How to improve water management by using space technology

This issue was addressed by the 4th International Conference on the Use of Space Technology for Water Management, which recently took place in Islamabad, Pakistan. More than 100 experts from all over the world discussed cutting-edge tools and findings to better understand, describe and quantify water-related issues using space technology. The conference was organised by the the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, the National Space Agency of Pakistan SUPARCO on behalf of the Government of Pakistan, and the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water.

The range of applications covered the entire water cycle - extending from precipitation estimation from satellite data to glacier mapping, run-off estimation, erosion and water quality assessment, evapotranspiration calculation and beyond.

In his keynote presentation within the session on case-studies, Lorenz Wendt (Z_GIS) gave insight into the lessons learned by Z_GIS from developing water-related information products and services and providing those to humanitarian actors within the EO4HumEn+ project.

The key to success in many water-related applications of space technology is the integration of remote sensing data with information collected in situ, by experts or measurement systems on the ground, which is both a technical and an organisational challenge. No the less, space technology bears a great potential to tackle the many water-related challenges the world is facing.

Contact: Lorenz Wendt