§10368 National Water Availability and Use Assessment Program

Summary

Create a national program to measure how much water the United States has, how it is used, and how that is changing. The program must give better information on water amount and quality, track long-term trends, and help predict future water needs for people, energy, and the environment. It will keep a national water-use inventory, use scientific and statistical methods, and combine data from federal and state sources. It will track surface water (like streamflow, lakes, reservoirs, snowfields, and glaciers), groundwater levels and the things that change them (such as natural recharge, pumping, saltwater intrusion, mine drainage, land drainage, and artificial recharge), and known impaired supplies. The program will keep maps and reports, provide electronic and real-time access to data, and build models that link groundwater, surface water, and ecosystems. The Secretary can give grants to State water agencies to build or join datasets with the national system, as long as the data meet Secretary standards and help States do their water jobs under state law. Each grant can be no more than $250,000. The Secretary must send Congress a detailed report by December 31, 2012, and every 5 years after that, covering current water availability, historic and yearly river flows, storage, groundwater reserves, undeveloped sources (including saline, brackish, and wastewater), climate change effects, water use by sectors (agriculture, cities, industry, thermoelectric, and hydroelectric), big trends, and any major conflicts or shortages and their causes. Up to $20,000,000 per year (fiscal years 2009–2023) is authorized for the main program and reports, and up to $12,500,000 (fiscal years 2009–2013) for the grant program.