II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4500 

To modify operations of the National Water Center of the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 11, 2024 

Mrs. BRITT (for herself and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which 

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

Transportation 

A BILL 

To modify operations of the National Water Center of 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water Research Opti5 mization Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF OPERATIONS OF NATIONAL 

2 WATER CENTER. 

3 Section 301 of the Coordinated Ocean Observations 

4 and Research Act of 2020 (42 U.S.C. 10371) is amend5 ed— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

8 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

9 by inserting ‘‘, within the Office of Water 

10 Prediction of the National Weather Serv11 ice,’’ after ‘‘shall establish’’; 

12 (ii) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

13 after the semicolon; 

14 (iii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe15 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

16 (iv) by adding at the end the following 

17 new clause: 

18 ‘‘(iii) to lead the transition of water 

19 research by the Federal Government, in20 cluding model development, into operations 

21 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

22 Administration and the National Weather 

23 Service.’’; 

24 (B) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(F) Serving as the primary center within 

2 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin3 istration for research, development, collabora4 tion, and coordination of the water research 

5 and operational activities of the Administration 

6 and other centers and networks of the Federal 

7 Government, including those of the Department 

8 of Agriculture, the Army Corps of Engineers, 

9 the Bureau of Reclamation, the United States 

10 Geological Survey, and the Federal Emergency 

11 Management Agency. 

12 ‘‘(G) Integrating and promoting consist13 ency among national and regional hydrological 

14 operations.’’; and 

15 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(3) INCORPORATION INTO UNIFIED FORECAST

17 SYSTEM.—The Under Secretary shall use the Weath18 er and Climate Operational Supercomputing System, 

19 or any successor system, to support the development 

20 and implementation of advanced water resources 

21 modeling capabilities under paragraph (2)(B) and 

22 shall incorporate those modeling capabilities into the 

23 unified forecast system.’’; 

24 (2) by striking subsection (b); 


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1 (3) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), and 

2 (e) as subsections (b), (e), and (f), respectively; 

3 (4) by inserting after subsection (b), as redesig4 nated by paragraph (3), the following: 

5 ‘‘(c) ORGANIZATION WITH RIVER FORECAST CEN6 TERS.—The Under Secretary, acting through the Director 

7 of the Office of Water Prediction of the National Weather 

8 Service, shall supervise and oversee the administration, 

9 management, and operations of each River Forecast Cen10 ter of the National Weather Service and coordinate those 

11 operations with the National Water Center. 

12 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF COOP13 ERATIVE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH TO OPERATIONS IN

14 HYDROLOGY.—The Under Secretary, acting through the 

15 Director of the Office of Water Prediction of the National 

16 Weather Service, shall administer the duties and activities 

17 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

18 related to the Cooperative Institute for Research to Oper19 ations in Hydrology, or any successor entity, and coordi20 nate the activities of the Institute with the National Water 

21 Center.’’; and 

22 (5) in subsection (e)(4), as redesignated by 

23 paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 2024’’ and 

24 inserting ‘‘each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028’’. 

Æ 


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