Page 61 - CIWA Water Data Revolution Overview Report

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Figure 7: Analytics currently used by respondents.

Drought monitoring is the most used diagnostic by the organizations interviewed, followed by
FEWS, flood monitoring, quantification of water storage in reservoirs, monitoring of surface
water quality, and water accounting. Drought monitoring, FEWS, and flood monitoring may be
the top applications used by the respondents for several reasons. Foremost, droughts and floods
are captured relatively well using RS-based data, negating the need to incorporate extensive
ground-based data. This enables users to apply these analyses in regions lacking station data and
ground monitoring. As mentioned in 7.2, there are also data products available for free or at low-
cost that include applications for drought and flood monitoring, making these types of analyses
cost effective. Additionally, extreme natural events such as floods and droughts can trigger
disasters, underscoring the need to forecast future events. Floods and droughts are increasing in
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Africa due to climate change , thus making forecasting of these events imperative across the
continent for sustainable development. While quantification of water storage in reservoirs may
not be relevant or of interest for all the organizations, it is highly applicable for organizations
operating dams or managing lake resources which play a big when considering flooding threats.
For monitoring of surface water quality, ground-based measurements of water parameters are
typically required, which are often expensive, laborious, and time consuming to attain and
maintain over time, thus reducing the likelihood of organizations to employ analytical tools for
water quality monitoring. Lastly, water accounting can be difficult to perform without purchasing
a product that collects relevant RS data, executes the calculations, and delivers extensive

13 White, T. (2022, March 9). Increasing droughts and floods on the African continent. Brookings. Retrieved April 29, 2022, from
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2021/10/08/increasing-droughts-and-floods-on-the-african-continent/

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