AWS and Brightstorm partner on AI

AWS and Brightstorm partner on AI-driven stormwater management

The collaboration utilizes cloud computing and artificial intelligence to monitor watersheds and help communities mitigate flood risks

Brightstorm, a program of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), announced today a strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), a provider of cloud computing infrastructure and artificial intelligence technologies, announced a collaboration to modernize stormwater management networks at scale, to modernize stormwater management technologies at scale.

The collaboration comes as many communities prepare for wet season storms that are putting renewed pressure on aging stormwater infrastructure – systems designed decades ago and not built to withstand today’s changing climate and rapid urbanization. Stormwater runoff is now the leading source of water pollution in the United States, degrading waterways and increasing flood risk, while limited data makes real-time response and long-term planning nearly impossible.

Brightstorm harnesses technology and data to advance smarter stormwater management, conserving nature and protecting communities. Central to this effort is Smart Watershed Network Management (SWNM), a next-generation framework that integrates artificial intelligence (AI), real-time weather forecasting, and smart sensor networks to dynamically manage stormwater across entire watersheds. Using AWS's cloud and AI capabilities, Brightstorm will scale and enhance the SWNM approach – making its data and tools openly accessible to the planners, policymakers, and water managers who need them most.

Bringing this approach from framework to practice, Brightstorm will soon share Alluvia, a free, open-source gateway designed to build, host, iterate, and scale smart watershed tools. Alluvia will be spotlighted in September at WEFTEC, the largest annual water quality conference in the world hosted by The Water Environment Federation that features more than 135 technical sessions and 1,000 exhibitors. AWS provides the cloud computing infrastructure behind this platform, supporting its scalability, reliability, and security.

Along Florida’s coast, the Indian River Lagoon is one of America’s most biodiverse estuaries that supports more than 4,000 species of plants and animals. Like many other watersheds across the nation, it is under growing pressure from stormwater pollution, which is carrying excess nutrients and other pollutants into the estuary and threatens its water quality and wildlife. In response, a pilot, designed to be replicated nationwide, or “living lab,” will put SWNM into practice, transforming stormwater ponds into an interconnected, intelligent network.

"The Nature Conservancy has long set the standard for meaningful conservation through its commitment to protecting communities and the lands and waters that sustain life on Earth. Brightstorm is harnessing AWS cloud and AI technologies to better understand watershed risks and help communities turn data into action to ensure stormwater is managed with the resilience our future requires. This is exactly the kind of benefit to communities and ecosystems that we believe technology should deliver," said Rick Buettner, Managing Director of Global Nonprofits at AWS.

"At the heart of this collaboration is a conviction that bold thinking and collective action have the power to drive meaningful, enduring progress," said Craig Holland, Senior Director of Investments at The Nature Conservancy and Managing Director of Brightstorm. "By bringing together cutting-edge technology, rigorous science, and on-the-ground expertise, we can protect the ecosystems that communities and nature depend on.”

Together, Brightstorm and AWS are turning a data-driven approach to stormwater management into practical tools that can help communities build resilience against stormwater challenges for generations to come.

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