H.R. 3510

Water Resources Research Amendments Act

Statement for the Record
U.S. Department of the Interior
House Natural Resources Committee
Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife
on
H.R. 3510 – Water Resources Research Amendments Act

July 25, 2019

Thank you for the opportunity to provide the Department’s views on H.R. 3510, to amend the Water Resource Research Act of 1984 (Act) and reauthorize water resources research, information transfer, and student training grants and contract programs carried out by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).  Under this authorization, the USGS supports, coordinates, and facilitates research through Annual Base Grants, National Competitive Grants, Coordination Grants to the National Institutes of Water Resources (NIWR), and in operating the NIWR-USGS Student Internship Program. 

H.R. 3510 would reauthorize the Act which expired in 2011 for $8.25 million from 2020 through 2023 and would authorize $1.75 million of additional funding from 2020 through 2023 for the National Competitive Grants as authorized under section 104g of the Act.  Additionally, the bill would require that each Institute receiving a grant under the Act provide from non-Federal sources an amount at least equal to the grant awarded.  Finally, the bill requires the Secretary to annually report to Congress on the compliance of each funding recipient and to evaluate each Institute on a set of specific performance criteria every five years to determine whether further financial support is warranted.

To address higher priorities, USGS did not request funds in fiscal year 2020 for the Water Research Act Program

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