Budget cuts could hit Susquehanna River gauges

The Susquehanna River basin, one of the most flood-prone in the country, could lose key parts of its flood-alert network next week, government officials are warning.

In all, 14 stream-gauge stations, including those at Wilkes-Barre and Harrisburg, would be eliminated as of Wednesday because of budget cuts, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which maintains the network.

Some of the gauges, which monitor river heights, have been around for more than 100 years.

"If we were to lose all those gauges, it would cripple our ability to provide advance warnings for floods in the Susquehanna basin," said Peter Ahnert, chief hydrologist at the government's Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center, in State College, Pa.

Ahnert and other meteorologists use the gauge readings in issuing flood warnings. Emergency managers use them to make decisions on whether to evacuate.

The targeted gauges, among 103 along the basin in Pennsylvania, are in critical locations, Ahnert said. In all, the cuts would eliminate 27 gauges in waterways in Pennsylvania, New York and Pennsylvania. None is in the immediate Philadelphia region.

Ahnert said that in years past, budget cuts threatened "one or two" gauges - but never so many.

Several government agencies fund the network, but one of the major contributors, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, plans to reduce its share in fiscal 2008, which begins Oct. 1.

The Corps would continue paying for gauges near its reservoir areas at the north end of the basin but not those farther downstream. USGS estimates that it would cost just over $100,000 to preserve the gauges.

Ahnert said that talks were continuing with the Corps, USGS and the National Weather Service to keep the gauges operating beyond Wednesday.

Said Ahnert: "I'm hoping an agreement can be reached to save these gauges."