News Release Archive

Bureau of Reclamation announces the winners of the Colorado River Basin Data Visualization Prize Challenge

Media Contact: Peter Soeth, 303-445-3615, psoeth@usbr.gov

For Release: November 16, 2018

The winning visualization from Jared Schwartz, the Colorado River Reservoir Explorer.WASHINGTON - Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman has announced that six submissions were selected to receive awards while three submissions were selected to receive partial awards in the Colorado River Basin Data Visualization Prize Competition. Jared Schwartz was selected to receive the top prize of $15,750.

The objective of this prize challenge was to develop a visualization tool to support exploration and understanding of climate, hydrology, river and reservoir conditions across the Colorado River Basin as well as how these conditions vary in space and time. It was also expected that the tool help users understand how fluctuations in river and reservoir conditions relate to their interests, such as water supply and recreation opportunities.

Jared Schwartz was selected to receive $15,750 for his submission of the Colorado River Reservoir Explorer. It consisted of an interactive map allowing users to locate and view Colorado River Basin reservoirs and display a wide variety of information about those reservoirs. It included a simple but informative display of reservoir storage, inflow, release, and evaporation in the context of historical data, plus a weather summary linked to each reservoir based on USGS hydrologic units. It was the most comprehensive submission with respect to the datasets utilized, drawing on both Reclamation reservoir data and weather data from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Others receiving awards for their submissions are:

Michael Norton - $10,750
Timothy Han - $7,750
Ben Crary - $7,750
Nicholas Gottlieb - $5,250 Dawn Barton, Mary Qawiyy, Robin Tully, Katlyn Kinsey, and Hareem Mannan - $5,250
Ibrahim Demir - $2,500
Jared Schwartz - $2,500
Raibatak Das - $2,500

For those submissions that receive funding, the federal government will receive a broad license and right to use all solutions. The solver will retain ownership of their idea or concept demonstrated by their proposal.

Reclamation collaborated with the U.S. Geological Survey, the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, the Natural Resource Conservation Service and the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission on this prize competition.

To learn more prize competitions at Reclamation, please visit Reclamation's Water Prize Competition Center at: www.usbr.gov/research/challenges/index.html.

# # #

The Bureau of Reclamation is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior and is the nation's largest wholesale water supplier and second largest producer of hydroelectric power. Our facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation opportunities, and environmental benefits. Visit our website at https://www.usbr.gov and follow us on Twitter @USBR; Facebook @bureau.of.reclamation; LinkedIn @Bureau of Reclamation; Instagram @bureau_of_reclamation; and YouTube @reclamation.