Resources Discipline         

This email is to inform you of a change in a Water Resources Headquarters 
Unit as of October 1, 2001.  Based on a recommendation from the 
Headquarters Review Team (report available at:   
/admin/information/hq.review.html) and the concurrence 
of Water Resources Senior Staff, it was decided that the Hydrologic 
Analysis Software Support Program (HASS; /software/ 
unit would be dissolved and their functions transferred to the Technical 
Offices (Surface Water, Ground Water and Water Quality).  A small group 
has been formed, under the leadership of Bill Alley (Office of Ground 
Water), to determine the level of hydrologic software quality assurance 
and support that will be provided in the future.  This group will consider 
software quality assurance and testing policy issues, software posting 
operations, web page support, and user support.  The Water Resources 
Discipline will continue to maintain a single page available to employees 
and the public as a summary and index of hydrologic software available 
from the USGS.  It will provide links to a variety of sites supported by 
Technical Offices or the National Research Program with a brief statement 
of the types of models available from that site.  The group should finish 
their deliberations by December 14, 2001.  The group will draft a policy 
statement and software support recommendations that will be distributed 
widely for comment, prior to implementation.  Between now and the time the 
group completes its deliberations, there will be no new hydrologic 
software additions or updates to the HASS web page. We expect to finalize 
these policies in January 2002.   However, email questions to 
h2osoft@usgs.gov will continue to be answered. 

I want to thank the staff of HASS for their dedicated service in support 
of hydrologic software and wish them well in their future activities.  
Michele Crouse and Dave Stewart will now be part of the National Water 
Information System (NWIS).  Kate Flynn and Jim Slack will now be part of 
the Office of Surface Water.  Tom McKallip had previously decided to leave 
the USGS for personal reasons. 

Hydrologic models continue to be of great importance to us as a means of 
carrying out our studies and as a product we provide for the wider 
hydrologic community.  The Technical Offices within the Water Discipline 
should serve as the focal point for a wide range of technological issues 
including field methods, instruments, quality assurance and methods of 
analysis including models.  They work with the National Research Program 
and District staffs to move forward in these various areas.  We believe 
that these organizational changes will be beneficial to the Discipline and 
make for a simpler organizational structure. 

If you have any questions regarding this action, please contact Bill Alley 
or Steve Blanchard. 

**********************************************************
* Robert M. Hirsch   
* Associate Director for Water     
* 409 National Center                  rhirsch@usgs.gov
* U.S. Geological Survey                    703-648-5215
* Reston, VA 20192                         fax 703-648-7031
************************************************************