Integrated Water Resources Science and Services (IWRSS) is a joint initiative of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Geological Survey with a cross-cutting, multi-disciplinary systems approach to collaboratively address complex water problems. IWRSS is a new business model for interagency collaboration in the information age consisting of a consortium of federal agencies with complementary missions in water science, observation, management, and prediction.

Its overarching objective is to enable and demonstrate a broad, integrative national water resources information system to serve as a reliable and authoritative means for adaptive water-related planning. Specifically, the partner agencies are collaborating to design, develop, and implement a national water modeling and information services framework to: 1) infuse new hydrologic science into current water resource management; 2) develop hydrologic techniques and information to support operational water resources decisions; and 3) provide advanced hydrologic services to meet stakeholder needs.

NOAA, in cooperation with the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB), held a one-day forum in February, 2013, to inform the direction of this initiative. The forum brought together 30 key watershed stakeholders to discuss the use of water resources-related climatological, observational, and forecast data and information and develop ideas for a potential pilot project in the Potomac basin. Similar workshops are also being held in the Susquehanna, Delaware, and Hudson river basins.

Documents from the forum are posted here:

Agenda

IWRSS Overview – Tom Graziano, NOAA (presentation)

Potomac River Basin Priority Issues – Carlton Haywood, ICPRB (presentation)

Potomac Forum Summary – The Potomac Forum Summary includes an executive summary and detailed notes on the forum,  held at the USGS office in Baltimore in February, 2013. The summary will also be included as an appendix in the final project report.