President Joe Biden signed 50 bills on Christmas Eve, including the Water Monitoring and Tracking Essential Resources (WATER) Data Improvement Act that supports the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Ground-Water Monitoring Network (NGWMN) through 2028.
A long-time policy priority for NGWA, NGWMN is a compilation of selected groundwater monitoring wells from federal, state, and local groundwater monitoring networks across the nation.
The NGWMN Data Portal provides access to groundwater data from multiple, dispersed databases in a web-based mapping application. The portal contains current and historical data including water levels, water quality, lithology, and well construction.
The recently signed WATER Data Improvement Act also authorizes USGS funding through 2028 for the Federal Priority Streamgage network, which tracks the amount of water in streams and rivers, and any grants for water estimation, measurement, and monitoring technologies/methodologies.
NGWA’s Government Affairs will discuss the NGWMN during its webinar, “Speaking Up for Groundwater - Policy and Politics in 2025,” from 12:30-1:30 p.m. ET on January 16, 2025. Click here to register.
NGWA will also cohost with the Water Quality Association the 2025 Water Resources Congressional Summit on March 25-26 in Washington, D.C. The event will connect attendees with key decision-makers in Congressional offices, government agencies, and departments to foster better working relationships and understanding about water issues, challenges, and solutions like the NGWMN. Click here for more information including how to register for the event.
Click here to learn more about the NGWMN.