USGS could lose some water activities

摘要

More of the data collection and analysis work conducted through the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) cooperative water program could be privatized under language in the U.S. House of Representative's Department of the Interior fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill. Supporters of the privatization language say that it would stop USGS from competing with the private sector, but many environmental managers fear that important data collection efforts would be weakened. State and local officials currently can choose either USGS or a private contractor to conduct hy-drologic studies. These officials say that eliminating the USGS option could be detrimental to their long-term water management efforts because they rely on the "consistent, unbiased, and credible" data that USGS provides.