Accessibility Statement

Last updated: October 2026

We want everyone to be able to use this site, including people who use screen readers, keyboards, magnification, voice control or other assistive technology. Our goal is to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA.

What we do

• Every page has a skip link, headings, landmarks, labelled controls, and works with a keyboard.
• Text meets AA contrast in both light and dark themes, and the site follows your device's light or dark setting.
• Weather icons are paired with text, and map colors are paired with labels and lists.
• The map animation can be paused, and it does not start by itself if your device asks for reduced motion.
• Charts have a text description, and the same numbers are available as text in the cards and lists.
• The layout adapts to phones and to page zoom.
• We test every page with an automated checker (axe) before changes go live.

Known limitations

• Maps are visual. We provide text alternatives for the main information (lists of alerts, nearby river gauges, the worst air quality, the largest wildfires, and the drought level for your location), but not every map marker is reachable by keyboard.
• Third-party map images (satellite and street tiles, radar) come from other providers and cannot have text alternatives.
• Pop-up details on the map are best used with a mouse or touch. Their information is also available in the lists beside the map where possible.

Tell us about a problem

If something on this site is hard to use, please tell us what page you were on and what happened, and what device or assistive technology you use: mach.projectlab@gmail.com. We aim to reply within 5 business days and to fix real barriers promptly.