Why Google.org’s $3.5 million philanthropic investment in GEOGLOWS is a bet on the world’s water future

Across the globe, communities are living with stronger storms, more frequent floods and longer droughts. Cities, farms, data centres and entire supply chains now face water risks that are no longer rare or distant – they are everyday realities.

Yet people cannot prepare for what they cannot see coming.

That is why Google.org’s $3.5 million philanthropic investment in GEOGLOWS, via Brigham Young University, matters. The funding will help scale a global river forecast service that gives countries, businesses, and communities clearer insight into the water risks ahead, whether tomorrow’s flood or next season’s drought.

Many institutions still rely on fragmented or private datasets. What’s missing is shared water information infrastructure: an open, scientifically credible picture of the world’s rivers that anyone can build on. GEOGLOWS provides exactly that.

Born out of the Group on Earth Observations, GEOGLOWS was created because so many partners faced the same challenge: everyone needed reliable river information, but not everyone could afford to build a global model. The solution was simple and powerful: do the heavy computing once, in the open, and make it available as a backbone for all.

Today, that backbone supports the GEOGLOWS River Forecast System and contributes to the World Meteorological Organization’s global flood prediction efforts. It strengthens, rather than replaces, national hydromet services by giving them a consistent global baseline they can refine with local knowledge.

Downstream, GEOGLOWS data fuels early-warning systems, groundwater and drought tools, climate-risk analyses, and even models that help aquaculture producers anticipate water temperature and oxygen thresholds.

Google.org’s investment is ultimately an investment in people. It helps ensure that communities everywhere – whether in a coastal delta, a growing city, or along a remote river – have access to the river intelligence they need to prepare, adapt, and build resilience.

Because in the end, we are all downstream.