Network member
Technology sector
Early warning and Environmental assessment
Water
Focal point email
Problem
Less than 26% of necessary in-situ water and weather observations are collected across Africa. Without this data, climate resilience and early warning systems fail and suffering is exacerbated. Yet, investing in sensors - the dominant go-to solution for donors and governments - often fails to scale fast and last over time.
Solution
Water Insight is committed in raising government capacity and awareness of water and weather by uncovering and integrating new observation data.
Gauge Readers in least-developed countries manually collect observations using simple equipment (think rain gauge bucket or river gauge plate). With Water in Sight, they send their data using free SMS or WhatsApp and data is instantly available to the government and integrated online. It can be cross-checked with satellite observations and used to improve services such as forecasting and warnings.
Gauge Readers in least-developed countries manually collect observations using simple equipment (think rain gauge bucket or river gauge plate). With Water in Sight, they send their data using free SMS or WhatsApp and data is instantly available to the government and integrated online. It can be cross-checked with satellite observations and used to improve services such as forecasting and warnings.
Performance and impacts
In Malawi, we have hit the milestone of 20,000 quality-controlled observations of rainfall and river levels in 8 months from 70+ stations across the country. In Mozambique, we have rolled out 12 of the country's 15 synoptic stations for instant access to daily temperature and rainfall observations.
We have future plans to :
- Scaling to more countries and collection of more climate variables.
- Supporting the Government's hydrometeorological agencies and international donors in adopting more hybrid and diverse technology approaches to close the water and weather data gaps.
- Enabling greater data access to public and private sectors.
- Providing analytical insights that develop water resources and buffer against climate shocks
We have future plans to :
- Scaling to more countries and collection of more climate variables.
- Supporting the Government's hydrometeorological agencies and international donors in adopting more hybrid and diverse technology approaches to close the water and weather data gaps.
- Enabling greater data access to public and private sectors.
- Providing analytical insights that develop water resources and buffer against climate shocks