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It will require a network of scientists to maintain the physical observing system, collect and analyze the data, and to collect and synthesize the infonnation on drought impacts. These and related observations must meet data quality standards for siting, performance and maintenance. The necessary physical information includes observations of precipitation, soil moisture, snow water content and snow depth, soil and air temperatures, humidity, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation. Currently, the placement of soil tem- perature and soil moisture measurements is too sparse, and nonexistent in many areas, for effective use. Drought revolves around the supply of and the demand for water. Integrating data on stream now, lake and reservoir levels, and ground water status also is required for NIDIS. With our increasing dependence on ground water, a cooperative system of ground water monitoring wells is essential. The greatest current data shortfalls are on the local (city/county) and state lev- els. Physical infonnation and drought impact information at these levels is almost impossible to obtain in a uniform manner across the nation. The National Weather Service (NWS) has proposed in its mooernization of the Cooperative Observer Network a minimum spatial density of one observing site for each 400 square miles across the country, or in other words, sites would be about 15 to 20 miles apart. Other placement strategies, such as using hydrologic units, may need to be employed to optimize spatial coverage. Drought infonnation needs also ditTer greatly by region. In the West, for exam- ple, mountain snow pack is a critical component of waler supply. It is thus essential to generate and distribute the best estimates possible of the water content of snow on the ground, snowmelt, and snow-to-vapor sublimation. . . Transmitting Climate Data Weather and climate observations have limited value if they cannot become part of a larger drought risk mosaic. A wide variety of data networks currently exist throughout the U.S. Many of these networks transmit their observations with telecommunications that balance frequency and reliability with operation and main- tenance costs. A large number of hydroclimatic observations, including the USGS streamflow network, are transmitted in near real-time by satellites (GOES). In the mountainous West, where data transmissions are often blocked by mountains, the meteor-burst technology used by the NRCS SNOTEL {SNOw TELemetryl net- work provides a reliable and cost-effective real-time data transmission method. In areas where terrain is not a constraint to data transmission, innovative partnerships have been established to "piggy-back" climate data over existing data networks. In Oklahoma. the Oklahoma Climatological Survey (QCS) has a partnership with the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (OLETS) allowing the transmission of its Mesonet data through police, fire and emergency management offices throughout the state. This high quality, land-line network eliminates the need for QCS to deploy and maintain an independent communica- tions network solely for Mesonet data. The bandwidth required to transmit all Mesonet observations and communications represents only a vcry small fraction of thc total OLETS capacity. The cooperative arrangement represents a savings of . over one million dollars annually for Mesonet operations. This model could be replicated in other states, working with the National Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS).