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SOUTHERN
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE OBSERVING
SYSTEM (SADC-HYCOS) PROJECT |
1.0
INTRODUCTION
The
SADC-HYCOS was developed based on the recommendations of the
Sub-Saharan Africa Hydrological Assessment Project (SSAHAP).
SADC-HYCOS utilises automatic Data Collection Platforms (DCPs) to
collect hydrometeorological data from selected stations in the SADC
region. This real time data is transmitted through the METEOSAT
satellite to a central data base in the SADC region. From the
central data base the data is transmitted to National Hydrological
Services (NHS) in the member states for verification and storage.
The most flexible approach will be adopted for this section of the
data transfer, ranging from e-mail, fax, to the Global
Telecommunication System (GTS) of the WMO.
The
GTS is a dedicated WMO data transmission system being used World
wide for exchange of meteorological data. All meteorological
agencies in the SADC region are able to receive meteorological data
through GTS.
The
SADC HYCOS project is
one of the regional components of the World Hydrological Cycle
Observing System (WHYCOS) launched by WMO in 1993 in response to
global water crisis and to the degradation or absence of appropriate
information systems on the water resources in a large number of
countries. It was the
second regional component of WHYCOS being implemented after the one
of the Mediterranen rim (Med-HYCOS)
The
project has been
prepared with the assistance from European Commission and the World
Meteorological Organisation (WMO), and
is funded by the European Commission (EC) at the tune of 1,
964 Million Euro. It started
in June 1998 with the signature of SADC, EU and TA of the Technical
Assistance Contract. Consequently, following negotiations among SADC
EU and WMO, the project has been extended with the same financial
allocation until June 2000. Negotiations are underway to extend it further to the year 2001.
As
already endorsed by the SADC summit in 1994, the
general objective of the project is to contribute to regional
socio-economic development through the provision of management tools
necessary for sustainable and cost effective water resources
development and management and for environmental protection.
The
expected results for what was designed as a two year project are:
-
The
installation of real time hydrological data collection network
using the METEOSAT data transmission system. A network of fifty
Data Collection Platforms (DCPs) will be installed at key sites
on rivers in the
SADC region.
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Improvement
and/or development of data exchange and dissemination systems at
national and regional levels.
-
Development
and implementation of a computerised Regional Data Base (RDB)
and improvement and/or development of the National Data Bases (NDBs)
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Preparation
of hydrometeorological products of national and regional
interest.
-
Implementation
of the related required training activities.
-
The
creation of Regional Centre.
2.0
Implementation of SADC-HYCOS project:
The
Pilot Regional Centre (PRC) for the project is the Department of
Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) in Pretoria, South Africa. It is
technically assisted by the Institute of Hydrology (IH),
Wallingford, United Kingdom that was awarded the leadership
of the Technical Assistance
(TA) component of the project, with
the participation of World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
as supervising agency on behalf of SADC, and
the Institut de Recherche pour le Developement (IRD, formerly
Orstom) as subcontractors to support the SADC participating
countries for the
implementation of the project. The participation of WMO is also
focussed on the Global Telecommunication System (GTS) facilities,
while IRD’s specific
tasks are the establishment/enhancement of the connection of each
National Hydrological Service (NHS) to the internet, the development
of the Regional Database (RDB) and of the Web server of the project.
SERPE-IESM,
Guidel, France was awarded with the contract for the installation of
the Data Collection Platforms (DCPs).
3.0
Current Status of the SADC-HYCOS project:
Out
of fifty (50) DCPs, (30) thirty of them are installed by now as
follows:
| Country |
DCPs
Installed |
Total
per plan |
Remarks |
| Angola |
0 |
6 |
No Installations |
| Botswana |
3 |
3 |
All are installed |
| Lesotho |
3 |
4 |
One to be installed |
| Malawi |
6 |
6 |
All are installed |
| Mozambique |
0 |
6 |
So far no
installations |
| Nambia |
4 |
5 |
One to be installed |
| Swaziland |
4 |
4 |
All are in place |
| Tanzania |
3 |
5 |
Twp are to be
installed |
| Zambia |
2 |
6 |
Four more are to be
installed |
| Zimbabwe |
5 |
5 |
All are installed |
| Total |
30 |
50 |
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Out
of thirty (30) DCP’s installed, the present status is as follows:
-
seventeen
(17) are operating well;
-
two
(2) have solar power problems;
-
one
(1) vandalized;
-
one
(1) damaged by floods;
-
three
(3) of them are having no obvious problems due to the fact that
there is no access to the hydrometric stations;
-
three
(3) are considered to have the probes washed away due to floods
but there is no access to them;
-
three
(3) are operating not well due to interferences;
The
situation of Mozambique and Angola is as follows:
In
Angola, it took a long time to get Customs Clearance and the DCP’s
that were received in July 1998, were available in January 1999.
There is a problem of security for the TA to install the DCP’s.
According to the TA’s report, two sites have been visited by
someone from from the Institute of Hydrology, Wallingford in July
1999.
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