Annual Meeting

Registration & Vendor Setup

Badge & Conference Material Pickup + Vendor Table Setup

Ramkota Hotel - 800 N Poplar

Welcome Reception

Connect with colleagues and meet new faces as the event begins.

Gruner Brothers Brewing - 1301 Wilkins Cir

7:00-8:00 AM

Breakfast on your own

Breakfast included in your stay at the Ramkota

Ramkota Hotel - 800 N Poplar

8:00-8:30 AM

Conference Opens

 Welcome from Casper Mayor Pacheco         and  WWA President Jerry Dart

Wyoming Theatre

Tetons Sessions

9:00-9:30 AM

Snow, Glaciers, and Streams: Measuring and Forecasting Wyoming's Mountain Water Supplies

The Wind River Range in Wyoming hosts the largest glaciers in the U.S. Rocky Mountains, feeding the Green and Wind River headwaters. Using airborne lidar and snow surveys, we assessed snowpack and glacier mass loss, revealing that wind-driven snow redistribution drives inter-basin differences in late-summer streamflow. Because artificial storage is limited, accurate, real-time streamflow predictions that incorporate snow and glacier variability are vital for upland irrigation and water management in Wyoming.

Eli Boardman - Mountain Hydrology LLC

9:30-10:00 AM

The Case for Municipal Water Conservation

Fundamentals of municipal water conservation, with practical strategies for reducing water waste at both residential and commercial properties within city limits

Noah Dayton - Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities

11:15-11:45 AM

 Market Value of Wyoming Water

Water rights are a unique asset with significant market value, but determining that value can be difficult due to limited data and infrequent transactions. This presentation will outline common valuation methods used in appraisals and examine Wyoming case studies to illustrate how buyers and sellers assess water rights.

Adam Jokerst, WestWater Research

Wyoming Theatre Sessions

8:30-9:00 AM

NEPA Updates

This session will review recent updates to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and discuss their implications for projects in Wyoming. Attendees will gain insight into how these changes may affect permitting, compliance, and project timelines.

John Mion - HDR

9:00-9:30 AM

Improving Irrigation Efficiency with Pivots and Nighttime Scheduling

Pivot sprinklers are more efficient than flood irrigation but can lose effectiveness due to system deficiencies. This work evaluates pivot performance, identifies upgrades to improve efficiency and yield, and explores using OpenET to detect issues before field assessments.

Dillon Cotterman, Josh Stewart -Strike Consulting Group

9:30-10:30 AM

Water policy work in the Upper Snake River

This presentation will explore water management challenges in Wyoming’s Upper Snake River Basin, where climate pressures and expanding uses impact both storage systems and native cutthroat trout habitat. It will highlight ongoing research, collaborative efforts through the Snake River Headwaters Watershed Group, and include a screening of the short film Iconic Rises.

Kathy Lynch, Trout Unlimited

Brent Ewers, University of Wyoming

10:45-11:45 AM

The History And Future Of Laprele Dam - Emergency Dam Removal And Replacement Dam Design

LaPrele Dam in Converse County was deemed unsafe in 2019, leading to storage restrictions and eventual removal in 2024 after new cracks were discovered. With no current storage, the LaPrele Irrigation District, HDR, and RESPEC are finalizing the design for a roller compacted concrete replacement dam using a CMAR approach. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2026.

Cory Foreman - HDR
Pete Rausch - RESPEC

11:45 AM -12:15 PM

Wyoming State Engineer's Office WaterWYSE: A Look into the Future of Water Permitting and an Open Forum for Industry Input

This session will offer attendees an inside look at the Wyoming State Engineer's Office (SEO) ePermit replacement system, WaterWYSE. The presentation will cover how WaterWYSE modernizes the water permitting process in Wyoming through online-driven workflows, aiming to improve application and petition processes. We will also discuss enhanced communication features, such as notifications and correspondence, designed to streamline the tracking of in-progress applications and petitions, as well as improved and more intuitive search capabilities for locating appropriate water rights. The latter part of this session will be dedicated to an open forum, allowing attendees and water industry experts to provide input and discuss current challenges they encounter with the ePermit system.

Jim Vanderweide, Gannett Peak Technical Services

12:15-1:30 PM

Lunch

Wyoming Theatre

Don Day, Jr. - DayWeather, Inc

1:30-2:00 PM

Success in the North Platte River

Natrona County Conservation District’s efforts to reduce agricultural selenium pollution helped remove the North Platte River from Wyoming’s impaired waters list.

Lisa Ogden -  Natrona County Conservation District

2:00-4:30 PM

Tour - Remediation Site (former Casper Refinery)

Xylem Demonstration

This tour will provide an overview of ongoing remediation activities at the former Casper Refinery. Attendees will learn about the innovative system used to recover,  treat, and beneficially reuse groundwater, including the oil-water separator and  Three Crowns Golf Course treatment ponds. After treatment, water is returned to the regional water system via discharge to the North Platte River.

Xylem representatives will demonstrate the capabilities of the SonTek RS5 ADCP instrument for accurate, real-time streamflow measurement under field conditions on the North Platte River. The demonstration will provide hydrologists, water managers, and stakeholders an opportunity to assess instrument performance, ease of deployment, and data quality for use in their water monitoring and management programs.

Meeting Location: Oil-Water Separator Building, 1709 King Blvd.
Parking: Three Crowns Golf Club, 1601 King Blvd.

5:00-6:00 PM

Social Hour

Cash Bar

Ramkota - North/Central Ballroom

6:00-9:00 PM

Dinner

Governor Gordon Remarks,
Scholarship Presentation, and Silent Auction

7:00-8:00 AM

Breakfast on your own

Breakfast included in your stay at the Ramkota

Ramkota Hotel - 800 N Poplar

8:00-9:00 AM

Membership Meeting

Wyoming Theatre

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9:00-10:15 AM

Advisor Updates

 Water Development Office, Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Division, Game & Fish, State Engineer's Office, Wyoming Water Resources Data System & State Climate Office

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10:15-10:30 AM

Break

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10:30-11:00 AM

Congresswoman Harriet Hageman

Wyoming Theatre

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Tetons Sessions

11:00 -11:30 AM

Assessing Pumped Storage Proposals: A Case Study of Seminoe Pumped Storage Project

This panel discussion will examine the proposed Seminoe Pumped Storage Project, a large-scale wind energy storage facility on the North Platte River system. It will cover key project details, regulatory status, and potential impacts on water management, fisheries, wildlife, and local communities.

Leslie Steen - Trout Unlimited

Alan Osterland - Wyoming Game & Fish

Katie Cheesbrough -Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation

Mike Follum - Follum Hydrologic Solutions

Wyoming Theatre Sessions

11:00-11:30 AM

Elk Mountain — An Observatory for Advancing Understanding of Snowfall and Snow Hydrology 

Elk Mountain Observatory (EMO), perched at 11,680 feet in SE Wyoming, has a rich research history dating to the 1960s, focusing on winter clouds, snowfall, and cloud seeding. Unique for its high-elevation, often cloud-covered location, EMO is now being revitalized, with new research opportunities that could benefit Wyoming.

Jeff French - University of Wyoming

11:30 AM-12:30 PM

Transit Loss and Gap Analysis in the Green River Basin

Evaluating Water Regulation Impacts on Consumptive Use in the South Piney Creek Basin, Wyoming

The Green River Basin Transit Loss Study (Oct 2024–Dec 2025) quantifies water losses in the Green and New Fork Rivers using hydrologic data, modeling, and advanced geospatial tools. Deliverables include a RiverWare simulation model, monitoring recommendations, and actionable insights for basin water management.

Trihydro and the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office are studying how water availability and regulation affect historical consumptive use in the South Piney Creek basin. Using satellite-based evapotranspiration data from OpenET, the team is developing methods to estimate unregulated ET and creating a tool to help the WSEO analyze past use and potential future administration impacts in the Green River and Upper Colorado River Basin.

Mike Follum - Follum Hydrologic Solutions, LLC

Phil Burkhalter -  Trihydro