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Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
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OCR for page 1
Executive Summary
Today, every community seems to be facing some type of water
crisis. The nation's newspapers report daily on droughts, floods,
contaminated water supplies, eutrophied lakes, lost wetlands'
anticipated impacts of global change, and myriad other problems
that affect our health, environment, and economy. Environmental
matters have taken a primary place on the nation's agenda of
concerns, alongside other prominent issues like energy supply and
defense appropriations.
At the same time, water management problems have come to
present greater scientific challenges. A century ago, the primary
concern of government hydrologists was locating water for
agriculture. In contrast, today's hydrologists face an array of
questions, including: how contaminants move in aquifers, how
climate change might affect water supplies, and how wetlands
influence ecosystems. There is a new movement in the scientific
community--motivated by the need to solve today's problems and
interest in unlocking puzzles that may solve future problems--to
enhance the development of water sciences.
The principal federal nonregulatory organization charged with
investigating water science questions is the Water Resources
Division (WRD) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). As the
science of hydrology has increased in complexity, so too have the
activities of the WRD. With public attention focused on water
resources issues, now is a good time for the WRD to evaluate its
programs to determine whether they will be able to provide
answers to the questions the public is asking now or will likely ask
in the future.
OCR for page 2
2
Preparing for the Twenty-First Century
This report's goal is to advise the WRD on how it can marshal
its resources most effectively to confront emerging water
resources problems. The report represents the views of the
National Research Council's Committee on USGS Water Resources
Research. The committee was convened in 1985 specifically to
provide guidance to the WRD. Its 12 members represent the fields
of environmental sciences and engineering, microbial biochem-
istry, ecology, meteorology, soil science, hydrology and hydro-
geology, and environmental economics (see the Appendix).
Since the committee was established, it has advised the agency
on a variety of broad and narrow scientific, research, and
programmatic issues. Here, the committee has shifted its focus
from short-term technological and management issues to long-
range planning. The report is addressed primarily to WRD
managers; it is meant to provide them with a concise outline of the
committee's ideas for the WRD's role in the future.
The report covers many issues of program management that
unforeseen developments may influence. Therefore, the com-
mittee's conclusions and recommendations are not fixed, but can
evolve. We hope that USGS management and others will view this
report as contributing to their basis for making decisions, while
bearing in mind the continually changing context for the issues
the report discusses.
Below is a summary of recommendations. The summary
parallels the order of topics discussed in Chapters 2 through 4.
(Chapter 1, which provides background information about the
WRD, does not contain recommendations.)
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM CHAPTER 2
External Interaction
As water science problems become more interdisciplinary,
WRD cooperation with other federal agencies, states, universities,
and research organizations will become increasingly important.
Therefore:
· The WRD should undertake more cooperative research
efforts with other federal agencies such as the Environmental
Protection Agency and the Departments of Defense, Energy, and
Agriculture, which are also involved in answering water science
questions.
OCR for page 3
Executive Summary
3
· The WRD should encourage states to continue to develop
their own expertise in water science. Increased state involvement
in water science would provide state support for local resource
management programs and would free WRD personnel for activi-
ties of a regional or national scope and/or general scientific
relevance.
· The WRD should undertake more cooperative investiga-
tions with university scientists at field sites administered by the
WRD, such as the Cape Cod Toxic Waste Research Site, and at sites
administered by the National Science Foundation's Long-Term
Ecological Research Program.
· The WRD should continue to seek opportunities to expand
its relations with universities to ensure the development of
necessary human resources for the future.
Technology Transfer
Ensuring that WRD research and study results move beyond
the laboratory or field sites requires that the WRD disseminate as
widely as possible the information it generates. To promote
efficient technology transfer:
· The WRD should streamline its internal review process to
enable its scientists to publish their research promptly in the
refereed literature.
· The WRD should expand its role in sponsoring conferences,
workshops, and seminars.
· The WRD should establish an internal technical newsletter
to improve communication among district offices and between
districts and the National Research Program.
· The WRD should establish a policy newsletter to improve
communication between WRD scientists and USGS management.
Education
Education experts predict a shortage of scientists and engi-
neers in the future. To help ensure a future pool of well-educated
employees:
· The WRD should consider establishing fellowships for
graduate students.
OCR for page 4
4
.
Preparing for the Twenty-First Century
· WRD district offices should offer more part-time or
summer employment to college students.
The WRD should allot more funds for projects that involve
research by graduate students.
.
WRD district office staff should create more opportunities
to educate primary-school, secondary-school, and college students
by participating in science fairs, hosting field trips and open
houses for students at all levels, and preparing special educational
materials utilizing information established through the agency's
various technical programs.
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM CHAPTER 3
Areas for WRD Research
The WRD should try to develop programs that focus on areas
at the top of the national agenda. Eight key areas for WRD
research are:
· analyzing contaminant transport in aquifers;
· integrating scientific knowledge with public policy options
for water supply management;
· analyzing links between water resources and climate
change;
· analyzing trends in water quality;
· conducting research and developing methods for improved
estimation of the probabilities of droughts and floods;
· determining the roles of wetlands in whole drainage basins;
· minimizing human-produced eutrophication and sedimen-
tation in lakes and reservoirs; and
· analyzing transport and flow processes in estuaries, har-
bors, and bays.
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM CHAPTER 4
Apportioning Resources Among WRD Programs
To free resources for future challenges, the WRD will need to
evaluate its current programs to determine which ones should be
scaled back and which ones deserve enhancement. Our recom-
mendations for the three broad areas (data collection, problem
OCR for page 5
Executive Summary
5
evaluation, and fundamental research) that encompass most WRD
programs are:
· Data collection: The WRD should maintain its stream
gaging network because the network is essential for under-
standing long-term changes in basin hydrology; yet the network
should not remain static. The- network needs expansion in some
areas. For example, more gages are needed in small basins, and
data collection that serves only a single user (as opposed to
contributing to the national network or to furthering scientific
knowledge) should be discontinued.
· Problem evaluation: The WRD should decrease the fraction
of district resources allotted to strictly local projects and increase
the fraction allotted to regional-scale projects and projects with
general scientific or national benefit.
· Fundamental research: To promote the research needed to
provide the base upon which the WRD will build its operational
side in the future, the WRD should: (1) increase funding for
fundamental research to 30 to 35 percent of its total budget, (2)
continue administering the grants program authorized under the
Water Resources Research Act, and (3) encourage fundamental
research by qualified staff at the district level.
Reorganizing to Meet Future Challenges
Evaluating complex water science problems requires that a
critical mass of scientists from a broad spectrum of disciplines
interact on a continuing basis. To ensure the presence of this
critical mass:
· The WRD should consider combining several smaller
districts into larger units.
· The WRD should foster close cooperation, based on joint
projects, between districts and the National Research Program.
Reevaluating the WRD Mission Statement
For effective future planning:
· WRD managers should reevaluate and update the WRD
mission statement.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
water resources
