USGS FY2017 Budget Request Totals $1.2 Billion
The agency's breakdown of the funding request explains that it includes $228 million for water resources research, which is a $17.3 million increase above the FY2016 enacted level.
The U.S. Geological Survey is slated to receive $1.2 billion in funding from President Obama's fiscal year 2017 budget request, should it be enacted into law. The funding will keep core USGS science programs intact, according to the agency.
"Our diversity of scientific expertise uniquely positions the USGS to help address today's critical natural resource issues," said USGS Director Suzette Kimball. “From earthquakes to invasive species, from water quality to critical minerals, USGS science plays a pivotal role, and this budget request supports that important mission."
The agency's breakdown of the funding request explains that it includes $228 million for water resources research, which is a $17.3 million increase above the FY2016 enacted level. "The budget requests $60.2 million for Water Resources programs to use in matching State, municipality, and Tribal contributions for cooperative water efforts. This includes a $4 million increase under the Water Availability and Use Science Program to develop a near real-time assessment of regional and national water-use trends during drought periods. Other increases totaling $8.1 million would integrate water information from multiple agencies, provide state water resource agencies with the necessary base data at the resolution needed for decision making, and would develop better methods for sampling, estimating, aggregating, and presenting water use data. This increase also supports efforts to assess water budgets across snow-dominated regions of the Nation; including assessing systems, anticipating future changes, and extrapolating from monitored to unmonitored locations across critical landscapes in the Arctic," according to the summary.
There is also a $1.4 million increase for the Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program to expand the use of flood inundation mapping and rapidly deployable streamgages, which provide data to help manage flood response.