Toward a Sustainable and Secure Water Future A Leadership Role for the U.S. Geological Survey (2009) / Chapter Skim
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4 Water for Tomorrow
4 Water for Tomorrow
Pages 75-100
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From page 75... ...
Our institutions appear to have limited capacity to manage water-based habitats to maintain and improve species diversity and provide ecosystem services while concur rently supplying human needs. In some regions of the country, the avail ability of sufficient water to service growing domestic uses is in doubt … Indeed, demands for water resources to support population and economic growth continue to increase, although water supplies to support this growth are fixed in quantity and already fully allocated in most areas." SOURCE: National Research Council (2004b)
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From page 76... ...
; Box 31) -- trends and foreseeable problems that will not solve themselves: Problems of water availability will become increasingly serious and more prominent, Climate change will make water resources challenges more difficult, Water quality impairments will continue to be a daunting issue, Water prices will rise, Resolving water conflicts and policy debates will demand more water science.
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From page 77... ...
But the broader water resources community needs and looks to the USGS WRD for the science needed to meet the broader public water management challenges. There are promising signs that the nation's water science needs are gaining increased recognition, as are the WRD's scientific contributions by their federal agency and congressional supporters.
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From page 78... ...
The Survey, and especially WRD, leadership should be mindful of and continue to aggressively communicate the potential of the agency to help address the significant water resource problems facing the nation. For the USGS to remain healthy and provide its critical expertise to solve national water-related issues in the future, both its data acquisition arm and scientific research arm need to be strong and both should be guided by visionary leadership.
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From page 79... ...
Once implemented, this strategic vision and the focused scientific response to critical water issues it will generate should catalyze appropriate recognition of the USGS WRD. Recommendation: The WRD should re-focus its vision on critical national priorities to lead the nation in water science.
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From page 80... ...
While we understand that aspects of this strategy may change, it was an exemplary planning process that provides lessons for refocusing WRD's vision on a defined set of national priorities. For planning considerations, aspects of the six strategic directions that are relevant to the WRD should be focused on the decisions that society will need to make in the coming decades, and the questions that need better answers to inform those decisions.
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From page 81... ...
What new tools are needed to evaluate and forecast frequency and magnitude of streamflow for water management in the 21st century? What enhancements should be made to monitoring systems to enable the United States to detect and project climate change impacts on water resources?
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From page 82... ...
Yet climate change can also be integrated within the broad theme of water availability (e.g., a water census; strategic direction six)
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From page 83... ...
This approach should include two key issues of water availability -- the water census and climate variability and change -- particularly forecasting and predictions, evaluating uncertainty, and developing enhanced monitoring systems to assess the nature of the problem with respect to water resources. As discussed, many of these key questions are also components of the Water Census, the last strategic direction, if it is approached within the scientific context of present and future water availability for the nation.
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From page 84... ...
How to identify water sources, not commonly thought to be a resource, that might provide freshwater for human and environmental needs; and 5. Forecasts of likely outcomes of water availability, water quality, and aquatic ecosystem health due to changes in land use and land cover, natural and engineered infrastructure, water use, and climate." Associated with these goals and objectives, the USGS plan contains a list of "Strategic Actions" that can be taken in support of a Water Census program.
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From page 85... ...
Despite overlap in their scope, these strategies provide clear and concrete suggestions for the USGS WRD to develop a new and refocused national program that includes the need for new and improved water science. It is important that the leadership of USGS WRD and the Department of Interior (DOI)
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From page 86... ...
The USGS makes only coarse-grained estimates of water use, while sparse and unconnected studies on land use and water availability, water demand modeling, and ecological water use are being done by state, local, and regional entities; academics; and non-governmental organizations and their contractors. To make a Water Census useful and powerful, the USGS is encouraged to continue its role as innovator in data acquisition and dissemination (a recent successful example is the use of microgravity changes
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From page 87... ...
Recommendation: The USGS WRD should foster and promote collaboration with other federal agencies to meet the nation's growing water crises. New Approaches and New Water Science The WRD has historically been conservative in how it provides input to policy-makers.
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From page 88... ...
The need for new and improved science and moving beyond data collection in the water use, water availability is not new. The USGS conducts a survey of water use at five-year intervals, by the National Water-Use Information Program which was the topic of an entire prior NRC report (NRC, 2002a)
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From page 89... ...
discussion of A Strategy for Federal Science and Technology to Support Water Availability and Quality in the United States stresses the need and importance of providing forecasting to aid current and future water management. One component would be linking land-use data, wateruse data, water-quality information, and hydrologic models to address controversial issues such as water impacts of increased corn ethanol production in the Mississippi River basin (NRC, 2008d)
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From page 90... ...
The WRD has already developed many project models to connect and aggregate studies done in Science Centers across the country towards providing regional and national synthesis -- for example, in the NAWQA, Toxics, and Groundwater programs and this development should be continued and enhanced by appropriate application to the Coop program. The current budgetary climate does not allow the USGS to meet all the demands of the multiple objectives of its programs.
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From page 91... ...
The need is similar to, though logistically different from, the way that prediction skills have been gradually built into and improved for weather forecasting or economic forecasting. The SWAQ report envisioned the Water Census as a periodic exercise to update the approach and continue to inform the nation's water managers and to keep the nation's policy makers abreast of changing water resources and demands.
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From page 92... ...
In summary, the USGS WRD has the appropriate range of personnel, technical resources, and history of water resources data collection, management, dissemination, and research among the federal agencies to provide leadership to develop a dynamic Water Census for the nation as well as rise to the water resource challenges facing the nation. However, the USGS will have to extend its internal and external cooperation and develop new science to enhance its forecasting and predictions capabilities.
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From page 93... ...
Many, if not all, pressing national issues will require integration of WRD programs, from the Groundwater Resources program, to NAWQA, and NSIP, the NRP and the Coop program, for example. As part of the integration, each program may need to define its component contributions -- the science questions and observations it will address to meet the more comprehensive national issue.
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From page 94... ...
While many of the WRD programs have line-item budgets and defined missions, they still can be integrated to address national priority questions that address key components of water availability. Because many of these national issues will also require new science, the approach to integrate and apply WRD's focus on national priorities should also better leverage the science and technical prowess of the NRP and the operational capabilities found within the Science Centers.
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From page 95... ...
While productivity, in terms of high quality peer-reviewed publications is laudable, the USGS reward system needs to be assessed to provide incentive for team-oriented work, and substantive contribution to and leadership of projects that address critical national priorities. Although the breadth of expertise present in the USGS is certainly sufficient to address integrative national problems, the culture and reward system needs to ensure it can help align individual priorities for career advancement with agency and national priorities.
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From page 96... ...
As discussed, through the Science Centers, the WRD has a good process working with water resources managers as well as other water scientists and engineers across the nation. While much of the Coop program has focused on the streamflow data collection program, the WRD's partnerships with state and local institutions in the wider ranging science programs have had a positive effect to improve the level of science applied to water resources and environmental management across the country.
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From page 97... ...
Science Centers could establish a unique forum to discuss regional characterizations, syntheses, and forecasts, to aid the management of shared water resources with their neighboring Science Centers and state counterparts. Such an approach fits very well with the USGS interest in achieving national leadership in addressing the water availability problems of the nation.
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From page 98... ...
needs to be better integrated with the WRD's focused vision of regional and national water program priorities. The WRD is encouraged to develop a process for defining national merit for Coop projects as a means of balancing Coop program commitments with meeting regional and national priorities.
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From page 99... ...
Over time, as noted, assignment of research grade staff has increased in the Science Centers, while the NRP staffing has declined. Hence, some of the same issues discussed for realigninment of NRP staff may apply to the research grade staff in the Science Centers: Recommendation: The USGS WRD should involve all research grade personnel in staffing teams to address regional and national research priorities, regardless of location, to increase the agency's flexibility.
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From page 100... ...
To that end we provide our final recommendation: Recommendation: To ensure a secure water future for the nation, sufficient funding should be provided for the USGS to perform its function as a major science agency: to ensure high quality data collection, interpretive programs, and development of essential forecasting and predictive tools to support effective management of the nation's critical water resources.
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