A federal snow-forecasting program, to be updated under a bill from Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, won approval in the House on Wednesday.

HR 3857, which amends the Snowpack Water Supply Forecasting Reauthorization Act, is Hurd’s second bill to pass the U.S. House. The measure, adopted on a voice vote on Wednesday, now moves to the U.S. Senate.

Introduced on Sept. 10, H.R. 3857 drew two Democratic co-sponsors: Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse and Virginia Rep. Eugene Vindman.

Meanwhile, in the other chamber, Sen. John Hickenlooper is the sponsor of the bipartisan version there, introduced in July. It has not yet been heard by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

In a statement, Hurd said the bill reauthorizes and updates the Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program to “incorporate modern technologies, including LiDAR and satellite imagery, to improve the accuracy of snowpack and water-supply predictions.”

Advanced tools authorized by the bill can “produce three-dimensional models of snowpack conditions, enabling water managers to better anticipate spring runoff and make more informed decisions about water storage and distribution,” he said.

The original, adopted by Congress in 2020, was designed to improve snowpack measurement in particular watersheds.

Neguse and Colorado U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette were among its original co-sponsors.

Accurate snow forecasting is critical for agriculture, recreation and municipal water systems. It assists with irrigation planning, drought management and annual water allocation.

The reauthorization includes $15 million for implementation between 2022 and 2026, and $6.5 million annually from 2027 through 2031.

Both the 2020 bill and the 2025 reauthorization included a requirement that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation produce a report listing the basins and sub-basins where the modeling technologies are being used, along with outcomes and the participating partners and the Federal agencies involved.

One technology, known as “terrestrial laser scanning,” captures exact measurements of the surrounding ground surface elevation. It’s used to understand fine-scale snow processes, such as wind-drift snow and scouring, which is frozen snow that has been “scoured” to a hard surface.

According to the Bureau’s 2021 report, the technology has been used at Grand Mesa and previously in avalanche forecasting at Arapahoe Basin.

In his statement, Hurd said, “We cannot manage what we cannot measure. Water is life in the West, and accurate data is how we manage it.”

He added that families, ranchers, and water managers in his district “make critical decisions every day based on snowpack forecasts,” and that the bill will provide them with better tools and more reliable information.

Neguse called Wednesday’s House passage a “crucial step to improve forecasting and available data for snowpack and water supply monitoring.”