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<br />Introduction
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<br />Streamflow information is critical to water management decisions and planning, affecting
<br />countless lives and economies at the national, regional, state and local levels, These data,
<br />collected at stream gaging stations operated by the V.S, Geological Survey, are threatened by
<br />federal and state budget cuts. The number of stream gages have been fairly steady, around 7000,
<br />since 1983, What is more troubling with that, however, is the proportion of non-federal funding
<br />supporting gages has deviated from the historic 50:50 cost-share arrangement through the USGS
<br />Co-Operative Program to a situation in Federal Fiscal Year 2000, where only $27 million of the
<br />$39 million contributed by state and local agencies was matched by the USGS, Moreover, the
<br />number of stations with long term (greater than 30 years) record has decreased by over 1000
<br />between 1983 and 2000, Thus, while the number of gages has remained fairly constant, long
<br />term stations have been lost at a rate of about 50-60 gages per year since 1983, In other words,
<br />while the need for gages continues to present itself, financial shortcoming have mortgaged our
<br />ties with the hydrologic past, leading to an umeliable evaluation ofthe status and trends of our
<br />nation's streamflow,
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<br />In 1998, Congress expressed concern over the status of the USGS streamgaging program,
<br />noting a steady decline in number of stations over the past decade, in the face of growing needs
<br />for long-term water management and flood forecasting, In November, 1998, USGS prepared a
<br />report to Congress outlining the streamgaging networks declining ability to meet longstanding
<br />Federal goals through the decrease in gages, the disproportionate loss of gages with long periods
<br />of record and inability of USGS to operate priority gages as cooperating agencies discontinued
<br />funding, In 1999, USGS proposed a new strategic program, the National Streamflow
<br />Infonnation Program (NSIP) to address these declining abilities and addressing the new demands
<br />for data collection and delivery,
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<br />Additionally, in 1997, the Interstate Council on Water Policy (ICWP), began to
<br />investigate the need for an alternative arrangement for securing streamflow information within
<br />the programs of the USGS, These alternatives recognized the need to re-evaluate the purposes of
<br />stream gages and assign responsibility to the users of those gages, as defined by the purpose of
<br />the gage, In some cases, gages which were supported by the Co-Op program were mainly
<br />operated to satisfy Federal interests and needs, Conversely, there were a number of Federal
<br />gages which were not of high utility to non-federal users, ICWP sought to redefine the
<br />relationships of the USGS, other Federal agencies and the non-federal cooperators in securing
<br />long term streamflow information,
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<br />This interest manifested into the creation of a Stream gaging Task Force attached to the
<br />U,S, Department ofInterior's Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI). The Task
<br />Force began to identify the goals of the existing stream gaging network and the achievement of
<br />those goals by that network, As part of that endeavor, ICWP agreed to conduct a series of
<br />workshops to gain input on the present condition of the gaging network, future goals and
<br />purposes of streamgaging and considerations in formulating a national stream gaging network for
<br />the future.
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