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availability infrastructure). This is analogous to the Federal role in assessment of mineral <br />and energy resources, environmental quality, activities of agriculture or industrial sectors, <br />or general indicators of economic, health or demographic conditions. Since 1879, the <br />USGS has been the agency with the primary responsibility for assessment of most earth <br />resources such as energy, minerals, or water; this effort therefore would be a logical <br />enhancement of that long- standing role for the USGS. 2) Water crosses State lines and <br />thus assessment and planning of water resources for any given State must depend on <br />consistent analysis of the water in adjoining and upstream States. This proposed national <br />overview of water availability is needed to enable individual States to do the detailed <br />planning that is their responsibility. 3) Federal efforts can help ensure the use of <br />nationally consistent methods of data collection, analysis, synthesis, and reporting. The <br />role of the Federal government in the collection and sharing of water data to support State <br />efforts in water management was recently highlighted in a report by the U.S. General <br />Accounting Office (GAO) to members of Congress (U.S. General Accounting Office, <br />2003). Water managers from 39 States who responded to a GAO survey on how Federal <br />actions could best help States meet their water - resource challenges ranked expanding the <br />number of Federal data - collection points as the most useful Federal action to help their <br />State meet its water - information needs. Further justification for a Federal role, <br />particularly in western water assessments, is the large portion of the land that is managed <br />by Federal agencies or reserved for Indian tribes. <br />General Approach <br />The 21 Water Resources Regions will serve as the primary organizing framework for the <br />assessment activities (Figure 1). Adjustments will be made for major aquifer systems <br />that cross boundaries of Water Resources Regions. Thus, reporting will be by watersheds <br />and also by major aquifer systems, as appropriate. Building from a regional framework is <br />needed to account for the variability in water availability issues across the country. A <br />brief summary of the water availability issues for each of the 21 Water Resources <br />Regions is provided as an appendix to this report. <br />Studies in each Water Resources Region (Region) will be ongoing, feeding into the <br />process of an updated national assessment every 5 years. Interim products of both <br />regional and national scope will supplement these periodic standardized reports. Each 5- <br />year period of study in a Region will include a base program focused on consistent <br />nationwide reporting of indicators and more targeted studies of key water - budget issues <br />that are tailored to a Region or set of Regions. <br />To refine the design, we plan to focus initially on two areas —the Great Lakes and the <br />Lower Colorado River Basins. These two areas differ greatly in their climate, geography, <br />and water - resources situation. Both areas, however, have major water availability issues <br />that may destabilize their regional economies and disrupt ecosystem functions. The <br />studies of the Great Lakes and the Lower Colorado River Basins will require 5 years for <br />completion. These studies will be accompanied by an overarching activity that addresses <br />methods of analysis, preliminary national synthesis of information, and development of <br />M <br />