Not long ago, access to and use of real-time hydrologic data was the exclusive domain of hydrologists, engineers and forecasters. Today, in this fast-changing "Information Age," emergency managers, water managers and other state/local officials are numbered among the more sophisticated users of hydrologic data and forecast products. The National Hydrologic Warning Council (NHWC) represents a broad cross-section of this user community in the United States. This paper presents some examples of how advanced these users have become and describes some new public/private partnerships that have resulted.