{ "id": "R45695", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "R", "number": "R45695", "active": true, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "title": "U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Streamgaging Network: Overview and Issues for Congress", "retrieved": "2021-04-04T04:04:02.288905", "id": "R45695_3_2021-03-02", "formats": [ { "filename": "files/2021-03-02_R45695_c3b4f278b37c958249b950ff777e014e05228090.pdf", "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45695/3", "sha1": "c3b4f278b37c958249b950ff777e014e05228090" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2021-03-02_R45695_c3b4f278b37c958249b950ff777e014e05228090.html" } ], "date": "2021-03-02", "summary": null, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "typeId": "R", "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R45695", "type": "CRS Report" }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 596739, "date": "2019-04-18", "retrieved": "2019-12-20T19:24:40.369974", "title": "U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Streamgaging Network: Overview and Issues for Congress", "summary": "Streamgages are fixed structures at streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs that measure water level and related streamflow\u2014the amount of water flowing through a water body over time. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the Department of the Interior operates streamgages in every state, the District of Columbia, and the territories of Puerto Rico and Guam. The USGS Streamgaging Network encompasses 10,300 streamgages, which record water levels or streamflow for at least a portion of the year. Approximately 8,200 of these streamgages measure streamflow year round as part of the National Streamflow Network. The USGS also deploys temporary rapid deployment gages to measure water levels during storm events, and select streamgages measure water quality. \nStreamgages provide foundational information for diverse applications that affect a variety of constituents. The USGS disseminates streamgage data free to the public and responds to over 670 million requests annually. Direct users of streamgage data include a variety of agencies at all levels of government, private companies, scientific institutions, and recreationists. Data from streamgages inform real-time decisionmaking and long-term planning on issues such as water management and energy development, infrastructure design, water compacts, water science research, flood mapping and forecasting, water quality, ecosystem management, and recreational safety. \nCongress has provided the USGS with authority and appropriations to conduct surveys of streamflow since establishing the first hydrological survey in 1889. Many streamgages are operated cooperatively with nonfederal partners, who approach the USGS and sign joint-funding agreements to share the cost of streamgages and data collection. The USGS Cooperative Matching Funds (CMF) Program provides up to a 50% match with tribal, regional, state, and local partners, as authorized by 43 U.S.C. \u00a750. The average nonfederal cost-share contribution has increased from 50% in the early 1990s to 63% in FY2018. In the early 2000s, the USGS designated federal priority streamgage (FPS) locations based on five identified national needs. The SECURE Water Act of 2009 (Title IX, Subtitle F, of P.L. 111-11) directed the USGS to operate by FY2019 no less than 4,700 federally funded streamgages. In FY2018, 3,640 of the 4,760 FPSs designated by the USGS were operational, with 52% of their funding from the USGS.\nCongressional appropriations and agreements with 1,400 nonfederal partners funded USGS streamgages at $189.5 million in FY2018. The USGS share included $24.7 million for FPSs and $29.8 million for cooperative streamgages through CMF. A dozen other federal agencies provided $40.7 million. Nonfederal partners, mostly affiliated with CMF, provided $94.3 million. In FY2019, Congress appropriated level funding for FPS and CMF streamgages. Congress directed an additional $8.5 million to pilot a Next Generation Integrated Water Observing System (NextGen), establishing dense networks of streamgages in representative watersheds in order to model streamflow in analogous watersheds. The President\u2019s budget request for FY2020 does not include NextGen system funding and would reduce CMF for streamgages by $250,000.\nThe USGS uses appropriated funding to develop and maintain the USGS Streamgaging Network. The USGS and numerous stakeholders have raised funding considerations including user needs, priorities of partners, federal coverage, infrastructure repair, disaster response, inflation, and technological advances. Some stakeholders advocate for maintaining or expanding the network. Others may argue that Congress should consider reducing the network in order to prioritize other activities and that other entities operate streamgages tailored to localized needs. Congress might also consider whether to invest in streamgage restoration and new technologies.\nCongress may consider outlining the future direction for the USGS Streamgaging Network through oversight or legislation. As the USGS faces a deadline by the SECURE Water Act of 2009 to operate no less than 4,700 FPSs by FY2019, Congress directed the USGS through appropriations legislation to invest in the NextGen system. Congress may consider such policy options as pursuing both the FPS mandate and the NextGen system simultaneously, amending the SECURE Water Act of 2009, and the relative emphasis of the NextGen system.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R45695", "sha1": "8f91f18708cf3c7150a9d80afeada80035306813", "filename": "files/20190418_R45695_8f91f18708cf3c7150a9d80afeada80035306813.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45695_files&id=/4.png": "files/20190418_R45695_images_92749ea0e6cde7bbced0ca77bc5ccf813c626d45.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45695_files&id=/6.png": "files/20190418_R45695_images_25e91467ec5d160b66c7283b8333b064ffdf1812.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45695_files&id=/2.png": "files/20190418_R45695_images_303c4a98d1a5660cc77bdf7d931649d1b13525ea.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45695_files&id=/3.png": "files/20190418_R45695_images_fa95a5d763b82bffed0b5eb0fc4b1ce7fb71df3b.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45695_files&id=/8.png": "files/20190418_R45695_images_ddea05d20400fa43be52afa51e73a039fe7260b4.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45695_files&id=/0.png": "files/20190418_R45695_images_83fd0f52ac1753878cd6b227d985c4a80a62c5d7.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45695_files&id=/1.png": "files/20190418_R45695_images_c40c061a97531089e70c587160681a1b2d4bfff2.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45695_files&id=/5.png": "files/20190418_R45695_images_268a44443b9674bf9622cfaf1ddfba3c1febaf86.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45695_files&id=/7.png": "files/20190418_R45695_images_b6a92b2285f6d0806a8021d4be28a7cf5e1deffa.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R45695", "sha1": "375a1752e786ba50ac96cf3744caee9e5fe956df", "filename": "files/20190418_R45695_375a1752e786ba50ac96cf3744caee9e5fe956df.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4909, "name": "Water Resource Management" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Energy Policy" ] }