Technical Assistance to the USDA - NRCS - National Water Management Center

The National Water Management Center (NWMC) serves as a production support center for the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The NWMC consists of an interdisciplinary, multi-agency team of national specialists helping implement water-related projects across the country. Functioning in six key areas: environmental compliance, ground water, hydrology & hydraulics, irrigation water management, water quality, and watershed planning / rehabilitation; the NWMC team provides direct assistance, support and training to State and local NRCS offices. The purpose of this study is to provide the NWMC with experienced USGS hydrologists, on a part-time basis, to provide technical assistance to Department of Agriculture water-resources projects.

NWMC and USGS personnel giving ground-water presentation at UABP-Lonoke farm field day.

USGS assistance on NWMC project activities typically includes providing basic water-data, ground-water analysis, ground water modeling, agriculture water supply, ground-water/surface-water interaction, water quality, fluvial geomorphic analysis, training, and/or technical review. The USGS regularly provides stream discharge, suspended sediment, water-quality, water-use, and ground-water data as needed for various NWMC projects across the country. Over the past year, the USGS has participated with NWMC personnel in providing fluvial geomorphic analysis, characterization, and/or training for projects in Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, and Wisconsin. The NWMC, with USGS assistance, has recently provided NRCS policy makers with a critique of a terrace and small reservoir modeling project of the Republican River Basin examining the surface- and ground-water interactions of these structures. USGS personnel are scheduled to assist with NWMC projects in Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Massachusetts, Missouri, and Wisconsin in the future.

Publications
	Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5152 Geomorphic Characterization of the Middle Fork Saline River: Garland, Perry, and Saline Counties, Arkansas, by Aaron L. Pugh, Thomas J. Garday, and Ronald Redman