Last week, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Kamala Harris, and Representative Josh Harder (D-Stanislaus) introduced the Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program Authorization Act to establish an airborne snow observatory and measurement program within the United States Department of the Interior (DOI). Without accurate readings, water managers could be forced to unnecessarily release water from reservoirs or use it for groundwater pumping, resulting in millions of dollars in financial losses. This bill would replace the NASA program with a new program at the DOI to improve the understanding, management and deployment of snowpack measurement technologies used for seasonal water forecasting. It would also provide a total of $15 million in funding for fiscal years 2022 to 2026.
