AMWA recently joined a host of other water, conservation and environmental groups in sending a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee, urging it to fund the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Quality Assessment (USGS NAWQA) program in FY14 at a higher level than proposed in the president’s budget. The Obama administration proposed net funding of $57.1 million for the NAWQA program (after factoring in sequestration), and the organizations asked $66.5 million for the program, the level of funding it received in the 2010 fiscal year.
The FY10 level was the highest appropriation level in the NAWQA program’s history, but the letter stated this level of funding will enable the USGS to continue its mission of water quality monitoring in key watersheds. Reduction of funding to $57.1 million would cause a net loss of about 30 percent of the national, long-term quality monitoring sites for streams and rivers; halt development of one of four regional nutrient stream models and decision support tools used to guide investments in high-priority watersheds; and cause an eight percent reduction in groundwater trends monitoring for three large aquifer systems that supply drinking water for 42 million people.