In drought-wracked California, efforts to conserve every bit of available water are prompting ambitious solutions. But while the state looks to major infrastructure projects to meet future demand, researchers at the Arid Lands Institute are working on a software mapping tool, Divining LA, to give urban planners, architects and engineers a better view of a region's water profile to maximize use.
Combining information gleaned from digital terrain models, geotechnical data sets, multi-spectral satellite imagery and historical surveys, Divining LA may one day provide a model of a region's stormwater drainage and water availability to a high level of detail.