This animation highlights the USGS Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs) Program’s evolving capacity to estimate water availability at a national scale by visualizing daily estimates of natural water storage (water present on the landscape such as standing water, snowpack, soil water, and shallow groundwater) for approximately 110,000 regions across the
New USGS IWAAs product: National Integrated Water Availability Assessments concept map
By Water Resources Mission Area
March 4, 2020
On Dec. 18, 2019, the USGS Water Resources Mission Area released the National Integrated Water Availability Assessments concept map. This map shows daily estimates of natural water storage for approximately 110,000 regions across the conterminous United States.
UPDATE: As of January 26, 2021, the National Integrated Water Availability Assessments concept map has been taken offline for some updates and additions to the operational workflow to include additional prediction performance diagnostic capabilities. An announcement will be made on our Water Resources Mission Area social media accounts when the IWAAs concept map is public again. If you have any questions or concerns, please send them to gs-w_onhm@usgs.gov.
The USGS National Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs) concept map is the first product to visualize a current, quantitative view of water availability at the national scale, providing an innovative, much-needed channel of water information. While the demonstration map is not ready for decision making, it can be used to compare an individual region’s current water storage to its historical storage (but it should not be used to compare one region’s storage to another region’s). “Natural water storage” sources include water present on the landscape such as standing water, snowpack, soil water, and shallow groundwater - but water in rivers or deep groundwater is not included.
In this first iteration of the National IWAAs concept map, the model focuses only on the natural water cycle and does not include human modification from reservoirs and withdrawals. As the model matures, additional hydrologic parameters will be produced and other indicators of water availability will be visualized, as well as water availability predictions. When combined with other water-availability indicators, this data will create new opportunities to study, forecast, and manage hydrologic resources.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
This map is a product of the USGS Integrated Water Availability Assessments, which are a multi-extent, stakeholder driven, near real-time census and seasonal prediction of water availability for both human and ecological uses at regional and national extents. The USGS IWAAs combine resources and knowledge gained from previous and ongoing USGS efforts such as focus area studies, regional groundwater availability studies, water use estimation, ecological water needs, and streamflow estimation. The IWAAs are designed to provide information to meet the goals of the National Water Census as established through the SECURE Water Act.
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Late fall 2019 water availability data viz (IWAAs concept map)
This animation highlights the USGS Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs) Program’s evolving capacity to estimate water availability at a national scale by visualizing daily estimates of natural water storage (water present on the landscape such as standing water, snowpack, soil water, and shallow groundwater) for approximately 110,000 regions across the
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The USGS Water Resources Mission Area is assessing how much water is available for human and ecological needs in the United States and identifying where and when the Nation may have challenges meeting its demand for water.National Hydrologic Model Infrastructure
The USGS National Hydrologic Model (NHM) infrastructure supports the efficient construction of local-, regional-, and national-scale hydrologic models. The NHM infrastructure consists of: 1) an underlying geospatial fabric of modeling units with an associated parameter database, 2) a model input data archive, and 3) a repository of the physical model simulation code bases. - Multimedia
Late fall 2019 water availability data viz (IWAAs concept map)
This animation highlights the USGS Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs) Program’s evolving capacity to estimate water availability at a national scale by visualizing daily estimates of natural water storage (water present on the landscape such as standing water, snowpack, soil water, and shallow groundwater) for approximately 110,000 regions across the
This animation highlights the USGS Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs) Program’s evolving capacity to estimate water availability at a national scale by visualizing daily estimates of natural water storage (water present on the landscape such as standing water, snowpack, soil water, and shallow groundwater) for approximately 110,000 regions across the
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