II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4462 

To establish a national integrated flood information system within the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 6, 2020 

Mr. WICKER (for himself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish a national integrated flood information system 

within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Flood Level Observation, Operations, and Decision Sup6 port Act’’ or the ‘‘FLOODS Act’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

8 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 


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Sec. 3. National Integrated Flood Information System. 

Sec. 4. Observations and modeling for total water prediction. 

Sec. 5. Service coordination hydrologists at River Forecast Centers of the National Weather Service. 

Sec. 6. Improving National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration communication of future flood risks and hazardous flash flood events. 

Sec. 7. Freshwater monitoring along the coast. 

Sec. 8. Tornado warning improvement. 

Sec. 9. Hurricane forecast improvement program. 

Sec. 10. Weather and water research and development planning. 

Sec. 11. Forecast communication coordinators. 

Sec. 12. Estimates of precipitation frequency in the United States. 

Sec. 13. Interagency Coordinating Committee on Water Management. 

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 

4 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

5 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 

6 Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern 

7 Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands of the United 

8 States, and any other territory or possession of the 

9 United States. 

10 (2) UNDER SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 

11 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce 

12 for Oceans and Atmosphere. 

13 SEC. 3. NATIONAL INTEGRATED FLOOD INFORMATION SYS14 TEM. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall estab16 lish a system, to be known as the ‘‘National Integrated 

17 Flood Information System’’, to better inform and provide 

18 for more timely decision making to reduce flood-related 

19 effects and costs. 


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1 (b) SYSTEM FUNCTIONS.—The Under Secretary, 

2 through the National Integrated Flood Information Sys3 tem, shall— 

4 (1) provide an effective flood early warning sys5 tem that— 

6 (A) collects and integrates information on 

7 the key indicators of floods and flood impacts, 

8 including streamflow, reservoir release and di9 version, precipitation, soil moisture, snow water 

10 equivalent, land cover, and evaporative demand; 

11 (B) makes usable, reliable, and timely fore12 casts of floods; 

13 (C) assesses the severity of flood conditions 

14 and effects; 

15 (D) issues flood watches and warnings 

16 when necessary; 

17 (E) provides information described in sub18 paragraph (A), forecasts described in subpara19 graph (B), and assessments described in sub20 paragraph (C) at the national, regional, and 

21 local levels, as appropriate; and 

22 (F) communicates flood forecasts, flood 

23 conditions, and flood impacts to public and pri24 vate entities engaged in flood planning, pre25 paredness, and response, including— 


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1 (i) decision makers at the Federal, 

2 State, local, and Tribal levels of govern3 ment; 

4 (ii) the private sector; and 

5 (iii) the public; 

6 (2) provide timely data, information, and prod7 ucts that reflect differences in flood conditions 

8 among localities, regions, watersheds, and States; 

9 (3) coordinate and integrate, through inter10 agency agreements as practicable, Federal research 

11 and monitoring in support of the flood early warning 

12 information system provided under paragraph (1); 

13 (4) use existing forecasting and assessment pro14 grams and partnerships; 

15 (5) make improvements in seasonal precipita16 tion and temperature, subseasonal precipitation and 

17 temperature, and flood water prediction; and 

18 (6) continue ongoing research and monitoring 

19 activities relating to floods, including research activi20 ties relating to— 

21 (A) the prediction, length, severity, and 

22 impacts of floods and improvement of the accu23 racy, timing, and specificity of flash flood warn24 ings; 


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1 (B) the role of extreme weather events and 

2 climate variability in floods; and 

3 (C) how water travels over and through 

4 surfaces. 

5 (c) PARTNERSHIPS.—The Under Secretary, through 

6 the National Integrated Flood Information System, may— 

7 (1) engage with the private sector to improve 

8 flood monitoring, forecasts, land and topography 

9 data, and communication, if the Under Secretary de10 termines that such engagement is appropriate, cost 

11 effective, and beneficial to the public and decision 

12 makers described in subsection (b)(1)(F)(i); 

13 (2) facilitate the development of 1 or more aca14 demic cooperative partnerships to assist in carrying 

15 out the functions of the National Integrated Flood 

16 Information System described in subsection (b); and 

17 (3) use and support monitoring by citizen sci18 entists, including by developing best practices to fa19 cilitate maximum data integration, as the Under 

20 Secretary considers appropriate. 

21 (d) CONSULTATION.—In developing and maintaining 

22 the National Integrated Flood Information System, the 

23 Under Secretary shall consult with relevant Federal, 

24 State, local, and Tribal government agencies, research in25 stitutions, and the private sector. 


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1 (e) COOPERATION FROM OTHER FEDERAL AGEN2 CIES.—Each Federal agency shall cooperate as appro3 priate with the Under Secretary in carrying out this sec4 tion. 

5 SEC. 4. OBSERVATIONS AND MODELING FOR TOTAL WATER 

6 PREDICTION. 

7 (a) PARTNERSHIPS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

9 establish partnerships with 1 or more institutions of 

10 higher education (as defined in section 101 of the 

11 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) to 

12 evaluate observations that would improve total water 

13 prediction. 

14 (2) PRIORITY OBSERVATIONS.—In establishing 

15 partnerships under paragraph (1), the Under Sec16 retary shall prioritize partnerships to evaluate obser17 vations from unmanned aerial systems. 

18 (b) MAINTAINED OBSERVATIONS.—If the Under Sec19 retary determines that incorporating additional observa20 tions improves total water prediction, the Under Secretary 

21 shall, to the extent practicable, continue incorporating 

22 those observations. 

23 (c) MODELING IMPROVEMENTS.—The Under Sec24 retary shall advance geographic coverage, resolution, skill, 

25 and efficiency of coastal oceanographic modeling, includVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:40 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4462.IS S4462

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1 ing efforts that improve the coupling of and interoper2 ability between hydrological models and coastal ocean 

3 models. 

4 (d) GEOSPATIAL DATA.—The Under Secretary shall 

5 advance the development of models to vertically transform 

6 geospatial data into a common system for use as the Fed7 eral standard for surveys and mapping. 

8 SEC. 5. SERVICE COORDINATION HYDROLOGISTS AT RIVER 

9 FORECAST CENTERS OF THE NATIONAL 

10 WEATHER SERVICE. 

11 (a) DESIGNATION OF SERVICE COORDINATION HY12 DROLOGISTS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

14 Weather Service (in this section referred to as the 

15 ‘‘Director’’) shall designate at least 1 service coordi16 nation hydrologist at each River Forecast Center of 

17 the National Weather Service. 

18 (2) PERFORMANCE BY OTHER EMPLOYEES.— 

19 Performance of the responsibilities outlined in this 

20 section is not limited to the service coordination hy21 drologist position. 

22 (b) PRIMARY ROLE OF SERVICE COORDINATION HY23 DROLOGISTS.—The primary role of the service coordina24 tion hydrologist shall be to carry out the responsibilities 

25 required by this section. 


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1 (c) RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

3 consistent with the analysis described in section 409 

4 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

5 Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–25; 131 Stat. 112), 

6 and in order to increase impact-based decision sup7 port services, each service coordination hydrologist 

8 designated under subsection (a) shall, with respect 

9 to hydrology— 

10 (A) be responsible for providing service to 

11 the geographic area of responsibility covered by 

12 the River Forecast Center at which the service 

13 coordination hydrologist is employed to help en14 sure that users of products and services of the 

15 National Weather Service can respond effec16 tively to improve outcomes from flood events; 

17 (B) liaise with users of products and serv18 ices of the National Weather Service, such as 

19 the public, academia, media outlets, users in the 

20 hydropower, transportation, recreation, and ag21 ricultural communities, and forestry, land, fish22 eries, and water management interests, to 

23 evaluate the adequacy and usefulness of the 

24 products and services of the National Weather 

25 Service; 


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1 (C) collaborate with such River Forecast 

2 Centers and Weather Forecast Offices and Fed3 eral, State, local, and Tribal government agen4 cies as the Director considers appropriate in de5 veloping, proposing, and implementing plans to 

6 develop, modify, or tailor products and services 

7 of the National Weather Service to improve the 

8 usefulness of such products and services; 

9 (D) engage in interagency partnerships 

10 with Federal, State, local, and Tribal govern11 ment agencies to explore the use of forecast-in12 formed reservoir operations to reduce flood risk; 

13 (E) ensure the maintenance and accuracy 

14 of flooding call lists, appropriate office flooding 

15 policy or procedures, and other flooding infor16 mation or dissemination methodologies or strat17 egies; and 

18 (F) work closely with Federal, State, local, 

19 and Tribal emergency management agencies, 

20 and other agencies relating to disaster manage21 ment, to ensure a planned, coordinated, and ef22 fective preparedness and response effort. 

23 (2) OTHER STAFF.—The Director may assign a 

24 responsibility set forth in paragraph (1) to such 


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1 other staff as the Director considers appropriate to 

2 carry out such responsibility. 

3 (d) ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a 

5 service coordination hydrologist designated under 

6 subsection (a) may, with respect to hydrology— 

7 (A) work with a State agency to develop 

8 plans for promoting more effective use of prod9 ucts and services of the National Weather Serv10 ice throughout the State; 

11 (B) identify priority community prepared12 ness objectives; 

13 (C) develop plans to meet the objectives 

14 identified under subparagraph (B); and 

15 (D) conduct flooding event preparedness 

16 planning and citizen education efforts with and 

17 through various State, local, and Tribal govern18 ment agencies and other disaster management19 related organizations. 

20 (2) OTHER STAFF.—The Director may assign a 

21 responsibility set forth in paragraph (1) to such 

22 other staff as the Director considers appropriate to 

23 carry out such responsibility. 

24 (e) PLACEMENT WITH STATE AND LOCAL EMER25 GENCY MANAGERS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this section, 

2 the Director may place a service coordination hy3 drologist designated under subsection (a) with a 

4 State or local emergency manager, if the Director 

5 determines that such placement is necessary or con6 venient to carry out this section. 

7 (2) TREATMENT.—If the Director determines 

8 that the placement of a service coordination hydrolo9 gist with a State or local emergency manager under 

10 paragraph (1) is near a River Forecast Center of the 

11 National Weather Service, such placement shall be 

12 treated as designation of the service coordination hy13 drologist at such River Forecast Center for purposes 

14 of subsection (a). 

15 SEC. 6. IMPROVING NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOS16 PHERIC ADMINISTRATION COMMUNICATION 

17 OF FUTURE FLOOD RISKS AND HAZARDOUS 

18 FLASH FLOOD EVENTS. 

19 (a) ASSESSMENT OF FLASH FLOOD WATCHES AND

20 WARNINGS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

22 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under 

23 Secretary shall— 

24 (A) conduct an assessment of— 


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1 (i) the flash flood watches and warn2 ings of the National Weather Service; and 

3 (ii) the information delivery to sup4 port preparation and responses to floods; 

5 and 

6 (B) submit to Congress a report on the 

7 findings of the Under Secretary with respect to 

8 the assessment required by subparagraph (A). 

9 (2) ELEMENTS.—The assessment required by 

10 paragraph (1)(A) shall include the following: 

11 (A) An evaluation of whether the watches, 

12 warnings, and information described in para13 graph (1)(A)— 

14 (i) communicate risk to the general 

15 public; 

16 (ii) inform action to prevent loss of 

17 life and property; 

18 (iii) inform action to support flood 

19 preparation and response; and 

20 (iv) deliver information in a manner 

21 designed to lead to appropriate action. 

22 (B) Subject to subsection (b)(2), such rec23 ommendations as the Under Secretary may 

24 have for— 


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1 (i) legislative and administrative ac2 tion to improve the watches and warnings 

3 described in paragraph (1)(A)(i); and 

4 (ii) such research as the Under Sec5 retary considers necessary to address the 

6 focus areas described in paragraph (3). 

7 (3) FOCUS AREAS.—The assessment required 

8 by paragraph (1)(A) shall focus on the following 

9 areas: 

10 (A) Ways to communicate the risks posed 

11 by hazardous flash flood events to the public 

12 that are most likely to result in informed deci13 sion making regarding the mitigation of those 

14 risks. 

15 (B) Ways to provide actionable geographic 

16 information to the recipient of a watch or warn17 ing for a flash flood, including partnering with 

18 emergency response agencies, as appropriate. 

19 (C) Evaluation of information delivery to 

20 support the preparation for and response to 

21 floods. 

22 (4) CONSULTATION.—In conducting the assess23 ment required by paragraph (1)(A), the Under Sec24 retary shall consult with— 


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1 (A) such line offices of the National Oce2 anic and Atmospheric Administration as the 

3 Under Secretary considers relevant, including— 

4 (i) the National Ocean Service; 

5 (ii) the National Weather Service; and 

6 (iii) the Office of Oceanic and Atmos7 pheric Research; 

8 (B) individuals in the academic sector, in9 cluding individuals in the field of social and be10 havioral sciences; 

11 (C) other weather services; 

12 (D) media outlets and other entities that 

13 distribute the watches and warnings described 

14 in paragraph (1)(A)(i); 

15 (E) emergency planners and responders, 

16 including State, local, and Tribal emergency 

17 management agencies; 

18 (F) other government users of the watches 

19 and warnings described in paragraph (1)(A)(i), 

20 including the Federal Highway Administration; 

21 and 

22 (G) such other Federal agencies as the 

23 Under Secretary determines rely on watches 

24 and warnings regarding flash floods for oper25 ational decisions. 


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1 (5) NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.—The 

2 Under Secretary shall engage with the National 

3 Academy of Sciences, as the Under Secretary con4 siders necessary and practicable, including by con5 tracting with the National Research Council to re6 view the scientific and technical soundness of the as7 sessment required by paragraph (1)(A), including 

8 the recommendations under paragraph (2)(B). 

9 (6) METHODOLOGIES.—In conducting the as10 sessment required by paragraph (1)(A), the Under 

11 Secretary shall use such methodologies as the Under 

12 Secretary considers are generally accepted by the 

13 weather enterprise, including social and behavioral 

14 sciences. 

15 (b) IMPROVEMENTS TO FLASH FLOOD WATCHES

16 AND WARNINGS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Based on the assessment re18 quired by subsection (a)(1)(A), the Under Secretary 

19 shall make such improvements to the watches and 

20 warnings described in that subsection as the Under 

21 Secretary considers necessary— 

22 (A) to improve the communication of the 

23 risks posed by hazardous flash flood events; and 


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1 (B) to provide actionable geographic infor2 mation to the recipient of a watch or warning 

3 for a flash flood. 

4 (2) REQUIREMENTS REGARDING RECOMMENDA5 TIONS.—In conducting the assessment required by 

6 subsection (a)(1)(A), the Under Secretary shall en7 sure that any recommendation under subsection 

8 (a)(2)(B) that the Under Secretary considers a 

9 major change— 

10 (A) is validated by social and behavioral 

11 science using a generalizable sample; 

12 (B) accounts for the needs of various de13 mographics, vulnerable populations, and geo14 graphic regions; 

15 (C) responds to the needs of Federal, 

16 State, local, and Tribal government partners 

17 and media partners; and 

18 (D) accounts for necessary changes to fed19 erally operated watch and warning propagation 

20 and dissemination infrastructure and protocols. 

21 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 (1) WATCH; WARNING.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

24 subparagraph (B), the terms ‘‘watch’’ and 

25 ‘‘warning’’, with respect to a hazardous flash 


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1 flood event, mean products issued by the Na2 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

3 intended for use by the general public— 

4 (i) to alert the general public to the 

5 potential for or presence of the event; and 

6 (ii) to inform action to prevent loss of 

7 life and property. 

8 (B) EXCLUSION.—The terms ‘‘watch’’ and 

9 ‘‘warning’’ do not include technical or special10 ized meteorological and hydrological forecasts, 

11 outlooks, or model guidance products. 

12 (2) WEATHER ENTERPRISE.—The term 

13 ‘‘weather enterprise’’ has the meaning given that 

14 term in section 2 of the Weather Research and 

15 Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

16 8501). 

17 SEC. 7. FRESHWATER MONITORING ALONG THE COAST. 

18 (a) DATA AVAILABILITY ASSESSMENT.—The Under 

19 Secretary shall assess the availability of short- and long20 term data on large-scale freshwater flooding into oceans, 

21 bays, and estuaries, including data on— 

22 (1) flow rate, including discharge; 

23 (2) conductivity; 

24 (3) oxygen concentration; 

25 (4) nutrient load; 


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1 (5) water temperature; and 

2 (6) sediment load. 

3 (b) DATA NEEDS ASSESSMENT.—The Under Sec4 retary shall assess the need for additional data to assess 

5 and predict the effect of the flooding and freshwater dis6 charge described in subsection (a). 

7 (c) INVENTORY OF DATA NEEDS.—Based on the as8 sessments required by subsections (a) and (b), the Under 

9 Secretary shall create an inventory of data needs with re10 spect to the flooding and freshwater discharge described 

11 in subsections (a) and (b). 

12 (d) PLANNING.—In planning for the collection of ad13 ditional data necessary for ecosystem-based modeling of 

14 the effect of the flooding and freshwater discharge de15 scribed in subsections (a) and (b), the Under Secretary 

16 shall use the inventory created under subsection (c). 

17 SEC. 8. TORNADO WARNING IMPROVEMENT. 

18 Section 103 of the Weather Research and Fore19 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8513) is 

20 amended— 

21 (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 

22 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 

23 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol24 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(c) INNOVATIVE OBSERVATIONS.—The Under Sec2 retary shall ensure that the program periodically examines 

3 the value of incorporating innovative observations, such as 

4 acoustic or infrasonic measurements, observations from 

5 phased array radars, and observations from mesonets, 

6 with respect to the improvement of tornado forecasts, pre7 dictions, and warnings.’’. 

8 SEC. 9. HURRICANE FORECAST IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. 

9 Section 104(b) of the Weather Research and Fore10 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8514(b)) is 

11 amended— 

12 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

13 inserting a semicolon; 

14 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at 

15 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

16 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(4) evaluating and incorporating, as appro18 priate, innovative observations, including acoustic or 

19 infrasonic measurements.’’. 

20 SEC. 10. WEATHER AND WATER RESEARCH AND DEVELOP21 MENT PLANNING. 

22 Section 105(2) of the Weather Research and Fore23 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8515(2)) is 

24 amended by inserting ‘‘and flood-event’’ after ‘‘operational 

25 weather’’. 


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1 SEC. 11. FORECAST COMMUNICATION COORDINATORS. 

2 Section 1762(f)(1) of the Food Security Act of 1985 

3 (15 U.S.C. 8521(f)(1)) is amended, in the second sen4 tence, by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’. 

5 SEC. 12. ESTIMATES OF PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY IN 

6 THE UNITED STATES. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) FREELY ASSOCIATED STATES.—The term 

9 ‘‘Freely Associated States’’ means the Republic of 

10 Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the 

11 Federated States of Micronesia, which have each en12 tered into a Compact of Free Association with the 

13 United States. 

14 (2) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘United 

15 States’’ means the 50 States of the United States, 

16 the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 

17 Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 

18 Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 

19 Northern Mariana Islands, and the Freely Associ20 ated States. 

21 (b) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Na22 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall es23 tablish a program, to be known as the ‘‘NOAA Precipita24 tion Frequency Atlas of the United States’’, to estimate 

25 and communicate the frequency of precipitation in the 

26 United States. 


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1 (c) FUNCTIONS.—The NOAA Precipitation Fre2 quency Atlas of the United States— 

3 (1) shall better inform the public and provide 

4 information on— 

5 (A) temporal and spatial distribution of 

6 heavy precipitation; 

7 (B) analyses of seasonality in precipitation; 

8 and 

9 (C) trends in annual maximum series data; 

10 and 

11 (2) may serve as the official source of the Fed12 eral Government on estimates of precipitation fre13 quency and associated information with respect to 

14 the United States. 

15 (d) REQUIREMENTS.— 

16 (1) COVERAGE.—The NOAA Precipitation Fre17 quency Atlas of the United States shall include such 

18 estimates of the frequency of precipitation in the 

19 United States as the Administrator determines ap20 propriate. 

21 (2) FREQUENCY.—Such estimates— 

22 (A) shall be conducted not less frequently 

23 than once every 10 years; and 

24 (B) may be conducted more frequently if 

25 determined appropriate by the Administrator. 


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1 (3) PUBLICATION.—Such estimates and meth2 odologies used to conduct such estimates shall be— 

3 (A) subject to an appropriate, scientific 

4 process, as determined by the Administrator; 

5 and 

6 (B) published on a publicly accessible 

7 website of the National Oceanic and Atmos8 pheric Administration. 

9 (e) PARTNERSHIPS.—The Administrator may partner 

10 with other Federal agencies, members of the private sec11 tor, academic cooperative partnerships, or nongovernment 

12 associations to assist in carrying out the functions de13 scribed in subsection (c). 

14 (f) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this section, the 

15 Administrator may consult with relevant Federal, State, 

16 local, Tribal, and Territorial government agencies, re17 search institutions, and the private sector, as the Adminis18 trator determines necessary. 

19 (g) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this section, the 

20 Administrator may coordinate with other Federal agen21 cies. 

22 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

24 from amounts otherwise authorized to be appropriated to 


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1 the Administrator to carry out this Act, $3,500,000 for 

2 each of fiscal years 2021 through 2030. 

3 SEC. 13. INTERAGENCY COORDINATING COMMITTEE ON 

4 WATER MANAGEMENT. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a com6 mittee, to be known as the ‘‘Interagency Coordinating 

7 Committee on Water Management’’ (in this section re8 ferred to as the ‘‘Committee’’). 

9 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Committee shall be com10 posed of the following members: 

11 (1) The Under Secretary. 

12 (2) The Assistant Secretary for Water and 

13 Science of the Department of the Interior. 

14 (3) The head of each of the following: 

15 (A) The Federal Emergency Management 

16 Agency. 

17 (B) The Army Corps of Engineers. 

18 (C) The National Science Foundation. 

19 (D) The Office of Science and Technology 

20 Policy. 

21 (E) The Council on Environmental Qual22 ity. 

23 (F) The Department of Energy. 

24 (G) The Department of Agriculture. 


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1 (H) Any other Federal agency, as the co2 chairs consider appropriate. 

3 (c) CO-CHAIRS.—The Committee shall be co-chaired 

4 by the Secretary of the Interior and the Administrator of 

5 the Environmental Protection Agency. 

6 (d) MEETINGS.—The Committee shall meet not less 

7 frequently than once each year at the call of the co-chairs. 

8 (e) GENERAL PURPOSE AND DUTIES.—The Com9 mittee shall ensure that agencies across the Federal Gov10 ernment that engage in water-related matters, including 

11 water storage and supplies, water quality and restoration 

12 activities, water infrastructure, transportation on United 

13 States rivers and inland waterways, and water forecasting, 

14 work together where such agencies have joint or overlap15 ping responsibilities to— 

16 (1) improve interagency coordination by Fed17 eral agencies on water resource management and 

18 water-related infrastructure issues; 

19 (2) coordinate and consolidate existing water20 related Federal task forces, working groups, and 

21 other formal cross-agency initiatives, as appropriate; 

22 (3) designate and consolidate repositories re23 sponsible for archiving and managing water-related 

24 matters; 


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1 (4) improve interagency coordination of data 

2 management, access, modeling, and visualization 

3 with respect to water-related matters; 

4 (5) conduct integrated planning for Federal in5 vestments in water-related infrastructure; and 

6 (6) support workforce development and efforts 

7 to recruit, train, and retain professionals to operate 

8 and maintain essential water facilities in the United 

9 States. 

10 (f) CROSS-AGENCY PRIORITY RESEARCH NEEDS.— 

11 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 

12 this Act, the Committee shall develop and submit to Con13 gress a list of research needs that includes needs for cross14 agency research and coordination. 

Æ 


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