SMHI AQUA is a hydro-climatic service modelling freshwater availability from surface and groundwater reservoirs.

Engage end-users

Availability of freshwater became a sensitive topic due to the hotter summer temperatures and lack of precipitation in the past recent years. This made it difficult for the public and private sector to provide urban water supply in the dry season. The AQUA service helps water managers and drinking water producers in monitoring and planning management of water resources throughout the year in an optimal way.

Data providers, service purveyors and potential end-users were involved since the early stages of development in frequent local meetings and videoconferences. Users were also invited to the Multi User Forums to share their experience with other users and have a better insight on useful scientific innovations. The cogeneration approach helped in building trust between users and service providers for addressing the needs of the users and design efficient solutions to make the service usable in the operation work.

Development

SMHI Aqua is a hydro-climatic service modelling freshwater availability from surface and groundwater reservoirs. The service provides 10-day and seasonal climatological forecasts of water levels and inflow under different long-term water management strategies. Aqua includes an intuitive online visualization tool designed to provide hydrological information to drinking water producers and water managers. The web-based system shows meteorological and hydrological observations from stations, as well as modelled data and forecasts of freshwater availability.  If available, historical data are also displayed to facilitate the comparison of the current and future situation against “below”, “near” and “above” normal historical values.

Value

The co-generation of the hydro-climate service named Aqua has proven the potential in bridging the gap between scientific innovation and operational management. The tool provides the users with valuable insights in both planning of groundwater withdrawal and support in taking actions, such as restrictions for water use or installation of extra production capacity.

Displayed observations, modelled results and forecasts improve awareness of the current hydro-meteorological situation as well as future dry/wet periods, facilitating good communication and understanding of results also to non-expert users. This helps public and private organizations working with water-related issues to increase preparedness to extreme conditions, ensure municipal water supply and reduce risks for infrastructure damages.

Market

SMHI Aqua is a value-driven climate service.  Users are willing to pay for the implementation and maintenance of a climate service offering clear and reliable information of water availability from now until the next season.

The tool is customized according to the users’ needs and it is updated daily with the newest run of the hydrological models and the produced forecasts. Aqua’s business model is based on a one-time implementation fee and a yearly subscription to the service, which guarantees the online system to be monitored and the users to be informed timely on disruptions or bugs on the system. In addition, a yearly development of the service is included in the subscription to keep the climate service updated and modern.

Link

https://aqua.smhi.se/
Horizon Results Platform

Developers team (SMHI)

C. Cantone, H. Ivars Grape
Contact: carolina.cantone@smhi.se

Visualization of hydrological measurements from stations in aqua. stations are depicted as pointers on the map. by clicking on any of them, a diagram showing data for the past three months pops up. time series can also be visualized in tables which are easily exportable to standard format files as csv of txt.

Visualization of long term forecasts for groundwater levels. the graph shows observed values (black line) six months back and forecasts (blue and green lines) six months ahead than today. forecast lines show how the levels are affected from different water extraction strategies. the background represents the historical measured levels in the reservoir and the colour field is divided according to the deviation from normal condition (high above normal, above normal, normal, below normal, high below normal). critical levels are visualized on the graph as dashed lines.