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Water Resources: Federal Efforts to Monitor and Coordinate Responses to Drought

RCED-93-117 Published: Jun 08, 1993. Publicly Released: Jul 13, 1993.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the federal government's response to drought, focusing on the: (1) data gathered and used by federal agencies to report drought conditions; and (2) federal mechanisms to plan, monitor, and coordinate the government's response to drought.

Recommendations

Matter for Congressional Consideration

Matter Status Comments
Because the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission is to review federal water activities affecting the western states and is to consider whether reorganization or consolidation should be proposed for water resources development and management agencies, the appropriate committees of Congress may wish to request that the commission consider whether a permanent mechanism is needed to monitor drought and to plan and oversee the federal response to severe drought. The commission may also be requested to consider whether such a mechanism should have authority to resolve policy differences among federal agencies.
Closed – Not Implemented
Congress has not acted on this recommendation and does not plan to act on it in the near future.

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Topics

Contingency plansData collectionEmergency preparednessEnvironmental monitoringInland waterwaysInteragency relationsNatural resourcesPlanningRainfall statisticsWater resources conservationWater supply managementDroughts