South Florida Agency Turns to Google Public Sector to Help Manage Critical Water Programs

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Nov 02, 2022, 10:00 ET

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. and WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Google Public Sector is partnering with the South Florida Water Management District to help the agency enable visualization and trend analysis for water quality to inform water management decisions across the district. South Florida Water Management is the largest and oldest water district in Florida, overseeing water resources for more than nine million residents from Orlando to the Florida Keys.

Through this partnership, Google Public Sector is deploying its Climate Insights for natural resources solution—powered by Google Earth Engine (GEE) running on Google Cloud and Climate Engine—to help support the availability of drinking water for Florida residents, while also preserving national treasures, like America's Everglades. The cloud-based technology will also help the District combat harmful algal blooms (HABs), assist with natural resource restoration, and undertake other important sustainability work. This partnership supports Google's overall water stewardship strategy to share technology and tools that enable decision-makers to take action around water issues.

Google Cloud solutions, like Earth Engine, BigQuery, and Vertex AI, help the district significantly reduce manual work, provide centralized access to analysis-ready data, and connect together its many research and development platforms. The South Florida Water Management District is also building a prototype artificial intelligence (AI) model to better understand and anticipate HABs before they occur. This will help prevent adverse impacts to regional water quality and wildlife, while supporting recreational activities like fishing, swimming, boating, and waterskiing.

"The South Florida Water Management District is proud to continue our water quality improvement efforts using the best available science and tools," said Sean Sculley, South Florida Water Management District's chief of applied science. "Our partnership with Google Public Sector and Climate Engine comes at a pivotal time in Florida's history and recently enhanced environmental restoration efforts. These sustainability solutions will help us to make better decisions for the communities and environment in South Florida."

"Climate impact is one of the world's most complex 'big data' problems, and Google Public Sector is uniquely positioned to solve it," said Brent Mitchell, managing director, Google Public Sector, U.S. State and Local Government, and Education. "We're combining our technology know-how and leadership in analytics to help South Florida unlock data insights to better understand and mitigate against the impacts of a changing climate, weather patterns, development, and water use on natural resources, as efficiently as possible."

To help its workforce onboard to Google Cloud, South Florida Water Management District is leveraging Google Cloud Skills Boost, building the team's Google Cloud knowledge through self-paced labs, quests, and role-based learning paths. Core team members will also participate in a six-week Professional Cloud Architect (PCA) learning journey, supported by technical mentorship and exam review sessions with a dedicated trainer.

Google Public Sector's recent climate insights partnerships include the State of Hawaii, New York State and Canada. Google Cloud is committed to building relationships with agencies across the world to reduce environmental impact with the cleanest cloud in the industry.

About Google Cloud
Google Cloud accelerates every organization's ability to digitally transform its business. They deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google's cutting-edge technology – all on the cleanest cloud in the industry. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems.

About South Florida Water Management District:
The South Florida Water Management District is the regional state agency that manages the water resources in the southern half of the Sunshine State from Orlando to the Florida Keys. Created in 1949, the agency is responsible for managing the world's largest and most complex water management system including thousands of miles of canals along with hundreds of water control infrastructure. This infrastructure works to drain urbanized Central and Southern Florida. The District also leads the restoration of America's Everglades, the world's most ambitious ecosystem restoration effort. Additionally, the agency provides regional water supply for residents, businesses and the environment.

SOURCE Google Inc.