Water Resources

What this funds

Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program Change Transboundary Water-Quality Streamgages and Assessments +27 National Support for Observing Network Operations +2,831 +6 National Support for Data System Operations -2,000 Justification of Program Budget: Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program In FY 2027, the Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program (GWSIP) will continue its long-term operations around the collection, management, and dissemination of high-quality and reliable water information in real-time and over the long-term. The information is critical for managing the country's water resources and anticipating and responding to water hazards that can result in loss of life and property. Serving as one of the largest water data holders in the world, the USGS partners with more than networks for decisions such as emergency response, flood forecasting, reservoir management, water-use restrictions, drinking water deliveries, permit compliance, water-quality studies, and recreational safety. The long-term data supplied by the program are a critical component to sustaining the viability of industries such as agriculture, fishing, and outdoor recreation and are used for decisions related to water- supply planning, aquifer storage and recovery, infrastructure design, floodplain and ecosystem management, energy development, and resolution of water disputes. The 2027 budget request for Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program is $105,047,000 and 269 Base Cooperative Matching Funds (+$4,000,000 / +27 FTE) - GWSIP CMF is primarily used to support annual operation and maintenance costs of streamgages, so increased funding will allow the USGS to significantly expand water monitoring networks critical to flood forecasting and warning operations at a lower cost to the Federal government. In fact, 55 percent of the National Streamgage Network is funded by these funding partnerships. USGS streamgages are critical to flood forecasting and warning operations. The data from USGS streamgages are used to generate increasingly accurate, advance warnings that can reduce the total amount of damage and loss of life during a flood event. Additional GWSIP Cooperative Matching Funds will facilitate increasing the number of cooperatively funded streamgages and leverage new monitoring instrumentation and techniques, including remote sensing, to expand the collection and delivery of water data across the country. Federal Priority Streamgages (+$1,715,000 / +6 FTE) - The Federal Priority Streamgage (FPS) network is a subset of the National Streamgage Network and is designed to be a core, federally funded network to address long-term Federal information needs, such as forecasting floods, drought and providing appropriate emergency notifications. The data from USGS streamgages are used to generate increasingly accurate, advance warnings that can reduce the total amount of damage and loss of life during a flood event. With about 12,300 eligible sites, the FPS network is also used to regulate interstate and international water compacts and decrees and identify and track indicators of hydrologic change. These FPS sites are supported through a combination of USGS and local, State, and Federal partner funding. This funding increase will allow for 1) continued operation of the current network without any reductions in FPS sites from expected increases in operations and maintenance costs, 2) flood-hardening of select existing FPS sites and 3) installation of approximately 60 new Federal Priority Streamgage sites to the network in priority flood-prone areas. National Support for Observing Network Operations (+$2,831,000 / +7 FTE) - The mission of USGS water observing networks is to strategically enhance and expand the spatial and temporal collection of high-quality water observations to address National and local needs by providing national-level technical support, developing policies and procedures for consistent data collection and science delivery, and brings efficiencies to water data collection. This increase will allow USGS to use AI approaches to guide field operations by implementing new technology/methods to conduct remote sensory verifications and water measurements. These AI approaches and new technology/methods could enable more efficient network operation and allow USGS hydrologic technicians to maintain more monitoring locations. National Support for Data System Operations (+$3,951,000/ +7 FTE) - This activity ensures that USGS monitoring activities are supported by necessary IT and operational infrastructure. Support includes sustaining and evolving secure enterprise IT data systems that can manage data collection operations and ingest, process, store, and deliver high-quality water observations. In FY 2027, the USGS will use new AI approaches to automate most aspects of water-data quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) processes, allowing the USGS to operate more efficiently. Increased IT operational support will monitor and address issues with data delivery to limit National Water Information System (NWIS) Next Generation Water Observing System (-$8,456,000 / -23 FTE) - The Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) supports the research and development of water observing methods and instrumentation. USGS has been working internally as well as with universities and the private sector to identify, develop, and evaluate innovative water monitoring technologies and methods. Through these activities, the USGS is working to cost-effectively expand the amount of water data available for the country to facilitate expanded/improved flood and drought prediction/warning and more informed decision making associated with water availability for public supply, energy and mineral USGS will continue to operate and maintain the highest priority NGWOS monitoring infrastructure in the existing NGWOS basins. The USGS will also continue to work with the private industry to advance water observing techniques, methods, and instrumentation for eventual integration into USGS national USGS will continue to support access to water-level and/or water-quality data from more than 20,000 groundwater wells that are provided by over 45 Federal, State, local, and Tribal agencies. The USGS will also continue to support 185 federally-funded groundwater monitoring sites as reauthorized in the 2024 Integrated Water Science Basin Coordinators (-$120,000 / -1 FTE) - To address higher priorities, the

Extracted from U.S. Geological Survey, p. 13. Verbatim; nothing here is paraphrased.

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