3edata will participate in a project approved by the World Water Quality Alliance (WWQA) within the Earth Observation work stream

The recently awarded project focuses on defining a remotely sensed multi-metric index in a pilot area in Africa (Lake Tanganyka) to provide information on freshwater quality and how it changes over time. The aim is to generate a mechanism, co-designed with local stakeholders and focal points, to determine whether efforts to improve water quality are working, through an indicator that can be obtained at a global scale, using the full potential of applied remote sensing. This indicator is framed within Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG – Clean Water and Sanitation), which seeks to achieve improved water quality, wastewater treatment and safe reuse, and specifically in indicator 6.3.2 “Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality”.

This is a pilot project, which has received seed funding for its development, in which 3edata will participate within a consortium with international experts from 9 entities. This is led by the University of Stirling (Scotland) and includes the Free University of Brussels, the University of Energy and Natural Resources (Ghana), King’s College London, GEO AquaWatch,Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IASA) and the companies isardSAT and Brockmann .

3edata will work primarily on the development of the Earth Observation-based indicator to meet the technical requirements of SDG indicator 6.3.2. The envisaged indicator will integrate several water quality parameters into a composite index, classifying the status of the pilot water body.

The project will run over the coming months, ending in September, and is part of the so-called WWQA workstreams, specifically the Earth Observation workstream.

The Global Water Quality Alliance aims to provide governments and other stakeholders with evidence-based water quality assessments, scenarios, solutions, products and services at global, regional and local levels. It was established in 2020 by the United Nations and its Environment Programme (UNEP), together with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). It has more than 50 partners from the public, private and civil society sectors.

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