This study explores the possibility of using open access data obtained by Remote Sensing (RS), and in particular the FAO (WaPOR) portal to compute SDG 6.4.1 in comparison with current methodology. The focus is on the agricultural component as RS data provides land-based information and can therefore provide relevant information for the agricultural sector, which globally account for the largest withdrawal of water. The analyses were carried out for Lebanon, a country in the Middle East region, facing many water challenges under a difficult economic and political situation.

Type: Case study

Location: Lebanon

Application: Assessing/monitoring water and/or land productivity

Layers used: AETI (Actual Evapotranspiration and Interception), LCC (Land Cover Classification), NPP (Net Primary Production), P (Precipitation)

Scale used: 30m, 100m

Organization/institution: IHE Delft

Language: English

The Water Consumption Dashboard shows and tracks agricultural water scarcity to better understand the situation from basin to field level by translating complex and actual geodata from WaPOR and commercial data from eLEAF into tangible information that can be directly used for reporting, governance and water management planning. The dashboard is customizable, user-definable, permits temporal and spatial comparisons, provides data every 10 days and was co-developed through comprehensive user need assessments and feedback, with Tensift River Basin Agency (ABH-T) and the Regional Office for Agricultural Development of Haouz (ORMVA-H) in Morocco to support their water management and governance decisions.The information provided is intended to be easy-to-digest and aimed at professionals without prior GIS experience. The dashboard responds to the user needs of ABH-Tensift and ORMVA-H by providing: comparisons of planned versus actual water consumption, discharge and recharge insights into groundwater storage, water use exceedings or non-compliance with the growing of specific crops (directing the water police to violations), monitoring groundwater (borewells) authorisations, evolution of irrigated area over time, evaluation of development interventions such as the impact of collective conversion to drip irrigation method, mapping of irrigation/on-farm reservoirs. In this way the dashboard enables users to improve water use efficiency and ensure equal and inclusive access to water for all stakeholders. Subsequently, benefiting smallholder farmers in fair water distribution and improved irrigation practices with expected higher impacts on their crop yield, lower water footprint and enhanced farming profitability. Different typologies of users can access the service through different subscription plans matching their needs.

Type: Case study,Resource

Location: Morocco

Application: Assessing/monitoring the water consumption of crops, Assessing/monitoring water resources, Evaluation, Monitoring and supporting decisions to improve irrigation, Monitoring the impact of drought, Supporting solutions to reduce yield and productivity gaps

Layers used: AETI (Actual Evapotranspiration and Interception), LCC (Land Cover Classification), NPP (Net Primary Production), P (Precipitation)

Scale used: 30m, 100m, 250m

Organization/institution: eLEAF, RESING

Language: English, French

IMISET is a web-based information system run by the Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia that aims to support the monitoring of the performance and status of irrigated agriculture as well as decision-making and timely planning. It retrieves data on precipitation, reference and actual evapotranspiration and transpiration from WaPOR for estimating water use and irrigation water requirement.

Type: Resource

Location: Ethiopia

Application: Assessing/monitoring the water consumption of crops, Assessing/monitoring water resources, Monitoring and supporting decisions to improve irrigation, Providing advisory services to farmers

Layers used: AETI (Actual Evapotranspiration and Interception), P (Precipitation), RET (Reference Evapotranspiration), T (Transpiration)

Scale used: 100m

Organization/institution: Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia

Language: English

This study identifies the potential areas for solar based irrigation in Africa. The framework uses a number of publicly available datasets of solar irradiation, land use, water resources, solar pump characteristics, and climates to identify areas that may be suitable for Solar based irrigation.  The maps have been developed as an online, interactive tool to inform and strengthen planning and management of irrigation in Africa. WaPOR data was used to identify drought prone areas which served as constraints to areas that would be suitable for solar irrigation. This was done by identifying areas with continuous 5 month rainfall deficit (P – AETI) and excluded from suitable areas.

Type: Case study

Location: Eswatini, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Application: Monitoring and supporting decisions to improve irrigation, Understanding spatial variability of water-related and plant activity-related variables

Layers used: AETI (Actual Evapotranspiration and Interception), P (Precipitation)

Scale used: 250m

Organization/institution: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Language: English

This study uses the Water Accounting + (WA+) framework to collect and evaluate the water resources status for the Souss Massa River Basin. The framework focuses on the use of a variety of publicly available remote sensing datasets including data from WaPOR to summarize the water resources status of the Souss Massa River Basin for 2009-2019.

Type: Case study

Location: Morocco

Application: Assessing/monitoring water resources

Layers used: AETI (Actual Evapotranspiration and Interception), LCC (Land Cover Classification), RET (Reference Evapotranspiration)

Scale used: 100m, 250m

Organization/institution: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Language: English

This study used multiple datasets from the WaPOR database in a rapid water accounting plus (WA+) framework developed by IWMI and IHE Delft. The water accounts derived from this study were further used to understand the potential of sustainable expansion of solar irrigation in in Ségou and Sikasso, Mali.

Type: Case study

Location: Mali

Application: Assessing/monitoring water resources

Layers used: AETI (Actual Evapotranspiration and Interception), E (Evaporation), I (Interception), LCC (Land Cover Classification), P (Precipitation), RET (Reference Evapotranspiration), T (Transpiration)

Scale used: 100m, 250m

Organization/institution: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Language: English

SOSIA is a tool (a Google Earth Engine app) with two connected components. The first component offers weather data based on virtual weather stations. Currently farmers rely on low-coverage real-time weather stations in Rwanda combined with the now outdated CROPWAT 8.0 method; SOSIA replaces the former with virtual weather stations that use open-source satellite data combined with crop stage, and projected and historical precipitation data: FAO WaPOR, CFSR, CHIRPS, and CFS data. The second component offers farmers a more reliable and accurate indication of their irrigation water requirements than the existing options by replacing the long term average and obsolete ET0 data extracted from CROPWAT with a new one that uses near-real time FAO WaPOR data, to retrieve a location specific crop schedule.

Type: Case study,Resource

Location: Rwanda, Zambia

Application: Monitoring and supporting decisions to improve irrigation, Providing advisory services to farmers

Layers used: RET (Reference Evapotranspiration)

Scale used: 100m

Organization/institution: Future Water

Language: English

Water Water Accounting + (WA+) is a tool that allows for the collection, analysis, summary and reporting of water related information in river basins. WA+ uses remotely sensed and other open access data, among which WaPOR data, to compute water flows. It was employed in the study of the water resources in 5 bassins in the South East of Morocco (in the Southern part of the Atlas mountains).

Type: Case study,Resource

Location: Morocco

Application: Assessing/monitoring the impact of a stressor (drought conflict … ) on agriculture, Assessing/monitoring the water consumption of crops, Assessing/monitoring water and/or land productivity, Assessing/monitoring water resources, Evaluation, Understanding spatial variability of water-related and plant activity-related variables

Layers used: AETI (Actual Evapotranspiration and Interception), GBWP (Gross Biomass Water Productivity), LCC (Land Cover Classification), TBP (Total Biomass Production)

Scale used: 100m, 250m

Organization/institution: BET Ressources ingénierie (RESING)

Language: French

PyWaPOR is a repository that contains a Python implementation of the algorithm used to generate the WaPOR datasets. It can be used to calculate evaporation, transpiration and biomass production maps.

Type: Resource

Application: Analyzing yield and/or water productivity gaps, Assessing/monitoring changes in agricultural production, Assessing/monitoring the impact of a stressor (drought conflict … ) on agriculture, Assessing/monitoring the water consumption of crops, Assessing/monitoring water and/or land productivity, Assessing/monitoring water resources, Monitoring and supporting decisions to improve irrigation, Monitoring the impact of drought, Providing advisory services to farmers, Supporting solutions to reduce yield and productivity gaps, Understanding spatial variability of water-related and plant activity-related variables

Layers used: AETI (Actual Evapotranspiration and Interception), E (Evaporation), NPP (Net Primary Production), T (Transpiration)

Scale used: 30m

Organization/institution: FAO

Language: English

The purpose of this study is the investigation of the relationship between agricultural land-use changes and the decrease of the Lake Urmia water level. This was achieved calculating the actual evapotranspiration and interception in agricultural and non-agricultural lands, investigating the trend of temperature changes and its relationship with ETIa, determining the water balance, and estimating net and gross biomass water productivity in the ULB. The authors of the study arrive at the conclusion that the rise of the temperature, the increase in the area of irrigated croplands, the decrease of precipitation and the negative water balance should be considered as warning signals calling for the proper management of water resources in the Urmia Lake Basin.

Type: Case study

Location: Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Application: Assessing/monitoring water resources, Evaluation

Layers used: AETI (Actual Evapotranspiration and Interception), LCC (Land Cover Classification), NBWP (Net Biomass Water Productivity)

Scale used: 250m

Organization/institution: Urmia University

Language: English