Performance Measures
The Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program tracks progress toward Department of the Interior Performance Goal 3.3.4 established in the Departmental Strategic Plan.
The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), and the subsequent GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, require that federal agencies establish performance measures to track and assess progress toward Departmental performance goals.
Performance Goals and Measures, FY 2022-2026
The FY 2022-2026 Department of the Interior (DOI) Strategic Plan identifies the strategic goals, strategic objectives, and performance goals that DOI will work to achieve. The Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program supports DOI Performance Goal 3.3.4, under DOI Strategic Goal 3 and DOI Strategic Objective 3.3.
| DOI Strategic Goal | DOI Strategic Objective | DOI Performance Goal |
| Goal 3: Sustainably Balance the Use of Resources While Supporting Communities and the Economy | 3.3: Land, Water, and Non-Energy Mineral Resources Support the Diverse Needs of Communities | 3.3.4 Communities have access to more robust water data, nationally consistent water availability assessments and predictions, and modeling tools to make decisions under changing climate conditions and competing urban, agricultural, and ecological demands. |
The Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program tracks and assesses progress toward DOI Performance Goal 3.3.4 using the following measure:
- Performance Measure 1: Percentage progress toward full implementation of the Next-Generation Water Observing System design
This performance measure is published annually alongside the President’s Budget Request in the Department of Interior's Annual Performance Plan and Report. To see each of the published Annual Performance Plans and Reports, please reference Department of Interior’s Budget and Performance website.
Performance Measure Status
Performance Measure 1: Percentage progress toward full implementation of the Next-Generation Water Observing System design
Progress on the pilot NGWOS continues to provide water information at more locations and more rapidly in user-friendly formats. This information will help communities at risk prepare for and respond to water hazards, particularly those communities historically and currently disadvantaged. NGWOS will also deliver high density, high-quality and reliable water information in at least 10 reference watersheds for enhanced water prediction and understanding at Regional to National scales.
Secretarial Priorities
In addition to the performance measure listed above, the Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program also tracks and assesses progress toward Secretarial Priorities.
Secretarial Priority Goal: Promote well-being, equity, and justice for Tribes, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Insular communities
Contributing Activity/Task: Provide resources and science to support Indian Water Rights negotiations and settlement implementation. Although the USGS is not directly involved with Indian Water Rights negotiations and settlements, the USGS Water Resources Mission Area and Water Science Centers provide decision makers with technical information needed to support water rights settlement work. USGS scientists work closely with tribal leaders around the country to address water availability issues related to the quantity and quality of water on tribal lands. In 2016 the Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program began receiving dedicated cooperative matching funds (CMF) to continue working closely with tribal leaders in conducting water resources investigations to address Indian Water Rights negotiations, implementations, and settlements.
Secretarial Priority Goal: Conserve, protect, and restore natural and cultural resources
Contributing Activity/Task: Support and enhance the data collection activities for water resource decision-making. USGS has initiated a Next-Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) “to provide high-fidelity, real-time data on water quantity, quality, and use necessary to support more accurate national modern water prediction and decision support systems and rapid and informed hazards response.” The USGS plans to develop dense networks of streamgages and other monitoring stations in medium-sized watersheds (each approximately 15,000 square miles) representative of larger water-resource regions. The Integrated Water Science (IWS) basins provide innovation incubators for water observing methods and instrumentation development to sufficiently mature them such that they can be transitioned to our national network operations to improve efficiency, accuracy and spatial and temporal-scales of data collection – all of which can lead to more information for stakeholders.
To support the NGWOS activities, the USGS Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) will be a critical component. The HIF provides hydrologic instrumentation and equipment services for the Water Resources Mission Area and numerous other Federal partners. The services include the sales, rental, and servicing of equipment, as well as evaluation and development of new instrument technologies and the verification/certification of in-service hydrologic equipment. In FY 2019, the HIF supported over \$30M in equipment purchases. A staff of 31 federal employees and 10 contract employees currently support the work at the HIF.
The current USGS HIF was built in the early 1970s and is located at the NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. In September 2017, NASA informed the USGS that they were exploring various options to reduce their footprint on the Stennis Space Center campus. The USGS has explored numerous options at Stennis and other academic institutions and found location at University of Alabama to best meet the selection criteria. In FY 2020, the USGS received funding to build a new HIF, which will be co-located with complementary academic and federal partners. A land lease location agreement with the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa was executed in August 2021. The facility shall include new capabilities that will meet the hydrologic equipment needs of the Next-Generation Water Observing System. This capability is in direct alignment with DOI Priorities 8 (Modernize Our Infrastructure) and 9 (Reorganize the Department for the Next 100 Years).
Secretarial Priority Goal: Center equity and environmental justice in everything we do
Contributing Activity/Task: Apply innovative monitoring technologies and rapid delivery mechanisms to provide water information at more locations, user-friendly formats, and other languages to help communities at risk prepare for and respond to water hazards, particularly those communities historically and currently disadvantaged. The USGS National Water Dashboard is a new tool that provides real-time information on water levels, weather and flood forecasts all in one place on a computer, smartphone or other mobile device. It provides critical information to decision-makers, emergency managers and the public during flood events, informing decisions that can help protect lives and property. In 2018, USGS initiated a Next-Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) to provide high-fidelity, real-time data on water quantity quality, and use necessary to support more accurate national modern water prediction and decision support systems and rapid and informed hazards response. The USGS plans to develop dense networks of streamgages and other monitoring stations in medium-sized watersheds (each approximately 15,000 square miles) representative of larger water-resource regions. Fully implemented, the NGWOS would provide quantitative information on streamflow, snowpack, loss of water to the atmosphere, soil moisture, water quality, groundwater, and water usage. This suite of highly monitored watersheds, in combination with an enhanced streamgage network and other relevant data sets, can better inform advanced models and forecasts and will be innovation incubators for the development of new monitoring technologies and transition of these to our national operations.