republic-os/legal/us/code/title-42/chapter-109b/section-10371.md

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LegalText	42 U.S.C. § 10371	Water prediction and forecasting	us	united_states_code	code_section	42	THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE	109B	SECURE WATER	10371	42 U.S.C. § 10371	current	119-100	2026-06-26	official	https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc42@119-100.zip	/us/usc/t42/s10371	data/legal/raw/us/code/title-42/usc42.xml	a8d3c10341d05a8e857879bef97089c029923151b1e227f6d07b87276cb7b8e0	644321055a08eb1f260a6a3e31ac157fa024756abf612a9fd6857e7e400cf24e	fd65278a180ca8b68c650e77675540746c9aa293b00ebcd40bf9caa4df1e250d	2026-07-04	official	legal us-code

42 U.S.C. § 10371 - Water prediction and forecasting

Text

(a) National Water Center (1) Establishment (A) In general The Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere shall establish a center—

(i) to serve as the research and operational center of excellence for hydrologic analyses, forecasting, and related decision support services within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service; and

(ii) to facilitate collaboration across Federal and State departments and agencies, academia, and the private sector on matters relating to water resources.

(B) Designation The center established under subparagraph (A) shall be known as the “National Water Center”.

(2) Functions The functions of the National Water Center shall include the following:

(A) Improving understanding of water resources, stakeholder needs regarding water resources, and identifying science and services gaps relating to water resources.

(B) Developing and implementing advanced water resources modeling capabilities.

(C) Facilitating the transition of hydrologic research into operations.

(D) Delivering analyses, forecasts, and inundation information and guidance for all hydrologic events in the United States, including flash flooding, riverine flooding, and water resources outlooks.

(E) In coordination with warning coordination meteorologists, providing decision-support services to inform emergency management and water resources decisions.

(b) National instructions (1) In general Not later than one year after December 31, 2020, the Under Secretary, acting through the Director of the National Weather Service, shall make public an operations and services policy directive for the National Water Center.

(2) Contents The directive required by paragraph (1) shall include national instructions to perform the functions of the National Water Center, including the following:

(A) Operational staff responsibilities.

(B) Guidelines for content, format, and provision of hydrologic and inundation products developed by the National Water Center.

(C) Procedures for cooperation and coordination between the National Water Center, the National Weather Service National Centers for Environmental Prediction, National Weather Service River Forecast Centers, and National Weather Service Weather Forecast Offices.

(c) Total water prediction The Under Secretary, acting through the Director of the Office of Water Prediction of the National Weather Service, shall—

(1) initiate and lead research and development activities to develop operational water resource prediction and related decision support products;

(2) collaborate with, and provide decision support regarding total water prediction to—

(A) the relevant Federal agencies represented on the National Science and Technology Council, Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Sustainability and the Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction;

(B) State water resource agencies; and

(C) State and local emergency management agencies; and

(3) in carrying out the responsibilities described in paragraphs (1) and (2), collaboratively develop capabilities necessary for total water predictive capacity, including observations, modeling, data management, supercomputing, social science, and communications.

(d) Authorization of appropriations There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the activities under this section amounts as follows:

(1) $44,500,000 for fiscal year 2021.

(2) $45,000,000 for fiscal year 2022.

(3) $45,500,000 for fiscal year 2023.

(4) $46,000,000 for fiscal year 2024.

(e) Derivation of funds Funds to carry out this section shall be derived from amounts authorized to be appropriated to the National Weather Service and the National Ocean Service that are enacted after December 31, 2020.

(Pub. L. 116–271, title III, § 301, Dec. 31, 2020, 134 Stat. 3347.)

Notes

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was enacted as part of the Coordinated Ocean Observations and Research Act of 2020, and not as part of subtitle F of title IX of Pub. L. 111–11 which comprises this chapter.