A coalition of organizations sent a March 16th letter to Senator Lisa Murkowski, Chair, and Senator Merkley, Ranking Member, of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment & Related Agencies requesting continued support for adequate funding of the:
- U.S. Geological Survey’s (“USGS”) Federal Priority Streamgage (“FPS”) Network.
- Cooperative Matching Funds (“CMF”) Program.
The FPS Network and CMF Program are found in the FY2027 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill.
The letter describes the coalition as including:
- Water managers.
- Utilities.
- States.
- Local governments.
- Other water-dependent stakeholders.
The coalition states that these organizations rely on USGS streamgage data to protect public safety, operate and maintain critical infrastructure, respond to floods and droughts, forecast water supplies, support hydropower and navigation and sustain regional and national economic activity.
USGS operates a network of more than 9,000 streamgages in the United States.
The Streamgages contain instruments that measure and record the amount of water flowing in the river or stream, or its discharge. They convert the water-level data into information about the flow of the river. All USGS gage and streamflow information is available in near real time through the National Water Information System web interface.
The coalition argues that funding shortfalls would greatly hinder its members’ capacity to safeguard life and property and to respond to increasingly severe hydrologic conditions.
For FY2027, it is asking Congress to appropriate:
- $34 million for the Federal Priority Streamgage Network.
- $33 million for the Cooperative Matching Funds (CMF) Program.
A copy of the March 16th letter can be found here.
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