Operational Plan for the Cooperative Water Program

I. General Information :

Program Coordinator name and contact information:
Ward Staubitz (staubitz) 703-648-6876

5-year Plan URL: Not on web but is available from the Program Coordinator.

Funding History:

* The additional funds shown in this column include portions of USGS bureau-level support costs attributable to the Cooperative Water Program. These consist of funds in the Science Support, Facilities, and Enterprise Information line items of the USGS budget. For 2006 this is estimated.

Mission: The Mission of the USGS Cooperative Water Program (CWP) is to provide reliable, impartial, and timely information needed to understand the Nation's water resources through a program of shared efforts and funding with State, local, and Tribal partners to enable decision makers to wisely manage the Nation's water resources.

II. Major Program Components:

Major Activities: The CWP covers 65 percent of the cost of the USGS streamgaging program, plus data collection activities for ground water and water quality, plus about 700 interpretive hydrologic studies. These studies are designed to answer specific questions about water resources of regional or national significance, or to develop advanced methods for water-resources investigations and decision-support tools. The partners in the CWP include State water resources, natural resources, environmental, health, and transportation agencies; regional river basin commissions, counties, municipalities, councils of government, special purpose districts, and Native American Tribes - public agencies at all levels of government involved in water-resources planning and management. Further general information about the CWP may be obtained from the CWP web site, http://water.usgs.gov/coop.

 Funding: In Fiscal Year 2004 the CWP provided $202 million in funding to cover water-resources data collection and hydrologic investigations in all 50 States plus Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Territories. This funding includes $64.0 million in USGS appropriations to the Cooperative Water Program line item, and $138.0 million in contributions from about 1,400 State and local cooperating agencies. It does not include the portion of Administrative Matching Funds derived from the Facilities and Science Support line items.

For many years the CWP was operated as a 50:50 matching program, but in recent decades the demand for Federal matching funds in the CWP has outstripped the supply, and cooperators have been contributing an increasing proportion of the cost of the program, to the point that cooperators now support two-thirds of the cost of the program.

The CWP covers all costs related to its data-collection and hydrologic studies activities, including salaries, benefits, cost-center overhead, Bureau overhead (on reimbursable funds), travel, equipment, supplies, contracts, and other expenses. Total CWP funding represents anywhere from 32 to 79 percent of Water Science Center budgets. The CWP covers the salaries of about 1,830 personnel in the Water Resources Discipline, or about 46 percent of WRD staff.

Federal Matching Funds: Of the total of $64 million in appropriated funding in the program, 89.5 percent ($57.3 million) is distributed to USGS Water Science Centers in the form of Federal Matching Funds to fund center-directed projects and data-collection activities in the Water Science Centers. Federal Matching Funds under the CWP represent anywhere from 10 to 23 percent of Water Science Center budgets.

Regionally-Focused Funds: The remaining 10.5 percent ($6.72 million) of the appropriated funding covers costs (salary and expense) of administering the program in the Regional offices. These regionally-focused costs are scheduled to decrease in FY 06 under the new Regional structure. The amount of the decrease will be determined as soon as the new Regional structure is finalized. The savings will be used to increase the amount of Federal Matching Funds allocated to the Water Science Centers.

Administrative Matching Funds: On the joint-funding agreements that cover the activities of the program, the cumulative total Federal Matching Funds includes an additional $20 million above the $57.3 million derived from the CWP line item. This $20 million represents “Administrative Matching Funds” from other USGS accounts that support the CWP and, prior to 2000, were included in the CWP line item. One component of the Administrative Matching Funds is the regionally-focused costs mentioned above. As these costs decrease, the Administrative Matching Funds will also decease. In 2005 the WRD Senior Staff directed that over FY’06 and ’07 Administrative Matching Funds should also be reduced by eliminating components related to Enterprise Information and Bureau Science Support, and by partially eliminating the component due to Facilities. The result will be a new, substantially reduced Administrative Matching Funds rate in FY ’07.

Funds Allocation: The CWP Federal Matching Funds that are distributed to the Water Science Centers are first allocated by the CWP Program Coordinator to the four Water Regions. Through FY 05 the following allocation formula was used, with little or no variation from year to year:

The Regional Program Officers, with the approval of the Regional Hydrologists, then allocate the Federal Matching Funds from the Regional distributions to each of the Water Science Centers. Program Coordinator approval is not required for allocations to the Water Science Centers. These allocations to Water Science Centers are also based on an allocation formula that varies little from year to year. The primary reason for the lack of variation is to provide a measure of stability to the budgets of the Water Science Centers. If a Water Science Center is unable to match part of its allocation of Federal Matching Funds, those funds are reallocated, either temporarily or permanently, by the Regional Program Officer to other Water Science Centers where additional Federal Matching Funds are needed.

From the Federal Matching Funds allocations provided to the Water Science Centers, the WSC Directors allocate Federal Matching Funds to specific CWP projects and data-collection activities in the Water Science Centers, provided that proposals for those projects have been approved by the Region. In this regard, the WSC Director is the key decision-making official determining which projects receive Federal Matching Funds.

In FY 06 the percentages will be adjusted, as shown in the above table, to reflect the moves of two Water Science Centers from the Eastern Region to the Central Region, and the move of one Water Science Center from the Central Region to the Eastern Region. As in previous years, the Water Science Center Directors will allocate their Federal Matching Funds within the Water Science Center to projects and data collection activities for which proposals have been approved by the Region.

Decision Model: The Cooperative Water Program is an example of a program with Decision Model 1—Center-Focused Funding.

Proposal Generation and Approval: Proposals are generated in response to verbal or written statements of need developed in discussions between Water Science Center staff and cooperators. Proposals for data collection are usually handled as letter correspondence. Proposals for interpretive projects include a specified set of proposal elements.

Proposals may be written by Project Chiefs or Section Chiefs and are submitted to the Water Science Center Director for WSC approval. The WSC Director then submits the proposal to the Regional Hydrologist. Review at the Region includes, at a minimum, review by the Regional Program Officer. The RPO may also request additional reviews from Regional Technical Specialists or any other appropriate subject matter expert. Approval authority for proposals is exercised by the Regional Hydrologist, delegated to the Regional Program Officer. For an example of detailed guidance provided by a Regional Office for proposal approval, please see http://sr.water.usgs.gov/Proposals/SERmemo2004-01.pdf. All review and approval steps normally take place within 30 days of proposal submittal to the Region.

Under the FY ‘06 Regional Restructuring, proposal approval authority, as well as allocation of Federal Matching Funds from Regions to Water Science Centers, will be exercised by the Regional Director, delegated to the Regional Water Science Coordinator.

Guidelines for Proposals: Proposal approving officials must consider technical, financial, and policy aspects of a proposal during the review process to ensure that approved projects are technically feasible, have sufficient funding, and are in compliance with USGS policy. Policy considerations include:

• Avoiding competition with the private sector:
  http://water.usgs.gov/coop/competition.html
• Priority issues for the CWP: http://water.usgs.gov/coop/priorities.html
• Inclusion of a statement describing the benefits of the proposed project to the Nation;
• Other requirements regarding partnerships as outlined in the USGS Manual.

Review of Ongoing Activities: All activities of the CWP, including data collection and interpretive studies, are periodically reviewed to ensure that milestones are met, data and interpretations are valid, and USGS policies continue to be followed. Review requirements are detailed in the Quality Assurance Plans for the Water Science Centers and the Regions. Reviews include:

• Review of data and interpretations, conducted by peers and supervisors as needed,
• Project reviews, conducted quarterly or at key project time-points by the Water Science Center,
• Water Science Center Program Reviews, conducted annually by the Region,
• Water Science Center Technical Reviews, conducted every three years by the Regions in association with the HQ Technical Offices, and
• Water Science Center Strategic Reviews, conducted every five years by the Regions in association with HQ and Program Coordinators.

Reports: Findings resulting from projects in the Cooperative Water Program, like all other USGS findings, must be reviewed by peers and supervisors for scientific validity and adherence to USGS policies, approved at a level above the originating office, and made available to the public, with simultaneous release to all interested parties. Data generated by the CWP must be entered into the USGS National Water Information System to the extent that NWIS can accept the data. A number of publication outlets, ranging from web sites to USGS report series, proceedings, cooperator reports, journal articles, and books, may be used.

III. Major Changes to Program:

Changes in Funding: The buying power of Federal matching funds available in the CWP is expected to gradually decrease as Congressional appropriations remain approximately level or slightly declining. This trend, which has been in effect since about 1999, has resulted in the loss of some streamgaging stations, the loss of some USGS positions, and a growing funding gap between Federal and non-Federal contributions to the program. Many cooperators report that they will be unable to sustain much longer the trend toward cooperators covering an increasing proportion of program costs.

The National Streamflow Information Program (NSIP) overlaps with the CWP, since 65 percent of streamgaging is now covered by the CWP. If NSIP were to receive increased Congressional funding, there would be an easing of pressure on the CWP, as some gages now covered by joint-funding agreements would be converted to all-Federal funding.

The Administrative Matching Funds will be reduced by reductions in or elimination of the components related to Regionally-focused funds, Facilities, Enterprise Information, and Bureau Science Support.

Changes Associated with the New Regional Structure: In FY 07, assuming there is a new USGS Regional structure, a Regional staff member in a comparable position to the current Regional Program Officers will perform the duties outlined herein for the Regional Program Officer. These duties include funds allocation, proposal approval, and program review.

IV. Annual Update Table: Use the table provided in Attachment 2