HydroNET Water Control Room wins prestigious Partner for Water award 2017
The HydroNET Water Control Room in South Africa won the Partners for Water award 2017. The online water control room has been developed and implemented by a Dutch- South African consortium, led by HydroLogic.
As a result of the successful introduction, over 25 South African organisations are currently using the HydroNET Water Control Room to monitor the current situation of water systems and to respond to expected water usage and quality.
The Partners for Water award 2017 was handed to Leanne Reichard (right on top photo) and Bas Boterman (second left) of Hydrologic during the Waterproof event in Maarssen, the Netherlands, on 13 April.
Partners for Water is a programme by the Dutch government to stimulate the use of Dutch innovative water-related solutions in foreign urban deltas and their water supply systems. Over 80 projects funded by this programme competed for the prestigious ‘best project’ award.
Dashboard for the Inkomati-usuthu catchment management authority (IUCMA), controlling the situation along the CroCodil river with increasing restrictions for irrigation.
Managing scarce water resources
South Africa suffers from water stress. Fresh-water demand is expected to exceed water availability by 2025. To efficiently manage the available water resources and reduce the impacts, water managers need access to historic, current and forecasted water and weather information.
The online HydroNET Water Control Room translates terabytes of data from radars, satellites, and other monitoring sources into easy to understand online decision-support dashboards.
These dashboards empower water managers to make well-informed and transparent decisions for the sustainable management of their water systems.
Right data at the right time
The jury explained: “This consortium provided a measurable contribution to solving world-water problems”.
In her reaction to receiving the award Leanne Reichard, leader of the consortium and business director at Hydrologic, mentioned the importance of an online control room in general: “It provides water authorities with the right data at the right time so they can take well informed decisions”.
Identifying water misuse
Addressing the control room at the Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (IUCMA), the agency's executive Jennifer Molwantwa said: “Hydrologists, meteorologists, software developers and local experts worked closely together to tailor HydroNET to our needs. The control room helps IUCMA identifying misuse of irrigation water and gives us the tools to share the information with all our stakeholders, including our neighbouring countries. This openness creates a joint understanding of our decisions.”
Business case
The weather information is provided by South African Weather Service (SAWS) and on the occasion of being awarded 'best project' commercial manager Michelle Hartslief emphasised the business opportunities: “Thanks to the cooperation with the Dutch Weather Service KNMI and HydroLogic we have enhanced our data quality and data accessibility.
"Now we make all our data available through HydroNET", Hartslief continued. "Our cooperation helped to create an efficient business model.The revenue helps us to further improve our monitoring network and services. This way, all South African weather-sensitive industries benefit.”
The award-winning project started in 2012 during a workshop organised by the Kingfisher project. In that project, Dutch water boards cooperate with catchment management agencies in South Africa. Brian Jackson of the Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (IUCMA) immediately saw the potential of HydroNET to improve river and reservoir operations.
With the support of Partners for Water, a Dutch - South African consortium was formed to co-create climate and water services: HydroLogic, eLeaf, South African Weather Service (SAWS), Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), University of Twente, WineJob and IUCMA.
About HydroNET
HydroNET is a web-based decision support system which transfers weather and water data into information, presented in sophisticated dashboards.
Its software is a Service (SaaS) solution that empowers over 2650 water professionals worldwide to make well-informed and transparent decisions for the analysis and sustainable management of their water resources. HydroNET is developed by Dutch research and consultancy firm HydroLogic.
About Partners for Water
The programme Partners for Water is a joint initiative of several departments of the Government of the Netherlands, developed to strengthen the international position of the Dutch water sector. The programme funds project that are innovative in nature and have the potential to create considerable spin-offs.
Read also on this website
● Dutch King Willem-Alexander launches ‘water control room’ in Brisbane, Australia, 4 November 2016
● First HydroNet control room for Inkomati-Usuthu catchment management agency, South Africa, 4 October 2016
● Country: South Africa
More information
Hydrologic/HydroNET South Africa
Pretoria, South Africa
+21 12 367 6000
www.hydronet.co.za
and
www.hydronet.com
Partners for Water
www.partnersvoorwater.nl (in Dutch only)
Watch the Partners for Water Award film about the HydroNET water control room for South Africa.