RESTON, Va. — The U.S. Geological Survey recently launched a Spanish version of the National Water Dashboard, an application that provides critical information to decision-makers, emergency managers and the public during extreme weather events. 

The original English version was first released in October 2020, offering a mobile, interactive application that provides real-time information on water flows, levels, weather and flood forecasts —all in one place. 

The application automatically detects a user’s default browser language, so any browser with Spanish set as the default language will display automatically in Spanish. In the Tools menu, located in the top right-hand corner of the application, users can also specify English or Spanish by selecting the Choose Language button. Currently, only the application’s source code is translated and not any application programing interface data connections or third-party resource. This includes National Water Information System data and text strings stored in the NWIS database. 

The application presents real-time stream, lake and reservoir, precipitation and groundwater data from more than 13,500 USGS observation stations across the country. This information is shown along with NOAA weather data such as radar, watches and warnings, past precipitation totals, precipitation forecasts and drought conditions from other open water-data sources. 

Information from the application can help inform forecasting, response and recovery efforts for federal, state and local agencies. It can also be used by meteorologists and local emergency managers as they issue flood and evacuation warnings, verify safe evacuation routes and coordinate emergency response efforts. During a drought, the application can help state resource managers identify areas where water supplies are at risk. 

For questions about the Spanish version of the application, desktop users can click on the Feedback button in the lower right-hand corner of the application. Users on a mobile device can find the Feedback button in the Tools menu.