USGS Seeks National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Proposals for 2018

The U.S. Geological Survey will award up to $2 million in cooperative agreements to support participation in the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network (NGWMN).

The USGS is working with the Federal Advisory Committee on Water Information’s (ACWI) Subcommittee on Ground Water (SOGW) to develop and administer the NGWMN. The NGWMN is designed as a cooperative groundwater data collection, management, and reporting system that will be based on data from selected wells in existing federal, state, tribal, and local groundwater monitoring networks. The network is envisioned as a long-term collaborative partnership among federal and non-federal data providers that will help address present and future groundwater management questions facing the nation. The NGWMN will provide the data needed to determine regional and national trends in groundwater levels and groundwater quality, and facilitate the evaluation of transboundary groundwater resources.

Cooperative agreements will provide support for both new and existing data providers in the NGWMN. The USGS will fund new data providers to select and classify sites within existing monitoring programs, to set up web services that will link the data to the NGWMN portal, and to produce a report describing this process. Existing data providers will receive funds to maintain web services and keep site information current. Data providers may also receive funding to collect data to improve site information, to maintain wells, and to drill new or replacement network wells. Information about the cooperative agreements is available on the NGWMN cooperative agreements page. The maximum allowable funds for any data provider agency have been increased to $150,000 per year.

Interested agencies may apply online at grants.gov under funding opportunity number G17AS00070. Applications will be accepted from September 1, 2017 through November, 30, 2017. 

Two webinars are scheduled to review the application package and answer any questions about the opportunity. These are scheduled for September 13 at 2 p.m. Eastern and October 19 at 1 p.m. Eastern. A third webinar near the end of the application period has been scheduled to answer any last minute questions. This final webinar will be held on, November 27 at 2 p.m. Eastern. Registration for the webinars is required. After your registration is accepted, you will receive meeting information. You may register for the webinars at:

September 13: Informational Webinar

October 19: Informational Webinar

November 27: Questions and Answers

Since the program began in 2015, 30 agencies have either completed the process of becoming a data provider to the NGWMN, have an ongoing project to become a data or have a project to enhance NGWMN sites. Once an agency is providing data to the NGWMN, they can receive support to maintain the web services connections to the NGWMN provider data portal. Agencies are also working on projects to enhance the NGWMN by updating information at network sites, performing well maintenance activities at network sites, or drilling wells for the network. Descriptions of projects that were funded by the NGWMN to support data providers are available on the cooperative agreements page for 2016 and 2017.