Water for America initiative

In the FY 2009 President’s Budget, the Department of Interior proposes a joint Bureau of Reclamation – U.S. Geological Survey Water for America initiative that calls for, in the next decade, a new nationwide appraisal for water availability that tracks changing flow, use, and storage of water and develops models and predictive tools to guide Federal, State, and local decision makers in wise stewardship of this precious resource


One goal of the Water for America initiative is to foster better cooperation between the USGS and State Geological Surveys to map the geologic framework of the Nation’s aquifers.

In a message I got from the USGS mapping program director Peter Lyttle, he offers that an accurate understanding of the subsurface stratigraphy, the lateral and vertical extent of aquifers, and the structural geometry of subsurface basins is needed for determining estimates of available ground water.

Peter proposes that the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) will provide geologic framework information through geologic mapping and other derivative products for a better understanding of ground water and, to lesser degree, surface water information to help develop robust models.

Funds to states for geologic mapping from the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program will be awarded to those STATEMAP and FEDMAP projects that most directly contribute to the goals of the initiative.