Interagency Hydrology Committee for Alaska (IHCA)
Date Last Modified: 13 JAN 2023
Current News
Spring 2023 IHCA meeting: 9 and 10 March (IN PERSON with a virtual option)
Location to be determined in Anchorage, AK
Agenda link will be available in Feb
Fall 2022 meeting
Links to Alaskan Hydrologic Data
United States Geologic Survey:
Tabular: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ak/nwis/current/?type=flow
Map based: https://maps.waterdata.usgs.gov/mapper/index.html
State of Alaska:
State of Alaska Open Data Geoportal: https://gis.data.alaska.gov/
State of Alaska Department of Conservation:
Alaska DEC GIS Map Gallery: https://dec.alaska.gov/das/gis/apps/
Alaska DEC Drinking Water Watch: https://dec.alaska.gov/DWW/
Alaska DEC Contaminated Sites: https://dec.alaska.gov/Spar/csp.aspx
State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources:
Alaska Well Log Tracking System (WELTS): https://dnr.alaska.gov/welts/
Alaska Water Use Data System (AKWUDS): https://dnr.alaska.gov/akwuds/
Alaska Groundwater Database: https://dnr.alaska.gov/groundwater/
Alaska Data-provider to National Ground-Water Monitoring Network: https://cida.usgs.gov/ngwmn/index.jsp
National Weather Service:
River Observations and Forecasts: https://www.weather.gov/aprfc/
Historic Observations: https://www.weather.gov/aprfc/rivobs
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Hydrologic Data Collections and Investigations: https://www.fws.gov/project/hydrologic-data-collection-and-investigations
Leadership
Chair, Ryan Toohey, United States Geologic Survey (USGS)
Vice-Chair, Ronald Daanen, Alaska Department of Natural Resources (AKDNR)
Secretary, Rosie Duncan, US Army Corps of Engineers
Past-chair, Kevin Petrone, Alaska Department of Natural Resources (AKDNR)
About Us
The Interagency Hydrology Committee for Alaska (IHCA) is an organization of technical specialists working at the Federal, State, and local levels, who coordinate the collection and implementation of water resources related data throughout the State of Alaska. The IHCA meets twice per year to coordinate multi-agency issues and exchange of information.
Recent Water Resources Highlights
Announcement: AWRA-AK Section meeting scheduled for February 25-27, 2019, in Juneau (posted 8/27/2018)
Alaska Interagency Water Rights Course No. 1730-26 : October 24-28, 2016 (updated 3/30/2018)
Alaska NHDPlus Alpha, download data (posted 11/1/2017)
Alaska Hydrography Database (AK Hydro) (posted 10/1/2017)
NGWA Letter to President-elect Trump (posted 12/1/2016)
NOAA Water Initiative (posted 12/1/2016)
USGS Water Use Data Visualization Tool (posted 12/1/2016)
Background
Coordinated efforts to address hydrological and climatological issues in Alaska dates back to the early 1960's when a "Technical Committee" was established under the auspices of the Subcommittee on Hydrology, Interagency Committee on Water Resources (ICWR). The parent committee became the Hydrology Committee of the United States Water Resources Council (WRC).
In 1977 members of the Interagency Technical Committee for Alaska developed an Organization, Objectives, and Operation statement in response to a growing need to improve coordination among agencies for hydrologic and climatologic data. In November, 1977 the Committee approved this document and adopted the name "Interagency Hydrology Committee for Alaska" (IHCA). The IHCA continued to operate under the sponsorship of, and receive guidance from, and report to the WRC Hydrology Committee.
Additionally, the IHCA has acted as the technical advisory committee of the past Governor's Alaska Water Management Council.