**Statement**

**Of Robert Johnson**

**Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation**

**and**

**Robert M. Hirsch**

**Associate Director for Water, United States Geological Survey**

**U.S. Department of the Interior\
Before the**

**Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources**

**on**

**S. 2156, the Science and Engineering to Comprehensively Understand &
Responsibly Enhance Water Act (SECURE Water Act)**

**December 11, 2007**

Chairman Bingaman and Ranking Member Domenici, we would like to thank
you for the opportunity to appear today to present the Department of the
Interior's views on S. 2156, a bill titled the "Science and Engineering
to Comprehensively Understand and Responsibly Enhance Water Act" or the
"SECURE Water Act." This legislation would authorize substantial new
investments in our nation's understanding of the water resources vital
to our way of life. S. 2156 contemplates a number of task forces, data
gathering efforts, grant authorities, and assessments prepared by key
federal agencies covering many of the Nation's water basins.

While some of the activities authorized in the legislation are
consistent with initiatives and research areas that are already being
pursued by the Department, we have strong concerns with certain parts of
this legislation. One concern is that many of the activities called for
in this bill are not in the President's budget. While some of the bill's
provisions have the potential to strengthen existing programs, there are
additional requirements in the legislation that would compete with
ongoing, high-priority Administration programs. In addition, we note
that the Bureau of Reclamation and the United States Geological Survey
(USGS) are already authorized to carry out many of the activities
provided for in this bill.

We believe, however, that many of the goals of this bill- expanding data
acquisition and analysis to improve water management and ensuring that
decisionmakers have reliable information about water resources and
climate change impacts on water availability and energy production- are
critically important. We support these goals, which are similar to those
outlined in a number of recent plans and reports issued by the National
Science and Technology Council's Committee on Environment and Natural
Resources, Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality (SWAQ), and
the National Research Council (NRC).

In particular, the bill tracks closely with five of the seven elements
of implementation identified by the SWAQ report, *A Strategy for Federal
Science and Technology to Support Water Availability and Quality in the
United States* (September 2007), which has been endorsed by the Office
of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy
in their FY 09 guidance to the agencies. The areas of congruence include
calls for implementing a national water census, developing a new
generation of water-monitoring techniques, developing and expanding
technologies for enhancing reliable water supply, improving
understanding of the water-related ecosystem services and ecosystem
needs for water, and improving hydrologic prediction models and their
applications. Existing authorities are generally adequate to pursue
these activities.

In 2004, the National Research Council warned that "\[t\]he strategic
challenge for the future is to ensure adequate quantity and quality of
water to meet human and ecological needs in the face of growing
competition among domestic, industrial-commercial, agricultural, and
environmental uses." The USGS has described a possible approach to
quantifying, forecasting, and securing freshwater for America's future
by developing a water census of the United States. Such a census could
include the status of the Nation's freshwater resources and how they are
changing, a more precise determination of water use for human and
environmental needs, the relationship of water availability to natural
and engineered storage and movement of water, and other key issues (see
*Facing Tomorrow's Challenges -- U.S. Geological Survey Science in the
Decade 2007-2017,* USGS Circular 1309).

Water is the lifeblood of the Nation and the foundation of our economy.
It is easy to forget that water is a limited resource, particularly in
some of the fastest growing areas of the country. Improving water
security is important to our Nation's energy, agricultural, and
environmental future. The U.S. population is growing quickly in regions
of water scarcity, irrigated agriculture is moving into new areas, and
our increasing focus on biofuels will lead to significant associated
water needs. Additionally, climate change is predicted to change
evapotranspiration, precipitation types and amounts, runoff, and
ground-water recharge. The SECURE Water Act contains measures designed
to take proactive steps towards addressing the water challenges of the
21st century. The remainder of this statement will discuss each of the
substantive sections of this bill and discuss Administration concerns
about each section, including concerns about the need to take into
account budgetary parameters.

[Climate Change Adaptation]{.underline}

Section 4 of the legislation authorizes a Climate Change Adaptation
Program, and requires that the Secretary report to Congress on the
effect of global climate change on each major Reclamation river basin.
Monitoring and reporting increments are all detailed in this section,
and much of it is focused on the potential effects of climate change on
Reclamation projects and developing mitigation strategies. Reclamation
testified before this Committee on June 6, 2007 regarding the widely
acknowledged need to improve the quantity and resolution of our
basin-specific data related to climate change. Existing authorities are
generally adequate for this purpose. The SECURE Water Act requires that
the Secretary collect information and provide annual reports to "assess
the effect, and the risk resulting from, global climate change." While
the Administration acknowledges the relevance of this information,
acquiring sufficient data to enable a comprehensive assessment of the
risk to water supplies at the basin level associated with climate
change, and then to develop and implement appropriate mitigation
strategies, is a significant challenge that would require much more time
than the one year allowed under this bill. In order to carry out the
necessary data acquisition to complete these reports, we suggest that
the 8 major river basin studies, or portions of the basins as
appropriate, could be completed in five years, and updated every three
to five years. This research and reporting activity would need to
compete among the Administration's other priorities for funding. We also
recommend that the bill make clear how it impacts basin-specific
statutes with existing obligations such as the Truckee-Carson-Pyramid
Lake Water Rights Settlement Act of 1990, Pub. L. 101-618.

Despite these concerns, we recognize and agree with the premise of this
section: that it is important to develop collaborative approaches to
assess the potential impacts of climate change on water supplies and to
develop strategies to address potential water shortages, conflicts, and
other impacts. Although it is widely agreed that climate change will
have significant impacts on water supplies and flood hazards, there is a
great deal of uncertainty about the nature of the change that can be
expected. Effective adaptation to these changes will depend on better
monitoring, better climatic and hydrologic models, and new thinking
about water-resource system operations. The USGS, Reclamation, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are already working together to
develop comprehensive approaches to water planning and management in a
more uncertain world. Federal agencies are also working with non-Federal
entities regarding climate change and water resource management
challenges in the United States.

[Water 2025 Grants]{.underline}

Section 5 provides a new permanent authority for the Bureau of
Reclamation to issue water conservation grants for qualified entities.
This section would authorize the *Water 2025* Program and is similar to
authorizing legislation we submitted to the Committee as an
administration proposal. This section would provide permanent
authorization for the Challenge Grant component of the Department of the
Interior's *Water 2025* program.

*Water 2025* is intended to focus attention on the reality that rapid
population growth in western urban areas, the emerging need for water
for environmental uses, and the national importance of western farms and
ranches are driving major conflicts between competing uses of water.
*Water 2025* recognizes that State and local government should play
leading roles in meeting these challenges, and that the Department of
the Interior should focus its attention and existing resources on areas
where Federal dollars can provide the greatest benefits to the West and
the rest of the Nation.

*Water 2025* has two purposes. First, it provides a basis for a public
discussion of the realities that face the West so that decisions can be
made at the appropriate level in advance of water supply crises. Second,
it sets forth a framework to identify the problems, solutions, and a
plan of action to focus limited resources as the Department of the
Interior works with States, Tribes, local government, and others to meet
water supply challenges.

For the first years of the program, FY 2004 through the present, *Water
2025* has been funded through the annual appropriation process.
Permanent authorization would improve the long-term effectiveness of
Water 2025 by allowing eligible entities to rely on the availability of
the grants and therefore to invest resources in developing potential
projects.

While the Department supports this provision, the requirement in Section
5(a) contains overly proscriptive language relative to which entities
may receive the grants. The directive to provide grants only in
watersheds that have a nexus to federal Reclamation projects would limit
the flexibility of the current Water 2025 Program, and constrain our
ability to select projects that best match the Program's mandate to
remove institutional barriers to increase cooperation and collaboration
among Federal, State, Tribal, and other organizations. In the
Administration proposal, we suggested language limiting the grants to
activities "in watersheds that have a nexus to Federal water projects"
in Reclamation States. Federal water projects encompass a larger number
of projects than "federal Reclamation projects," and given the active
role of agencies such as the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Indian
Affairs in developing water resources throughout the West, this language
is preferable to language in S. 2156 as introduced limiting the grants
to projects "that have a nexus to federal Reclamation projects."

Additionally, the Department recommends that the legislation
specifically designate the authority to enter into Cooperative
Agreements for research as not limited only to activities carried out
under the appropriation ceiling established by this section. This
authority exists for almost all federal agencies, but it is not clear
whether Reclamation's authority, often contained in appropriations
bills, has general applicability. This legislation could clarify this
situation.

[Effect of Climate Change on Hydroelectric Power Generation]{.underline}

Section(6)(a) tasks the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with each
Power Marketing Administration (PMA), to "assess each effect of, and
risk resulting from, global climate change with respect to water
supplies that are required for the generation of hydroelectric power at
each Federal water project that is applicable to a Federal Power
Marketing Administration."

While the responsibilities of transmission and marketing of federal
hydroelectric power lies with the PMA's (P.L. 95-91), hydrologic
scheduling and facility operations and maintenance still lie with
Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). There may be
some duplication of effort between DOI and the Department of Energy
given the requirements on Interior in Section 4, and Interior would
expect that much of the information generated for a Section 4 report
could be useful for the Section 6 assessments. Finally, as the nation's
first and second largest producers of hydroelectric power in the nation,
respectively, the Corps and Reclamation should be includedI in the
Section 6(a) consultations with the Secretary of Energy and the PMAs in
order to ensure a full assessment of risks to water supplies used for
federal hydroelectric generation.

[Climate Change and Water Intragovernmental Panel]{.underline}

Section 7 of the SECURE Water Act directs the Secretary to establish and
lead a climate change and water intragovernmental panel to review the
current scientific understanding of global climate change impacts on the
water resources of the United States and to develop strategies to
improve observational capabilities and expand data acquisition to
increase the reliability and accuracy of modeling and prediction systems
to benefit water managers at the Federal, State, and local levels.

This is a commendable goal and, by directing multiple agencies to
participate, should foster coordination among the agencies and lead to
improved integration of water resources-related capabilities of the
numerous agencies with water-resources responsibilities. The Secretary
has already taken action on this front, by establishing a climate change
team, internal to DOI, to evaluate climate change science, management,
and policy issues. The proposed intragovernmental panel is consistent
with this effort and a logical next step. We suggest adding the
Secretary of Energy to the panel. In addition, the panel's efforts
should be coordinated with the work of the interagency Climate Change
Science Program. However, as we stated with respect to section 4, the
activities of this panel must compete against other programs for
funding, and under existing budget constraints the number and timing of
the reporting requirements may pose a resource and practical challenge.

[USGS Water Data Enhancement]{.underline}

The USGS has played an essential role in monitoring the Nation's rivers
for well over a century, providing streamflow information that is
critical for protecting life and property from floods, assessing and
allocating water resources, managing water quality, supporting
engineering design of water projects, and ensuring the safety and
enjoyment of the many people who fish and boat in the Nation's rivers
and streams. The USGS currently operates more than 7,000 streamgages
nationwide that provide daily streamflow records accessible to the
public. This national system of streamgages provides information that is
vital to water resources management throughout the country, providing
accurate measurements that protect human life, health, welfare, and
property.

We appreciate the emphasis that this legislation places on this valuable
network, for which the Administration has twice proposed increases in
the Federal funding (in the FY07 and FY08 budgets). We have recently
conducted an extensive review of the plans for the National Streamflow
Information Program (NSIP), including reports by the National Research
Council and the Advisory Council on Water Information (ACWI), and
several national and regional stakeholder meetings. Section 8(a)(1)of
the proposed legislation calls for a review of the NSIP plan. We are
concerned about the additional time and expense associated with such a
review, in light of the recent extensive, and expensive, reviews that
have already been conducted. We are also concerned that the legislation
does not consider the important role that cost-sharing plays in the
funding of streamgages. We continue to believe that cost-sharing by
State and local agencies should be a prerequisite for national funding.
The lack of a cost-share requirement would hinder efforts to meet the
measurement goal identified in section 8(a)(4) of the bill, and could
undermine the current cost-sharing structure between the USGS and State
and local agencies.

The SECURE Water Act requires the USGS to work with Federal, state, and
local entities to implement a systematic ground-water monitoring program
for major aquifer systems in the United States and to support the
ground-water climate response network. The USGS co-chairs the
Subcommittee on Ground Water under ACWI that was formed in January 2007
with the goal of creating a framework for ground-water monitoring across
the Nation. This effort, involving more than 60 people from the private
sector, academia, and Federal, State, and local governments, is
currently under way. If this legislation were enacted, the Secretary
would use the established ACWI mechanism to develop the plans called for
in Section 8(b). However, no new authorities are needed to move this
process forward.

The SECURE Water Act authorizes the Secretary to provide grants to
develop new methods and technologies to estimate or measure
water-resources data in a cost-efficient manner. Given the high level of
experience and capability of Federal agencies, including the USGS, NOAA,
Reclamation, the Corps of Engineers, and the Agricultural Research
Service, we think that the use of grants only would be less effective
than a broader approach involving Federal agencies, academia, and the
private sector.

[USGS Water Use and Availability Assessment Program]{.underline}

It has been said that "you can't manage what you don't measure." The
last overall assessment of water resources for the Nation was published
by the Water Resources Council in 1978. Since that time, dramatic
changes in water availability and use have occurred as a result of
demographics, economic development, environmental issues, technology,
law, and a changing climate. Our ability to manage water in the context
of competing demands would be significantly enhanced with an up-to-date
water census that includes a national ground-water information system,
new technology that integrates surface- and ground-water information,
and better measurement that leads to better management of water
resources.

Section 9 of the SECURE Water Act directs the USGS to implement a
program to provide a more accurate assessment of the status of the water
resources of the United States; to assist in the determination of the
quantity of water that is available for beneficial uses; to identify
long-term trends in water availability; to provide a more accurate
assessment of the change in the availability of water in the United
States; and to develop the basis for an improved ability to forecast the
availability of water for future economic, energy production, and
environmental uses. This information would help us advance from our
current understanding of water availability toward a more comprehensive,
"big picture" assessment of available water supplies.

Some work towards this assessment has been started pursuant to a
directive made by the House Appropriations Committee in their report
language on the FY 2002 budget. The USGS has responded to the Congress
with a plan for a comprehensive water assessment: USGS Circular 1223,
"Concepts for National Assessment of Water Availability and Use" \[see
<http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/circ1223/>\]. It is also consistent with the
NRC report *Estimating Water Use in the United States* (2002), which
called for the USGS to strengthen its National Water Use Information
Program in order to maintain a comprehensive national water inventory,
help assure the Nation's water supply, and help preserve water quality
and protect ecological resources. The usefulness of this kind of
information can be seen from a pilot effort in the Great Lakes Basin to
assess how much water is in the region now, how the region is using
water, how water availability is changing, and how much water the region
can expect to have in the future. Through this pilot effort, the USGS
has published a number of products that we believe will help water
managers understand the water resources of that region, including
reports on estimates of ground water in storage, ground-water recharge
rates, lake-level variability, and historical changes in precipitation
and streamflow. We believe that this Great Lakes Basin pilot is a good
model of a water census as defined in the SWAQ report mentioned above,
*A Strategy for Federal Science and Technology to Support Water
Availability and Quality in the United States*.

Recognizing that the goal is to develop and maintain a comprehensive
national water resource inventory, help assure the Nation's water
supply, and help preserve water availability and protect water
resources, we would be pleased to work with the Committee to refine this
section in order to put together a program that is fiscally sustainable
and appropriately integrated with State and local efforts.

[Conclusion]{.underline}

In conclusion, the Department is currently pursuing many of the goals of
this legislation, which include enhancing our understanding of our
Nation's water resources and encouraging collaborative efforts to
improve water management. While some of the actions authorized in the
SECURE Water Act have the potential to strengthen the Nation's ability
to address water-related challenges beyond activities currently
underway, funding requests for new activities will have to compete with
other high-priority programs for funds. We also have concerns with the
specific language in the bill, particularly relating to the need for
consistent terminology usage and definition of key terms that may be
defined differently in other environmental and natural resources
statutes. We have identified several other areas in which technical
changes may be needed. We would be happy to work with the Committee to
revise the bill to address our concerns.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on S. 2156. The Department
looks forward to working with the Committee to advance the objectives
described in the bill.

[References]{.underline}

*Assessing the National Streamflow Information Program* (National
Research Council, 2004) *Concepts for National Assessment of Water
Availability and Use* (USGS Circular 1223)

> *Ground-Water-Level Monitoring and the Importance of Long-Term
> Water-Level Data* (USGS Circular 1217).

*Estimating Water Use in the United States* (National Research Council,
2002).

> *Facing Tomorrow's Challenges -- U.S. Geological Survey Science in the
> Decade 2007-2*017 (USGS Circular 1309).

*A Strategy for Federal Science and Technology to Support Water
Availability and Quality in the United States* (Subcommittee on Water
Availability and Quality, 2007).