How ESA helps South Africa share water fairly
On World Water Day, how can the government achieve the sustainable use of water for the benefit of all South Africans? ESA has been working in partnership with two Dutch companies and a South African catchment management authority to find a solution.

Some 20 year ago, in response to severe water shortages, the South African government passed the National Water Act, which is intended to restrict the amount of water farmers use for irrigation.

However ensuring that farmers only take the water to which they are entitled is tricky.

Maurits Voogt, who works for HydroLogic, a relatively small company based in Amersfoort in the Netherlands, says: "It is a major task to monitor and enforce the legal use of water in places where there are limited qualified personnel available, and the areas that need to be monitored are huge.
"We have developed a smart, satellite-based water auditing service as part of ESA's program of Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES). It allows water management authorities to monitor irrigated water use in large areas without actually needing to visit every single farm.

"By doing so, the water auditing application helps them implement regulatory measures effectively, and thereby supports the sustainable use of water resource."

The water auditing service uses evapotranspiration data calculated from by partner company eLEAF, based in Wageningen.

Captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, this image shows the Crocodile River, which rises in the Steenkampsberg Mountains of Mpumalanga Province and traverses South Africa before flowing through Mozambique and into the Indian Ocean. Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
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Captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, this image shows farms next to the Crocodile River in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Farmers growing sugar cane and fresh fruit take water from the river to irrigate their crops, leaving less for those people living downstream. In response to severe water shortages, the South African government passed the National Water Act of 1998, which is intended to restrict the amount of water farmers use for irrigation. Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
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Captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, this image shows circular cultivated areas in farms next to the Crocodile River in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Farmers growing sugar cane and fresh fruit take water from the river to irrigate their crops, leaving less for those people living downstream. In response to severe water shortages, the South African government passed the National Water Act of 1998, which is intended to restrict the amount of water farmers use for irrigation. Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
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