S.Amdt. 3674

SA 3674, submitted by Mrs. Britt, aims to change the operations of the National Water Center by amending Section 301 of the Coordinated Ocean Observations and Research Act of 2020.

The amendment proposes the following changes:

• Establish the center within the Office of Water Prediction of the National Weather Service.
• Add a goal for the center to lead the transition of Federal Government water research, such as model development, into the operations of the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• Designate the center as the primary hub within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for coordinating water research and forecast activities with other Federal entities, including:
  • Department of Agriculture
  • Army Corps of Engineers
  • Bureau of Reclamation
  • United States Geological Survey
  • Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Focus on promoting consistency and integration among regional and national hydrological forecast operations and service delivery.
• Require the use of the Weather and Climate Operational Supercomputing System (or a successor) to develop advanced water resources modeling and integrate those capabilities into the unified forecast system.
• Task the Under Secretary, through the Director of the Office of Water Prediction of the National Weather Service, to oversee:
  • The administration and operations of each National Weather Service River Forecast Center.
  • Duties related to the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (or a successor entity).
• Update subsection (d)(4) to include each fiscal year from 2026 through 2030.