Co-developing a pilot resource with water decision-makers to increase the accessibility of NOAA’s National Water Model (NWM) for use by a diverse group of users
Following the findings from Phase 2, the project team worked closely with communities and Vermont and Missouri to co-develop FloodSavvy, a web application that enhances the accessibility and use of the NWM by community-level water decision-makers.
Project Background
Beginning in August 2024 and building from the outcomes of Phases 1 and 2, Phase 3 investigated how the NWM could be made more accessible to a broad group of users with diverse professional backgrounds – who also play key roles in community-level water decision-making and resilience planning. Prior Phases of the study revealed that while few of these potential users had previously heard of the model, they had many ideas for how they could leverage it in their work once they learned about it. However, they also reported barriers in accessing, interpreting, and utilizing NWM information effectively, especially when they lacked specialized hydrological expertise. Therefore, Phase 3 worked with decision-makers in Vermont and Missouri, a subset of the stakeholders engaged in Phase 2, to further investigate how to increase the accessibility of the NWM. FloodSavvy was co-developed with these stakeholders as a supplementary resource to the NWM that translates complex NWM outputs into a user-friendly interface tailored to their information needs. We also created a NWM tutorial to help first-time users of the NWM navigate, access, and interpret useful hydrological data.
Below you’ll find links to the two resources – FloodSavvy and the NWM Tutorial – as well as an article about our co-development process for creating FloodSavvy and community narratives showcasing how six communities have used this tool in their work.
FloodSavvy
FloodSavvy is a web interface designed to lower the barrier to entry to using official NOAA products by providing simple flood risk insights. The tool integrates NWM data, including forecasted and historical streamflow, as well as pre-computed flood maps, to assist with community water decision-making.
Visit FloodSavvy websitePrincipal Investigators
- Kristin B. Raub, PI, [email protected]
- Stephen E. Flynn, Co-PI, [email protected]
- Tony Castronova, Co-PI, [email protected]
Team members
- Daniela Rincón Reyes, [email protected]
- Emma Hibbert, [email protected]
- Robin White, [email protected]
- Shivangi Basu, [email protected]
- Nalini Gunawardena, [email protected]
- Allison Deese, [email protected]
- Angie Valencia, [email protected]
- Irene Garousi-Nejad, [email protected]
NWM Tutorial: A 101 Guide on Understanding and Using the NWM
The NWM Tutorial, available in both PDF and video format, helps new users navigate the NWM. It provides a walk-through of how to 1) navigate the National Water Prediction Service (NWPS) interface; 2) access streamflow data on both gauged and ungauged rivers; 3) identify options for extracting retrospective data and; 4) activate the Flood Inundation Mapping layer.
NWM TutorialCo-Developing FloodSavvy: A User-Driven Approach to Accessing the NWM’s Flood Risk Insights
Learn more about our team’s community engagement and co-development process, and how these led to the creation of FloodSavvy – a tailored, hydrological resource for US communities.
Resource NarrativeFormal Launch of FloodSavvy
On November 19th, we formally launched FloodSavvy during an online event titled ‘Introducing FloodSavvy: Sharing New Resources to Access NWM Data.’ The event convened water decision-makers and community resilience planners from across the United States to share the new co-developed resource. Presenters from the Vermont and Missouri communities involved in our study also shared how they intend to use FloodSavvy in their work. A recording of this event is available below:
