The University of Iowa will be a key contributor to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s $360 million consortium to improve the United States’ ability to predict water-related hazards and better manage its water.

The federal government has chosen the University of Iowa to be part of a $360 million national consortium to improve flood prediction and water quality tracking across the country.

Iowa will receive $21 million during the next five years as a partner in the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH), funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The national center will be led by the Alabama Water Institute at the University of Alabama.

Researchers found that nearly 450,000 acres of cropland are located in areas with a 50% chance of flooding in a given year. They also found a staggering average of $230 million in crop losses per year due to farming that takes place in flood-prone areas.

The study from IIHR–Hydroscience and Engineering at the University of Iowa is the first to detail the flood risk to farmland statewide. The researchers used flood maps developed at the Iowa Flood Center, and incorporated data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create the crop flood-risk analysis.