- Streamgaging Budget for USGS: Congress appears to have heard our concerns about the level of federal support for water resource monitoring! The US House of Representatives and Senate Appropriations Committee accepted the Administration’s proposal to increase funding for the NSIP by $2.82M in FY-07 but both rejected the President’s proposal to cut $2M from the CWP budget. The Senate should schedule action on the Interior Department appropriations for FY-07 following the summer recess, although schedule and momentum are uncertain in this mid-term election year. In the meantime, 23 organizations (including water, environmental, engineering and recreation interests) have endorsed the proposal by 10 US Senators to increase these streamgage program budgets by $35M in FY-08. Refer to our Streamgage Funding page for additional information or contact Peter Evans.
- Senate APPROVES the Water Resource Development Act (WRDA) of 2005! After many months of waiting and about 10 hours of debate, the Senate adopted its version of the WRDA. Background information is available on our Legislation & Policy page.
- Annual Meeting & DC Roundtable plans are coming together, see our Conferences page!
- ICWP Recommends Action to Support “Interstate Water Solutions": Our February 2006 report includes 7 Findings and Recommendations designed to increase awareness of and benefits from Interstate Water Organizations. This report documents the historical trend toward organization at the watershed scale, usually spanning state or other political boundaries, to enhance water allocation, water quality, drought, endangered species and similar management challenges. It also characterizes the diverse pattern of legal authorities, decision processes and strategic plans that interstate water organizations have developed. The EPA, Interior Department and the Corps are showing strong interest and we are engaging other water community leaders in the development of implementation actions. More information is available on our Interstate Water Organizations page.
- 2nd National CWP Stakeholders' Roundtable (January 2006): The meeting in Austin, TX was successful in terms of the cross section of Cooperators and USGS Centers that participated and in terms of the information and recommendations we developed! An overview and detailed summary is already available. There was considerable interest in meeting again and meeting at a state or regional level, so that the location will be more convenient and the discussion can focus on state-level decisions. Contact Peter Evans for additional information.
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