National Science Foundation: HydroGEN Project

HydroGEN is a collaborative international and inter-disciplinary project managed by some of the world's leading hydrologists. This short marketing film was created as a visual component of their National Science Foundation grant to educate and inspire viewers and investors as the team continues to develop and expand upon their project.

Water is the driving force behind extreme events like floods, droughts and wildfires. Already these events cost the US 10’s of billions of dollars in damages every year. The pressures of increasing population and changing climate will only make this worse. Recent events like the record setting wildfires in California and the mega drought on the Colorado river are merely the latest illustrations that we live in a time of superlatives. Historical events are no-longer a reliable guide for the frequency and severity of the risks we will face in the future. This no-analog future poses a huge challenge for managers and decision makers at all levels who are charged with keeping people safe, and best allocating our resources.

HydroGEN is a novel platform for hydrologic simulations that combines advanced physically based simulations with machine learning, ultimately giving water mangers the power to make better, more localized decisions in the many ecosystems that have been affected by climate change.

Director of Photography: Drew Bennett
Director: Reed Maxwell, PhD
Producer and Project Lead: Laura Condon, PhD

Headwaters of the Colorado River in Taylor Park, Colorado: