Primary Functions
- Develop an understanding of how our water data infrastructure can be improved to enable us to more sustainably manage water resources.
Detailed Description
The Aspen Institute Dialogue Series on Sharing and Integrating Water Data for Sustainability was convened to address one of the country’s most pressing challenges: how to improve our water data infrastructure to enable us to more sustainably manage our water resources.
To address this challenge, this Dialogue Series, hosted by the Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program in partnership with the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the Redstone Strategy Group, aimed to formulate a national water data and information policy framework for sharing, integrating, and disseminating public data to characterize and forecast the quantity, quality, and uses of water across the United States. Participants included experts and representatives from the federal, state, and local government agencies, the private sector, academia and non-governmental organizations.
This document represents the group’s findings as developed over the course of three scoping sessions and two roundtable dialogues convened in 2016-2017. The authors provide a summary of the major findings, shared principles and action-oriented recommendations toward creating a national water data and information policy framework for sharing and integrating open water data. The intended audience for this report is threefold:
- Policymakers for whom this document can inform their thinking and strategic approaches;
- The community of practitioners focused on water data and management issues and their implications for water sustainability and innovation; and
- Funders who will support the implementation process and initiatives put forth in this report.
The report highlights and provides a principle-based blueprint recommending a 3-step plan for how to design and launch a feasible and operable “Internet of Water” – a network of interconnected data producers, hubs, and users – that will enable connecting and transmitting water-related data and information in real-time.
