51³Ô¹ÏÍø

A new, international research project will bring together community knowledge and cutting-edge science to transform how we understand and manage the world’s freshwater resources.

Co-led by at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and of the (IWMI) in Ghana, it aims to fill longstanding gaps in global water data by integrating local observations into advanced water models.

Integrating community data with science

The project, ‘Unlocking Local Knowledge Production for Global Water Reanalysis’, will work with partners in Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Laos, and Peru—countries where water data is often scarce. The team will deploy new sensing technologies to measure processes such as rainfall, river levels and flow, and groundwater depth, while and develop new ways to co-produce and integrate local knowledge and data collected by communities themselves.

Incorporating citizen science and local expertise allows us to capture a richer, more accurate picture of the water cycle that truly reflects the realities faced by communities on the ground. Professor Wouter Buytaert

This information will be combined with historical records to create a comprehensive evidence-base of water availability over the last decades. The new dataset will inform and guide water management decisions at both global and local levels, supporting everything from predicting water shortages to designing infrastructure for water storage and flood protection.

Professor Wouter Buytaert said: “Incorporating citizen science and local expertise allows us to capture a richer, more accurate picture of the water cycle that truly reflects the realities faced by communities on the ground.”

Dr Seifu Tilahun said: “By working closely with local partners and communities, we are not only improving the quality of water data but also ensuring that the solutions we develop are relevant and sustainable in the regions that need them most.”

A quest for accurate freshwater information

Access to reliable water data is essential for managing water resources, preparing for droughts and floods, supporting agriculture, and ensuring communities have enough clean water for daily life. By improving how we understand and predict water availability, this work can help societies adapt to climate change, safeguard public health, and support sustainable development around the world.

The project brings together a diverse group of experts from nine institutes, including field hydrologists, computational modellers, machine learning specialists, and social scientists.  This includes (), (University of Cyprus), (), and (), alongside many others, all working collaboratively to address water security challenges.  

This work is one of four international initiatives funded by , which has awarded $33 million over five years to advance understanding of global freshwater availability through the Virtual Institute for Earth’s Water (VIEW). VIEW projects will use artificial intelligence and high-resolution data to build the world’s first “global water ledger”, a definitive resource for more effective and equitable water management.

For more details on the VIEW projects, press .