---
kind: "section"
citation: "15 U.S.C. § 9703"
title: "15"
title_heading: "Commerce and Trade"
number: "9703"
heading: "Observations and modeling for total water prediction"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/15/9703"
units:
  - "Chapter 121 — Flood Level Observation, Operations, and Decision Support"
---

# §9703. Observations and modeling for total water prediction

- (a) **Partnerships—**
  - (1) **In general—** The [Administrator](/usc/15/9701.md?p=1) shall establish partnerships with 1 or more institutions of higher education (as defined in [section 1001 of title 20](/usc/20/1001.md)) to evaluate observations that would improve total water prediction.
  - (2) **Priority observations—** In establishing partnerships under [paragraph (1)](#a-1), the [Administrator](/usc/15/9701.md?p=1) shall prioritize partnerships to evaluate observations from uncrewed aerial systems.
- (b) **Maintained observations—** If the [Administrator](/usc/15/9701.md?p=1) determines that incorporating additional observations improves total water prediction, the [Administrator](/usc/15/9701.md?p=1) shall, to the extent practicable, continue incorporating those observations.
- (c) **Modeling improvements—** The [Administrator](/usc/15/9701.md?p=1) shall advance geographic coverage, resolution, skill, and efficiency of coastal oceanographic modeling, including efforts that improve the coupling of and interoperability between hydrological models and coastal ocean models.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 117–316, § 4, Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4408.)