Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 15 hours ago
Western Water Assessment (WWA) is an applied research program that works directly with communities, water managers, hazard planners, and other partners in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming to help them make the best use of science to prepare for hazards like drought, wildfire, and flooding. In 2017, WWA launched a series of workshops in partnership with communities to help them plan for natural hazard risks that they were facing.
In 2023, WWA worked closely with community members and leaders in Lander, Wyoming to plan a workshop focused on flooding.In this video, Assistant Mayor of Lander RaJean Strube Fossen highlights the workshop’s impact. By bringing together a broad group of community partners, the workshop fostered collaboration, improved communication strategies for pre- and post-disaster events, and provided a critical opportunity for participants to discuss impacts on key infrastructure like water, sewer, transportation, and access to medical facilities. The workshop participants identified actions that could help shelter and house residents who might be displaced by flooding, provided temporary and permanent solutions for transportation and housing, and identified potential economic impacts of flooding events. This partnership is an example of how hazard planning and community engagement can help communities like Lander build resilience to natural hazard impacts.
Learn more at wwa.colorado.edu.
Western Water Assessment (WWA) is an applied research program that works directly with communities, water managers, hazard planners, and other partners in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming to help them make the best use of science to prepare for hazards like drought, wildfire, and flooding. In 2017, WWA launched a series of workshops in partnership with communities to help them plan for natural hazard risks that they were facing.
In 2023, WWA worked closely with community members and leaders in Lander, Wyoming to plan a workshop focused on flooding.In this video, Assistant Mayor of Lander RaJean Strube Fossen highlights the workshop’s impact. By bringing together a broad group of community partners, the workshop fostered collaboration, improved communication strategies for pre- and post-disaster events, and provided a critical opportunity for participants to discuss impacts on key infrastructure like water, sewer, transportation, and access to medical facilities. The workshop participants identified actions that could help shelter and house residents who might be displaced by flooding, provided temporary and permanent solutions for transportation and housing, and identified potential economic impacts of flooding events. This partnership is an example of how hazard planning and community engagement can help communities like Lander build resilience to natural hazard impacts.
Learn more at wwa.colorado.edu.
