NASA grant lets utilities and partners use space agency data in planning

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded a $1.7 million grant to Tampa Bay Water and other water-related organizations in Florida to adapt NASA satellite products for use in planning by utilities.

Tampa Bay Water, the wholesale water supply utility for the Tampa Bay region, is expected to use the NASA data as part of its decision-making on allocating water resources, such as the use of a 15.5-billion-gallon reservoir in Hillsborough County.

And the Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority, which serves a similar role in the Sarasota region, would do the same for the operations of its aquifer storage and recovery wells, according to a news release by the University of Florida.

The grant recipients are all members of the Florida Water and Climate Alliance, co-founded by Tampa Bay Water. The alliance has been working for more than a decade with the University of Florida's Water Institute and Florida State University's Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies to use good science in making water-supply decisions.