A foundational part of WWAO’s mission is to focus on the needs of water managers, decision makers, stakeholders and end users. We work hand-in-hand with a variety of stakeholders to identify key water priorities in the Western U.S. where NASA’s satellite and remotely-sensed data could deliver a real, meaningful, and lasting impact on water management and decisions.
WWAO conducts systematic Water Needs Assessments across the river basins of the Western U.S. Each Needs Assessment consists of a number of steps:
The Use Cases we compile are published in Needs Assessment Reports and directly feed the projects and solutions that WWAO funds and co-develops with partners.
To date, WWAO has surveyed seven of the eight major river basins in the continental Western U.S. (the region west of the 100th meridian). These assessments cover:
Through these assessments, WWAO has collected a catalog of around 100 detailed Use Cases covering a variety of water topics.
At the end of 2024, WWAO released its Needs Assessment report for the Arkansas-White-Red River Basin. In 2025, WWAO will conduct a Water Needs Assessment in the Great Basin. This will be followed by a Cross-Basin Assessment that will review water trends and needs across all basins that WWAO has studied.
Partnerships are key to WWAO’s work. Through our stakeholder engagement effort, we listen to the needs of the community and bridge the gap between the water management community (decision makers, stakeholders and end-users) and NASA’s scientists, technology, tools, and data. This engagement takes various forms:
WWAO is located in Southern California at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in order to facilitate meaningful relationships with water stakeholders in the West and to improve their access to NASA solutions.
Our partners include: