Opening Statement By Chairman Bart Gordon

Good morning and welcome to the Energy & Environment Subcommittee’s hearing on my draft legislation intended to improve the Federal Government’s efforts to address changes in water use, supply, and demand in the United States.  I thank our panel of witnesses for testifying.  I believe your perspectives are critical to developing an effective bill.  I look forward to receiving your recommendations. 

The draft legislation before us today builds on the administration’s effort to coordinate federal research on water resources by establishing an interagency committee -- the Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality (SWAQ) of the National Science and Technology Council.   The draft bill codifies this subcommittee and provides it explicit Congressional authorization. 

The bill also incorporates recommendations from the 2004 report by the National Academies of Science entitled, Confronting the Nation’s Water Problems: The Role of Federal Research to strengthen the committee’s role in setting priorities and developing an integrated budget to support research on water resources.   The Academy’s report indicated that SWAQ is an effective forum for agencies to share information about their efforts on water.  However, the report identified several issues that needed to be addressed to make SWAQ an effective coordinating body.

The draft bill strengthens the budget function for SWAQ through participation of OMB on the subcommittee.  In addition, SWAQ is directed to engage in outreach activities to develop connections to state and local governments, to wider community of stakeholders, and to the public.  These recommendations, and others, helped to form the basis of this draft legislation.

Water is essential to everything we do and there is no substitute for it.  Many of our districts are experiencing problems with water supply.  If we are to resolve these problems, we need an effective research and development effort that provides tools and information to manage our water resources effectively.  Coordination of the programs managed across 20 federal agencies is a logical place to start.

Again, I thank the witnesses for participating in the hearing this morning, and I look forward to working with you as we go forward to ensure the federal government is doing all it can to promote effective water management.