Case Study
Transforming access to U.S. water data at scale
The client
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Challenge
USGS is the nation’s leading authority on natural resource data, responsible for collecting, analyzing, and distributing water quality, groundwater, and streamflow data across thousands of monitoring locations. As environmental conditions change rapidly and data volumes increase, the USGS needed a scalable, standards-based solution to help researchers, policymakers, and partner agencies access and use water data more effectively.
Flexion took the challenge to transform how the USGS shares vital water data in a rapidly changing environmental landscape and put this critical data into the hands of those who need it, faster and easier.
Our approach
To deliver this operational value, Flexion built a secure, cloud-native platform leveraging modern open-source and AWS technologies:
- Cloud infrastructure on AWS GovCloud: We deployed infrastructure using AWS CDK, ensuring repeatable, compliant, and secure environments for handling sensitive federal data.
- Automated, scalable pipelines with Airflow and Glue: Flexion built robust ETL pipelines using Apache Airflow and AWS Glue to ingest and process water data at scale, while Apache Iceberg enabled long-term storage and efficient access to massive datasets.
- Security-first DevOps: We implemented GitLab CI/CD pipelines for both infrastructure and application changes, following AWS best practices for security, access control, and auditability.
- Reproducibility and auditability by design: We designed workflows to support scientific rigor, tracking data lineage, ensuring reproducibility of analysis, and maintaining integrity across data updates.
Outcomes
Flexion helped USGS reimagine how its water data supports scientific research and environmental decision-making. Our work improved access, usability, and reliability for the people who depend on this data every day:
- Open, standards-compliant access to critical water data: We built a new suite of interfaces using Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards, enabling easier integration with research platforms and policy dashboards. Users can now access real-time sensor readings, discrete sampling data, and site metadata through consistent, interoperable APIs.
- Faster insights for groundwater monitoring: Flexion streamlined and modernized the National Groundwater Monitoring Network’s data transformation workflows, reducing latency between field data collection and scientific availability. Researchers now access up-to-date groundwater trends with less lag and greater accuracy.
- Empowering large-scale environmental analysis: Our team delivered scalable platforms capable of handling petabytes of water sample data, supporting climate modeling, water quality trend analysis, and ecosystem health assessments. Scientists can now conduct large-scale, reproducible studies more efficiently.
- Accelerated research and data transparency: By automating data pipelines and reducing manual touchpoints, Flexion enabled faster delivery of validated data to the public, state partners, and academia, supporting open science and improved cross-agency collaboration.
This work dramatically improved the efficiency and reach of USGS water data systems—empowering scientific discovery, supporting better groundwater policy, and delivering transparent, accessible environmental information to the public. Flexion’s deep collaboration with USGS staff bridged the gap between modern engineering and environmental mission impact.
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