Umvoto took part in the WRC initiative called “Big Data Analytics and Transboundary Water Collaboration in Southern Africa”.

This initiative combined specialists from various institutions and organisations to collaborate assessing how the consolidation of national and transboundary data and application of big data tools may enhance decision-making of water resources in Southern Africa, specifically the Ramotswa Aquifer, shared by Botswana and South Africa.

Umvoto, through a collaboration with the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC), explored the application of big data tools to enhance national and transboundary data sets that support decision-making for security of water resources. This included identifying data holding organizations in Botswana and South Africa, facilitating data sharing and collection (with a focus on groundwater levels and quality); data formatting and analysis; data visualisation, and the exploration of Big Data Analytics to improve existing datasets.