SURFACE WATER INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (SWIM)

The SWIM (Surface Water Information Management) project assembles a geographically diverse and interdisciplinary consortium, comprising of SMEs, a research organisation, and an end-user NGO from 3 European countries (Cyprus, Germany, and Spain) and two international Copernicus cooperation partners (USA and Colombia).

Together, we aim to develop and test at TRL4, a Copernicus-based surface water information management application that provides continuous, reliable, and accurate monitoring and reporting of various ecological parameters (water quality, algal blooms), predict future conditions (water quantity and water balance), assess risks related to surface waters (floods and droughts), and translate this information into direct, easy-to-understand, actionable recommendations via an artificial intelligence decision support system and an interactive, user-friendly layout (alerts, data visualization layers, and reports) to be used by water management authorities and relevant stakeholders for surface water management and more reliable decision-making.

SWIM will contribute to UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6- ‘Ensure access to water and sanitation for all’ and other important European initiatives and directives like the Water Framework Directive and Surface Waters Ordinance.

SWIM will use surface water information from Copernicus Earth Observations (EO) satellite data that is calibrated and enhanced using in-situ measurements from our patented satellite based IoT (Internet of Things) hardware platform called WAMO (Water Monitoring) developed by the consortium.

The platform will combine three main aspects of water management for specific water basins: a water quality module including identification, tracking, predictive analysis and reporting of water quality indicators; a water balance module for assessing the hydrological balance of water bodies and lastly a natural disaster assessment module for identifying and mapping of areas at risk of floods and droughts.