USGS scientists Kristina Masterson, Dr. John Lane, Dr. Lea Davidson and Anteneh Sarbanes traveled to the Kyrgyz Republic for a scoping and outreach mission for a new water project focused on visualization of satellite data to understand surface-water conditions. 

The Kyrgyz Republic is experiencing rapid population growth and development which may create challenges for water resources management supporting critical minerals extraction, energy development, agriculture and drinking water.

This bilateral project has USGS experts working with the Kyrgyz Republic government to analyze and display publicly available remotely-sensed water data in an open-source format to support science-based water resources monitoring and management. This strategic bilateral cooperation is funded by the U.S. State Department.

USGS met with representatives from government and private organizations involved with or affected by water management issues in the Kyrgyz Republic. During these meetings, the project team presented USGS-developed products and an overview of the proposed project and solicited feedback regarding challenges and priorities for water resources management in the Kyrgyz Republic which could be informed by USGS science. 

At the conclusion of the week, USGS affirmed that a publicly-accessible dashboard could be of value to the Kyrgyz government and other organizations, particularly because water information for some locations in the country is not publicly available.