The Nature Conservancy’s Brightstorm Program and AWS Collaborate to Scale Data-Driven Stormwater Management

ARLINGTON, VA - [September 28] - Brightstorm, a program of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), announced today a strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) 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.

About Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is guided by customer obsession, pace of innovation, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. By democratizing technology for nearly two decades and making cloud computing and generative AI accessible to organizations of every size and industry, AWS has built one of the fastest-growing enterprise technology businesses in history. Millions of customers trust AWS to accelerate innovation, transform their businesses, and shape the future. With the most comprehensive AI capabilities and global infrastructure footprint, AWS empowers builders to turn big ideas into reality. Learn more at aws.amazon.com and follow @AWSNewsroom.

Amazon is one of the founding leaders of the Water-AI Nexus alongside The Water Environment Federation, The Water Center at University of Pennsylvania and Leading Utilities of the World. The Water-AI Nexus serves as a global hub for knowledge, collaboration, and innovation. It unites leaders in utilities, technology, academia, and finance to accelerate sustainable water management practices while enabling responsible technological advancements.

About Brightstorm
Brightstorm is a program of The Nature Conservancy. Brightstorm modernizes aging stormwater infrastructure using data, technology, and collaboration to protect clean water, healthy ecosystems, and resilient communities. By applying advanced assessment tools, smart controls, and AI-driven insights, Brightstorm helps stormwater systems function more like nature - capturing more rainfall, filtering pollutants, and reducing flood risk. Through Living Labs such as in Florida's Indian River Lagoon, the collaborative approach transforms passive stormwater ponds into an interconnected, smart network that can be replicated across the U.S. and globally. 

About The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world's toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more resilient. The Nature Conservancy is working to make a lasting difference around the world in 83 countries and territories (39 by direct conservation impact and 44 through partners) through a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners.

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