Congratulations to the 2019 California Water Data Challenge participants

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 Special thanks to the California Water Service for providing $12,000 directly to Challenge participant teams!

About the Challenge

On any given day in California, around 200,000 Californians turn on their taps and the water that comes out is unsafe to drink and may be unsafe to use for basic needs like bathing. Annually, up to 1 million Californians lack access to clean, safe drinking water at some point during the year. Droughts and other disruptions in water supply can limit or eliminate access to safe drinking water for days, months, or years. Some communities have been exposed to unsafe water for more than a decade.

Small water systems and domestic well users are particularly vulnerable to disruptions in their access to safe drinking water. While the most publicized examples are in rural areas of the state, delivering sufficient, safe, and affordable drinking water poses a challenge to small systems and domestic well users in almost every region of the state. Many of the most vulnerable systems and domestic well users rely primarily on groundwater for their water supply.

The Water Data Challenge is designed to explore data’s potential to help us better understand community access to safe drinking water, anticipate vulnerabilities, and identify and deploy solutions.

Open and Transparent Water Data

California is implementing the Open and Transparent Water Data Act to publish water and ecosystem information in an open data format. In addition to fostering the development of innovative tools and insights related to safe drinking water, the California Water Data Challenge will provide participants an opportunity to engage with the open data portal and submit feedback, advice, and suggestions for consideration as this effort is being implemented.

Sponsors of 2019 Challenge

We would like to thank all the major sponsors of the 2019 Water Data Challenge