Prior Budget Justifications

By National Water Quality Program

A summary of the budget process for the National Water Quality Program (NWQP) is provided below for the three most recent fiscal years. To supplement each summary, a more detailed reference document for the Water Resources Mission Area (WMA) showing the reports released with each congressional mark, links to the USGS and WMA President’s Budget Request, and associated details is also provided

Fiscal Year 2020

Final Enacted Bill

On December 20, 2019, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116-94) was enacted. The bill funded the WMA at \$234.1 million, including \$92.5 million for the NWQP. Within this amount, the bill included an increase of \$529,000 and \$273,000 to Cooperative Matching Funds for harmful algal blooms work and the Urban Waters Federal Partnership respectively.

A table summarizing the 2019 Enacted, 2020 President’s Budget Request, and 2020 changes proposed in House and Senate Marks, then enacted in the final bill, is provided below.

	2018	2019	2020
Mission Area / Program / Activity (dollars in thousands)	Enacted [Base Funding]	Enacted [Base Funding]	President's Budget (PB) Request	Budget Changes from 2019 Enacted	Proposed House Mark Changes from 2019 Enacted	Proposed Senate Mark Changes from 2019 Enacted	Enacted Changes from 2019 Enacted
Water Resources: National Water Quality Program
– Fixed Costs and Other Base Activities	[0]	[0]	[314]	+341	+341	0	0
– National Park Service Water-Quality Partnership	[1,743]	[1,743]	[0]	-1,743	0	0	0
– Shallow and Fractured Bedrock Groundwater Research	[0]	[300]	[0]	-300	0	0	0
– National Atmospheric Deposition Program	[1,576]	[1,576]	[0]	-1,576	0	0	0
– Water-Quality Trends	[10,072]	[10,072]	[9,437]	-635	0	0	0
– Groundwater Quality Monitoring Networks	[5,231]	[5,231]	[4,137]	-1,094	0	0	0
– Regional Water-Quality Assessments	[4,100]	[4,100]	[0]	-4,100	0	0	0
- Transboundary Water-Quality Assessments	[0]	[0]	[0]	[0]	[0]	+1,500	0
– Research and Development to Advance Water Science (formerly National Research Program)	[10,003]	[10,003]	[3,454]	-6,549	0	0	0
Cooperative Matching Funds (CMF)	[17,231]	[18,050]	[16,514]	-1,536	+1,500	0	+529
– Urban Waters Federal Partnership (CMF)	[717]	[717]	[0]	-717	+283	0	+283
– Harmful Algal Blooms (includes CMF and Non-CMF funding)	[2,652]	[3,471]	[2,852]	-619	+819	0	+819
Total National Water Quality Program	90,829	91,648	74,656	-16,992	+2,124	+1,500	+812
Total Water Resources (includes all Water Resources programs)	217,554	226,308	179,922	-46,386	+13,609	+2,500	+7,812
USGS TOTAL (includes all USGS programs)	1,148,457	1,160,596	983,467	-177,129	+75,802	+49,005	+110,361

For more information on the entire 2020 budget process for the WMA, please use this reference document.

Fiscal Year 2019

Final Enacted Bill

On February 15, 2019, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (Public Law 116-6) was enacted. The bill funded the WMA at \$226.3 million, including \$91.6 million for the NWQP. Within this amount, the bill included a \$819,000 increase to Cooperative Matching Funds for harmful algal blooms work.

A table summarizing the 2018 Enacted, 2019 President’s Budget Request, and 2019 changes proposed in House and Senate Marks, then enacted in the final bill, is provided below.

	2017	2018	2019
Mission Area / Program / Activity (dollars in thousands)	Enacted [Base Funding]	Enacted [Base Funding]	President's Budget (PB) Request	Budget Changes from 2018 Enacted	Proposed House Mark Changes from 2018 Enacted	Proposed Senate Mark Changes from 2018 Enacted	Enacted Changes from 2018 Enacted
Water Resources: National Water Quality Program
– Fixed Costs, Administrative Savings, and Other Adjustments	[0]	[0]	[-285]	-285	0	0	0
– National Park Service Water-Quality Partnership	[1,743]	[1,743]	[0]	-1,743	0	0	0
– Shallow and Fractured Bedrock Groundwater Research	[0]	[300]	[0]	-300	0	0	0
– National Atmospheric Deposition Program	[1,576]	[1,576]	[0]	-1,576	0	0	0
– NAWQA Surface Water Status and Trends Assessments	[29,075]	[29,075]	[26,793]	-2,282	0	0	0
– NAWQA Groundwater Status and Trends Assessments	[20,100]	[20,100]	[16,179]	-3,921	0	0	0
– NAWQA Regional Stream Quality Assessments	[8,100]	[8,100]	[4,100]	-4,000	0	0	0
– Research and Development to Advance Water Science (formerly National Research Program)	[10,003]	[10,003]	[3,454]	-6,549	0	0	0
Cooperative Matching Funds (CMF)	[17,231]	[17,231]	[16,514]	-717	+819	0	+819
– Urban Waters Federal Partnership (CMF)	[717]	[717]	[0]	-717	0	0	0
– Harmful Algal Blooms (includes CMF and Non-CMF funding)*	[1,984]	[2,652]	[2,852]	+200	+819	0	+819
Total National Water Quality Program	90,529	90,829	69,656	-21,173	+819	0	+819
Total Water Resources (includes all Water Resources programs)	214,754	217,554	164,922	-52,632	+13,569	+2,500	+8,754
USGS TOTAL (includes all USGS programs)	1,085,167	1,148,457	859,680	-288,777	+24,633	-500	+12,139

*Harmful Algal Blooms funding increase in the 2019 PB is Non-CMF Funding.

For more information on the entire 2019 budget process for the WMA, please use this reference document.

Fiscal Year 2018

Final Enacted Bill

On March 23, 2018, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115-141) was enacted. The bill funded the WMA at \$217.6 million, including \$90.8 million for the NWQP. Within this amount, the bill included a \$300,000 increase for groundwater research in shallow and fractured bedrock terrain.

A table summarizing the 2017 Enacted, the 2018 President’s Budget Request, and the 2018 changes proposed in House and Senate Marks, then enacted in the final bill, is provided below.

	2017	2018
Mission Area / Program / Activity (dollars in thousands)	Enacted [Base Funding]	President's Budget (PB) Request	Budget Changes from 2017 Enacted	Proposed House Mark Changes from 2017 Enacted	Proposed Senate Mark Changes from 2017 Enacted	Enacted Changes from 2017 Enacted
Water Resources: National Water Quality Program
– Fixed Costs, Administrative Savings, and Other Adjustments	[0]	(172)	-172	0	-1,449	0
– National Park Service Water-Quality Partnership	[1,743]	0	-1,743	0	0	0
– Shallow and Fractured Bedrock Groundwater Research	[0]	0	0	0	+300	+300
– National Atmospheric Deposition Program	[1,576]	0	-1,576	0	0	0
- HQ Technical Support	[0]	1,788	+1,788	0	0	0
– NAWQA Cycle Three	[63,000]	62,000	-1,000
– NAWQA Groundwater Status and Trends Assessments	[20,100]	17,472	-2,628	0	0	0
– NAWQ Regional Stream Quality Assessments	[8,100]	4,100	-4,000	-1,500	0	0
– Research and Development to Advance Water Science (formerly National Research Program)	[10,003]	3,992	-6,011	0	0	0
Cooperative Matching Funds (CMF)	[17,231]	16,514	-717	0	0	0
– Urban Waters Federal Partnership (CMF)	[717]	0	-717	0	0	0
Total National Water Quality Program	90,529	74,470	-16,059	-1,500	-1,149	+300
Total Water Resources (includes all Water Resources programs)	214,754	173,042	-41,712	-4,000	-1,565	+2,800
USGS TOTAL (includes all USGS programs)	1,085,167	922,168	-162,999	-46,245	0	+63,290

For more information on the entire 2018 budget process for the WMA, please use this reference document.

Funding History

Below, a five-year funding history has been provided for the major NWQP activities:

National Water Quality Assessment Project (NAWQA; includes groundwater and surface water status and trends assessments, regional stream quality assessments, and other supporting activities for NAWQA Cycle 3)
National Park Service Water Quality Partnership
National Atmospheric Deposition Program
Other NWQP activities (includes jointly funded water-quality (CMF) conducted by Water Science Centers and their partners, research and development activities to advance water-quality science, and technical support activities)

For more information on these NWQP activities, please use the links provided above.

NWQP Funding (dollars in millions)	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
TOTAL NWQP Funding	90.6	90.5	90.8	91.6	92.5
NAWQA Project	62.0	63.0	63.0	63.0	63.0
National Park Service Water Quality Partnership	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.7
National Atmospheric Deposition Program	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.6	1.6
Other NWQP Activities	25.3	24.2	24.5	25.3	26.2