The U.S. Water Partnership released on October 13 a synthesis report summarizing the key themes that emerged from three conversations on water information. The discussions were convened earlier this year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and the U.S. Water Partnership. NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan touched briefly on these conversations during her keynote presentation at AMWA’s Executive Management Conference.
The main points drawn from the conversations were that federal agencies (i.e., NOAA) need to be responsive to stakeholder needs, particularly on a local or regional scale. Stakeholder engagement on the topic of water information needs should be built upon existing networks. The synthesis recommends that NOAA improve its communication of forecasting uncertainty and bias and consider the development of a unified modeling and forecasting suite of water prediction tools and services.
NOAA plans to use the outcomes from these meetings to help inform its NOAA Water Initiative. The initiative includes the development of the National Water Model and future plans related to the National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.