External Review of the Coop Program

During FY 1999, the Coop Program had an extensive review by stakeholders external to the USGS - the first such review in the program's history. The External Review Committee comprised representatives from cooperating agencies and Tribes, Federal agencies, national water resources organizations, and the private sector. The Review Committee, under the aegis of the Advisory Committee on Water Data (established under Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) guidelines) was charged with evaluating the program in four major areas: mission, prioritization and funding of work, conduct of work, and products.

The USGS has changed the name of the program from "Federal-State Cooperative Water Program" to simply "Cooperative Water Program." This is in response to the External Review Committee's recommendation that "...the words 'Federal-State' be removed from the name in recognition of the broader range of cooperative partners involved in the program." At its inception more than a century ago, the program's cooperating agencies comprised mainly State water-resource agencies. More recently, however, the types of cooperating agencies have expanded to include counties, municipalities, and Native American Tribes - public agencies at all levels of government. The USGS expects this trend to continue.

The Review Committee provided many insightful observations and recommendations about the program that will help the USGS to maintain the program's core strengths while leading to significant improvements. An excerpt from the Committee's report follows:

"The Cooperative Water Program is critical to improving the management of the Nation's water resources. It is important to the Nation in that it acknowledges the keen shared-interest of Federal, State, Tribal, and other government agencies in appraising the Nation's water resources and seeking solutions to water-related problems. In today's climate of growing demands on, and increasing competition for, the Nation's water resources, there can only be an increased need for all types of water-related data and analyses in the future. The Cooperative Water Program offers the highest level of scientific knowledge, objectivity, and technical expertise. The Cooperative Water Program is integral to providing long-term data collection and analysis of water quantity, quality, and use on a national basis. Without the Cooperative Water Program, the nation would not have information vital to the routine management of the Nation's water resources and critical in the management of water-related emergencies."

For more information about the Task Force Review recommendations and the Interior Secretary's response to the recommendations, go to http://water.usgs.gov/wicp/acwi/coop/.