Today, United States Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., today announced that Louisiana will receive an investment of approximately $500,000 Recovery Act dollars from the Department of Interior to fund U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) projects. The Interior Department will spend $140 million nationwide on this first group of USGS projects to monitor volcanoes and earthquakes, upgrade flood monitoring technology and perform critical maintenance projects. Louisiana’s investment will be used for upgrades to streamgages used in flood monitoring, water program maintenance and facility maintenance.
The money is coming from the Stimulus Package.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal panned volcano monitoring as wasteful spending during his response to President Obama’s speech to Congress earlier this year.
The Governor has not stated whether he would not accept the monitoring system.
In a press release, Senator Landrieu said:
“This investment in state-of-the-art technology will help protect our communities from flooding and will help spur our economy and create jobs,” Sen. Landrieu said.
Recent natural disasters include the eruption of Mount Redoubt Volcano in Alaska, earthquakes in central Italy and floods in North Dakota
“These recent disasters and the hurricanes that struck in Louisiana 2005 and 2008 demonstrate the importance of dedicating funding to advanced, modern technology that will keep our communities safe,” Sen. Landrieu said. “During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, these flood gauges allowed search and rescue teams to access to real-time data to determine which residential areas were inundated and where waters were rising fastest, helping to guide their life-saving efforts.”
Upgrades to streamgages used in flood monitoring: The USGS has a network of 7,500 streamgages, most of which run on solar power, to measure the country’s water resources. These streamgages have radio transmitters that send data to satellites. Because of advances in satellite technologies, these radios will be obsolete in 2013. These Recovery Act funds will allow the USGS to upgrade streamgages with new radio transmitters that will reduce transmission time and make data available to the public hourly. Current data transmission has a wait time of 3-4 hours.
Deferred Maintenance of Facilities: The USGS’s NationalWetlandsResearchCenter in Lafayette, Louisiana, will be seeking bids for projects that address health and safety issues; functional needs such as improved laboratory space; make facilities more energy efficient; and incorporate sustainable design criteria in project implementation.
Water program deferred maintenance: Louisiana will receive funds to remove streamgages, cableways, and groundwater wells that are no longer in use, making these sites safer for public enjoyment and supporting the local economy.
Louisiana also stands to benefit from $14.6 million in Imagery and Elevation Map funds included in this group of USGS projects. This money will go toward improving mapping data for flood mapping, emergency operations and natural resource management. State-by-state allocations for Imagery and Elevation Map funds have not yet been decided.
