If you don't already have virtualenv installed:

pip install virtualenv

Create a virtual environment to hold the installed packages:

virtualenv venv

Run the generated script. In the future, prior to running the app you'll want to run this as well.

source venv/bin/activate 

Now install the packages:

pip install -r requirements.txt 

Make sure mysql is installed locally. Create a user and password (feel free to use the existing root user). In application.py, update the SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI to use your mysql user/password. Make sure the water database exists:

mysql> create database water;

Now create the schema in the python shell:

>>> from application import *
>>> migrate_up()

Populate your local database with water data. This might take a few minutes:

>>> populate_db()

python application.py

Navigate to https://localhost:5000/

API endpoint for all reservoirs: https://localhost:5000/reservoirs

API endpoint for one reservoir's data (e.g. CMN): https://localhost:5000/reservoir/CMN

KQED's Visualization: How the Drought is Shrinking California’s Reservoirs