1. FY16 Water Use Data and Research Program Q & A Session Wednesday June 15, 2016 10:00 AM EDT Teleconference number: 1-855-547-8255, conference code 51857# USGS Water Availability and Use Science Program

2. Agenda Brief overview of the USGS Water Use Data and Research Program (WUDR) Overview of the 2016 Program Announcement Questions and Answers

3. WUDR Overview The USGS Water Use Data and Research Program is authorized under the SECURE Water Act Section 9508. –$12,500,000 authorized for Grants Program in 2009. –Each State can receive a maximum of $250,000, cumulatively, in grant funding. –The USGS received the first appropriation of $1,500,000 in federal FY15. Non-competitive awards of $26K were made available to each State to write a Workplan. –In FY16 and future years, funding will be awarded competitively.

4. WUDR Overview Goals: –Improve the availability, quality, compatibility, and delivery of water use data that is collected and/or estimated by States. –Integrate State water resource agency water- use or water-availability datasets into USGS databases.

5. FY16 Program Announcement Funding Opportunity G16AS00062 Applications must be submitted via grants.gov by 4 pm EDT on July 18, 2016. Program announcement is available @ grants.gov, and on the WUDR website: http://water.usgs.gov/wausp/wudr/ http://water.usgs.gov/wausp/wudr/

6. Funding 1.5 Million is available for the program for federal FY16. Proposed project funding should be for a minimum of $40,000 and a maximum of $100,000. Proposed projects can be for a maximum of two years. Expect to make awards at the end of October 2016. Project start dates must be between November 1, 2016 and December 1, 2016.

7. Applicant Eligibility State water resource agencies which collect water use data. Applicants must submit a “Workplan” as outlined by the WUDR FY15 Guidance in order to be eligible to receive an FY16 award. USGS personnel cannot prepare an application for an organization. USGS personnel cannot receive WUDR funds.

8. Priority Topics Improved data collection, quality assurance, and delivery Improved data for irrigation: sources of withdrawals, volumes, and consumptive use (includes irrigation for agriculture and golf courses) Improved estimation of public supply deliveries to customer groups or classes, such as commercial, industrial, and domestic

9. Additional Topics Eight-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC-8)-scale water-use reporting Water-tracking and Interbasin transfer (between HUC-8 units) Consumptive use within public supply systems Industrial self-supplied industries (inventory of facilities) Mining: source and commodity defined Improvement of the domestic per capita coefficients Groundwater use: Identifying aquifer and HUC of withdrawal, and further refining the definition of saline/brackish water to meet needs of users Public supply systems stratified by socioeconomic factors, such as income, education, etc. Other water use data or research topic identified as a state priority, but not included in either list.

10. Application Instructions Forms SF-424, SF-424A, SF-424b and the Project Narrative Attachment The Project Narrative Attachment: –10 single-spaced pages (maximum) –Font size no smaller than 12 point –Number pages –CV, SF Forms, and negotiated rate agreement do NOT count toward the 10-page limit.

11. Application Instructions The Project Narrative Attachment must include: –Proposal Information Summary –Proposal –Budget Summary –Detailed Budget –Specifics are on pages 7-10 of the program announcement.

12. Evaluation Criteria Technical quality of the proposal (25%) Relevance to SECURE Water Act (20%) Relevance to State priorities (20%) Transferability (15%) Collaboration (10%) Proficiency of PI and team members (10%)

13. Reporting Requirements Progress Reports –Details on pages 19-20. –Due every 6 months for the duration of the project Final Technical Report –Describe in detail the work performed and results obtained during the grant period. –Due 90 days after the conclusion of the project period. Annual Financial Reports (see page 21) Final Financial Report (pages 21-22)

14. Questions? Mindi Dalton Water Availability and Use Science Program U.S. Geological Survey 1770 Corporate Drive, Suite 500 Norcross, Ga 30093 678-924-6637 msdalton@usgs.gov Cheryl Dieter Northeast Water-Use Specialist U.S. Geological Survey 5522 Research Park Dr Baltimore, MD 21228 443-498-5537 cadieter@usgs.gov http://water.usgs.gov/wausp/wudr/

15. Questions? Q: In order for States to adequately plan for implementation of their data management systems updates and improvements, it will be very important to know the time line as to when it is expected that Grants will be awarded and the amount of these awards. The States need as much lead time as possible in order to make sure that we can have adequate staffing in place to meet the Grant commitments. A: Awards will be made in late October 2016. Q: On Page 6 of the Program Announcement/Funding Opportunities, the first of the listed “three priority topics” is “Improved data collection, quality assurance and delivery”. What is meant by delivery. Is that data delivery by the water users to the State or data delivery from the State to USGS or both. A: Delivery of data from users to the State and from the State to the USGS.

18. FY15 Workplans Workplans must be submitted by June 30, 2016 as a PDF or Word document via email to the WUDR Coordinators (Melinda Dalton and Cheryl Dieter). Here is list of things to include in your State's Workplan: Describe the current State water use program. Outline State priorities for improving water use data. List steps proposed to address priorities. Describe collaboration that was part of the Workplan development, or WUDR funding. Describe additional tasks and products that were proposed in the Application for the 2015 WUDR cooperative agreements No specified format or length.