Thomas . Ley
Colorado Division of Water Resources
Thomas W. Levy, Ph.D., P.E., is Chief of the Hydrographic and Satellite Monitoring Branch of the Colorado Division of Water Resources. In this role he manages DWR's statewide surface water measuring and monitoring program, in which 25 DWR hydrographers measure streamflow, and monitor stage and water level, at over 500 gaging stations around the State, providing accurate real-time streamflow data for water rights administration. He worked as the lead hydrographer for Division 2 of the Division of Water Resources from 1999-2004. Dr. Ley annually develops the crop evapotranspiration data for the H-I computer model used for Arkansas River Compact compliance evaluation. He works closely with Colorado Climate Center staff on operations of CoAgMet weather stations in the lower Arkansas River Valley, as well as with Colorado State University scientists and staff on the lysimeter installations at the Arkansas Valley Research Center near Rocky Ford CO. He graduated with a BS in agricultural engineering in 1977 and an MS in Agricultural Engineering (Irrigation and Drainage) in 1978 from Colorado State University, and received his PhD in Irrigation Engineering in 1995 from Utah State University. Dr. Ley was employed as Extension Irrigation Engineer for Washington State University from 1983-1997. During this time, he designed, installed, and managed the Washington Public Agriculture Weather Station (PAWS) Network in Washington State. The PAWS network consists of more than 60 automatic electronic weather stations located mostly in irrigated areas of eastern Washington and has a primary focus of providing crop ET estimates to Washington irrigated crop producers. Dr. Ley has spent a total of about 4 years on two different assignments working in Egypt on irrigation development projects: 1980-1982 with the Colorado State University Egypt Water Use and Management Project, and 1997-1999 with Winrock International's Water Policy Reform Project. He is a member of American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the US Committee on Irrigation and Drainage. Dr. Ley is the current chairman of the ASCE EWRI Evapotranspiration in Irrigation and Hydrology Committee. Dr. Ley is a registered professional engineer in Colorado and Washington.
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