SY036-01
An Update on the NASA Western Water Applications Office
Abstract:
WWAO's mission is to improve how water is managed in the arid western U.S. by getting NASA data, technology, and tools into the hands of water managers and decision makers.
WWAO leverages decades of NASA investment in science and technology to deliver useful, actionable information to those on the ground making water decisions and shaping policies that potentially affect millions of people.
Scientists have been using NASA satellite, airborne, and computer-model data to study our planet for more than 40 years. The impacts of NASA’s sustained investments have been significant, both to our general scientific knowledge and to the thousands of public and private sector institutions that have incorporated and built on this expertise.
NASA offers unique capabilities that can be used to provide actionable information about water availability, extreme events such as flooding and drought, water quality, user demand, and infrastructure integrity.
Many water managers recognize the value of NASA’s data to decision support but they also find it challenging to use the data operationally. In many cases, water managers lack the scientific and technical resources to access, process, or analyze the information for decision making.
Moreover, the western water landscape is very complex. A vast number of players have been established over many years to ensure that water is captured where possible and available where needed. This system offers very little uniformity or centralized control, yet has nonetheless delivered water for over 150 years.
WWAO was created to address these challenges and accelerate the application of NASA observations and scientific analysis techniques to tangible, important, and timely water problems. It arms water stakeholders with valuable scientific resources about the changing hydrology of the American west, thus helping them to make better, more informed decisions.