Water is an increasingly valuable natural resource. By identifying typical sources and distribution of microbial communities in waterways, researchers can develop hydrological models that incorporate the microbial data, laying out how water flows from different sources and how rain events affect bacterial diversity and count. For example, by studying how microbes flourish in specific areas, it may be possible to whether actions such as increasing the amount of concrete near an outflow affect bacteria, or if water quality changes as rivers flow past farms or factories.