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Water for America Initiative

The 21st Century brings a new set of water resource challenges. Water shortage and use conflict have become more commonplace in many areas of the United States – even in normal water years – for irrigation of crops, for growing cities and communities, for energy production, and for the environment and species protected under the law. Much has changed since the last overall assessment of water resources for the Nation was published by the Water Resources Council in 1978. It is time for a comprehensive examination of water availability in the United States using what we have learned during the past thirty years and with up-to-date capabilities. In response to a request from Congress, the USGS released a report in 2002 entitled, Concepts for National Assessment of Water Availability and Use, Circular 1223. The circular outlines a broad framework by which a national assessment could take place and advocates using 21 Water Resources Regions for the study units. In 2005, USGS embarked on a pilot study of water availability in the Great Lakes Basin. The pilot focuses on understanding the dynamics of the water resources in the basin in terms of the flows and yields of both ground and surface water and demonstrates the importance of water-use data to quantifying water availability. These were the initial steps to building a comprehensive water availability initiative for America.

Objectives

In the next decade, the Nation will have a new appraisal for water availability that tracks changing flow, use, and storage of water, as well as developing models and predictive tools to guide its decisions. The USGS science strategy identified water availability as a high priority and highlights the need for a water census, the objective of which is identical to the objective of this 2009 initiative. Last year, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) released a report entitled “A Strategy for Federal Science and Technology to Support Water Availability and Quality in the United States.” That report stated, “The United States has a strong need for an ongoing census of water that describes the status of our Nation’s water resource at any point in time and identifies trends over time.” In its simplest terms the philosophy of the initiative is “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Knowing our nation’s water “assets” and rates of use on an ongoing basis is crucial to wise management. The Initiative will

• Conduct a nationwide assessment of water availability and human and environmental water use by 2019, describing the change in water flows, ground-water storage, and water use,

• Proceed with regional-scale studies that compare the status of water storage and flows under current developed conditions to prior conditions  for each of the Nation’s 21 Water Resource Regions,

• Cooperate with State and local government in selected watersheds or aquifer systems to increase use of new technologies in water planning and management, 

• Cooperate with States to map the geologic framework of the Nation to improve charac­teri­zation of the Nation's aquifers, and

• Modernize the Nation's 7,000 streamgages by replacing obsolete telemetry to ensure continued real-time operations and provide more timely information needed for better water management, and stabilize the long-term network by reestablishing critical streamgages discontinued in the past 2 decades.

The responsibility for management rests at the State and local government level, but knowledge of the system is needed across State lines. The initiative will use and build on State assessments and Federal Studies accomplished through programs such as the Cooperative Water Program. The initiative combines efforts of three existing USGS programs. The National Streamflow Information Program provides the Nation with streamflow information to help protect life and property and manage our water resources. The Ground Water Resources Program provides objective scientific information needed to identify, measure, and assess the Nation’s ground-water resources.  The National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program develops geologic and hydrogeologic framework models to understand ground-water storage and flow and interactions between surface and ground water.The budget proposals for these programs are described on the attached links.

"The USGS should focus on the scientific integration of water use, water flow, and water quality in order to expand knowledge and generate policy-relevant information about human impacts on both water and ecological resources."
from: Estimating water use in the United States: A New Paradigm for the National Water-Use Information Program.

"The United States has a strong need for an ongoing census of water that describes the status of our Nation's water resource at any point in time and identifies trends over time."
from: A Strategy for Federal Science and Technology to Support Water Availability and Quality in the United States.

For Additional Information, please contact:

Eric J. Evenson, Coordinator
Water for America Initiative
Water Resources Discipline
U.S. Geological Survey
810 Bear Tavern Road, Suite 206
West Trenton, NJ 08628
Phone: 609-771-3904
FAX: 609-771-3915
Email: eevenson@usgs.gov