- Mission [1]
- The USGS manages the Advisory Committee on Water Information for the Department of the Interior as one element of Interior’s
end outcome goal under the Government Performance and Results Act for "Resource Protection: Improve the understanding of national
ecosystems and resources through integrated interdisciplinary assessment." This is accomplished through activities that contribute
to two intermediate outcome goals — "Ensure availability of long-term environmental and natural resource information, data,
and systematic analyses needed by land and resource managers for informed decisionmaking" and "Ensure the quality and relevance
of science information and data to support decisionmaking." The ACWI provides a neutral and objective forum where Interior
and other water-related Federal agencies -- whether their focus is regulation (Environmental Protection Agency), science (U.S.
Geological Survey), land and resource management (Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service; and U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service), oceans and coastal resources (National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service), flood forecasting (NOAA, National Weather Service) or other water-related
activities -- can work together to coordinate activities, share resources, and collaborate on the collection, storage, management,
analysis, and dissemination of water information. For example, the many State and non-government member associations within
ACWI broadly disseminate water data, information, and guidelines produced by ACWI and its Federal member agencies, which directly
assists volunteer monitoring groups, local and regional watershed groups, and State and regional monitoring councils to improve
water quality and resource decision-making. Examples include the on-line National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI – currently
with more than 1,000 holdings and celebrating its 11th anniversary); the guidelines for Water Quality Data Elements (currently
developing new data elements for physical habitat sampling), and training in monitoring and modeling techniques at the biennial
National Monitoring Conferences (next biennial conference April 30 - May 4, 2012, in Portland, Oregon). The ACWI also strongly
supports the USGS goal of ensuring the availability of long-term environmental and natural resource information, data, and
systematic analyses that are needed by land and resource managers for informed decisionmaking. In particular, the Methods
and Data Comparability Board products help to ensure high quality and relevant science information and data, and the National
Water Quality Monitoring Council has helped to improve intergovernmental communications through the formation of (and continuing
interaction with) numerous State, Regional, and Tribal Monitoring Councils. During FY 2011 the National Water Quality Monitoring
Council has continued regular dialogue and information exchange with State, Tribal, and regional monitoring councils, which
began in 2009 with a series of web seminars.
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