Snow Water Supply Forecasting Reauthorization Act of 2025
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Would reauthorize the Bureau of Reclamation's Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program through fiscal year 2031 at $3 million per year, and would redirect the program toward deploying integrated snowpack-measurement and modeling technologies like airborne laser altimetry and imaging spectroscopy.
The changes would drop an expired reporting deadline and refocus the program on real-time forecasting improvements and interstate water management, mattering most to western states that rely on accurate snowpack data to plan water allocations.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would amend the Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program Authorization Act to reauthorize the underlying Bureau of Reclamation program, replacing its expired $15 million aggregate funding for fiscal years 2022-2026 with $3 million for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2031. It would also update the program's technical focus, directing Reclamation to incorporate technologies that provide complete integration of accurate, timely, and spatially complete snowpack measurements and models—naming airborne laser altimetry, imaging spectroscopy, and integrated physics-based snowpack and hydrologic modeling—when producing water supply forecasts or allocations for federal water contractors.
It would also refocus program activities on real-time integration of measurement and modeling with forecasts, work in river basins where such data can inform water management decisions, and building program partners' capacity to use the new capabilities. It would remove references to a now-completed report requirement and add the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Natural Resources Conservation Service as coordinating agencies. It does not create a new program or expand the effort beyond snowpack forecasting.
Key provisions
- 1Would reauthorize the program at $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2031, replacing the expired $15,000,000 aggregate authorization for FY2022-2026
- 2Would require the program to incorporate technologies providing complete integration of accurate, timely, and spatially complete snowpack measurements and models, including airborne laser altimetry, imaging spectroscopy, and integrated physics-based modeling
- 3Would refocus the program's activities toward real-time integration of measurement and modeling with water supply forecasts and work in river basins that inform water management decisions
- 4Would emphasize deployment of technologies integrating snowpack measuring and modeling in the program's overall framework
- 5Would add the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Natural Resources Conservation Service as coordinating federal agencies
- 6Would remove references to a prior report requirement under subsection (d)(3) that had triggered later program phases
Who would be affected
The Bureau of Reclamation, which administers the program; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Natural Resources Conservation Service, now named as coordinating partners; and western states and federal water contractors whose water supply forecasts and allocations depend on the program's snowpack data.
Why it matters
Continued funding and an updated technology focus would let Reclamation keep producing snowpack and water supply forecasts that western water managers use to plan allocations, especially in basins facing variable weather. Without reauthorization, the program's funding authority had lapsed after fiscal year 2026, so the bill would restore its operating basis for five more years.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Reauthorizes Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program Authorization Act (43 U.S.C. 1477) (Sec. 2(5))
Replaces the expired $15,000,000 aggregate FY2022-2026 authorization with $3,000,000 for each fiscal year 2027 through 2031
Amends Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program Authorization Act (43 U.S.C. 1477) (Sec. 2)
Refocuses required technologies and program priorities toward integrated snowpack measurement and modeling and removes a completed reporting requirement
Agencies directed to act
Effective dates
- The reauthorized funding period for the Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program
Funding and costs
- $3,000,000
Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program activities at the Bureau of Reclamation
Congressional Budget Office estimate
CBO estimates H.R. 3857 would cost $26 million over the 2025–2030 period and $7 million after 2030, with no effect on direct spending, revenues, or the deficit.
H.R. 3857 would reauthorize and modify the Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program, authorizing $6.5 million per year in appropriations for fiscal years 2027–2031. CBO estimates the bill would result in discretionary spending (funds requiring annual congressional approval) of $26 million over 2025–2030 and an additional $7 million after 2030, based on historical spending patterns for the program. The bill would have no effect on direct (mandatory) spending, revenues, or the federal deficit. CBO identified no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates in the bill.
How implementation would work
Reclamation would continue administering the program under its existing structure, now directed to prioritize technologies offering integrated, real-time snowpack measurement and modeling rather than narrower "emerging technologies." It would coordinate with NOAA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, target river basins where data can inform interstate water management, and help program partners build capacity to use new measurement and forecasting tools, funded annually at $3 million through FY2031 with no new reporting deadline.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Official CRS summary
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This bill reauthorizes through FY2031 and modifies the Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program of the Bureau of Reclamation. Under the existing program, Reclamation implements activities to improve snowpack measurements used for water supply forecasts in certain western states.
The bill directs Reclamation to incorporate, to the greatest extent practicable, information from technologies that provide complete integration of accurate, timely, and spatially complete snowpack measurements and models when determining water supply forecasts or allocations to federal water contractors.
Additionally, the bill requires the program's framework to emphasize the deployment of technologies that provide integration of snowpack measuring and modeling. The bill also requires the program's focus—activities that maintain, establish, expand, or advance snowpack measurement and integrated modeling—to place an emphasis on (1) enhancing activities to achieve improved snow and water supply forecasting results that are more responsive to changing weather and watershed conditions, (2) real-time integration of measurement and modeling activities with water supply forecasts, (3) activities in river basins where measurements or modeling can produce snow and water supply data to inform water management decisions, and (4) building the capacity of the program partners to implement and adapt to the new measurement and forecast capabilities.
Legislative subjects
Advanced technology and technological innovations; Environmental assessment, monitoring, research; Environmental technology; Water Resources Development; Water resources funding; Water use and supply
Committee report
H. Rept. 119-293