Objectives of the service
The Data4Water project addresses a critical need faced by stakeholders in water-dependent sectors: the lack of reliable, localized hydrological forecasts that support proactive water management. Sectors like agriculture, fisheries, governmental sectors and hydropower often rely on outdated, incomplete, or poorly localized data, making them highly vulnerable to extreme weather events and operational inefficiencies.
This project provides a solution through a high-resolution hydrological forecasting service tailored to operational decision-making. We will first validate the system in real-world conditions to ensure accuracy, reliability, and relevance to the local context focusing initially on the Godavari basin.
In parallel, we will engage with pilot users across key sectors to collect feedback and refine the service, ensuring it directly supports their operational needs. Through this user-centered approach, we aim to co-develop a service that is technically robust and practically useful.
We will also test commercial assumptions by assessing user willingness to pay and identifying pathways for converting pilot users into long-term customers. Finally, we will work with local partners to operationally deploy the system and prepare for regional scale-up—expanding to priority sub-basins based on user demand and interest. The project ultimately aims to deliver a sustainable, scalable solution for smarter water management.
Users and their needs
The Data4Water service targets user communities in India, specifically within the Godavari River Basin across the states of Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. These users currently face major challenges due to limited access to high-resolution, real-time river discharge data and low forecasting capacity. They often rely on outdated gauge infrastructure or manually compiled historical averages, which limits their ability to respond to floods, droughts, or manage water resources efficiently.
The following user groups have been actively involved in the feasibility and early demonstrator planning phases:
Irrigation departments need reliable forecasts to improve water allocation and reduce conflicts.
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Disaster management agencies require accurate data to plan for and mitigate floods and droughts.
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Fisheries departments depend on flow predictions to protect aquatic ecosystems and manage breeding seasons.
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Local disaster committees seek timely alerts to prepare communities for extreme events.
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Water resource development agencies aim to replace sparse, outdated infrastructure with virtual monitoring.
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Farmers and local water authorities need intuitive tools to visualize and act on forecasts.
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Hydropower operators require discharge forecasts to optimize generation and manage spillage.
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Regulators must ensure compliance with environmental flow requirements.
A key challenge is integrating these diverse needs into a flexible, scalable, and user-friendly forecasting platform.
Service/ system concept
Data4Water Capability and User Information:
Our service delivers river discharge and water height data in three forms: historical records, near real-time updates, and forecasts up to 10 days ahead. Users can set critical alert thresholds to receive timely warnings when water levels approach risky limits. Key features for specifics users includes:
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Agricultural, water & fishery authorities: Optimize pumping schedules to prevent water scarcity, improve water quality, monitor key performance indicators like crop yield, and support sustainable fishing and ecosystem health.
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Food production & manufacturing: Manage water resources efficiently with data-driven decisions, maintain water quality standards for aquaculture, and reduce environmental impact through sustainable water use.
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Supreme courts & law firms: Access accurate river discharge forecasts to resolve water disputes and advocate for fair, sustainable water management policies.
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Discharge management authorities: Use early warning systems powered by real-time data to prepare for water-related disasters and enhance community resilience.
System Operation in Simple Terms:
Data4Water is a next-generation solution transforming management of India’s Godavari River Basin by delivering high-resolution forecasts and insights for agriculture, hydropower, irrigation, and fisheries. It combines weather forecasts, satellite data, in-situ monitoring, and AI to accurately predict river discharge and water levels. Users like farmers and authorities access this information through an easy-to-use website or advanced systems to make smarter, more sustainable decisions.
System Architecture Overview:
System architecture is best described as a set of three interacting parts:
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Data foundation – a collection of data storages systems, third-party API clients, scrapers, and data processing routines tasked with providing necessary inputs for the rest of the system (thus “foundation” is used)
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Model – set of routines that constitute hydrological simulator and business logic routines relevant to the specific business case
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Interface: composed of two components, an API exposing and gating access to produced business data for external users and map-centric web-client for the API, that visualizes data and provides GUI for interaction
Space Added Value
Data4Water delivers next-generation water intelligence by fusing satellite Earth observation with in-situ hydrological data across the Godavari River Basin. Powered by space assets such as Copernicus DEM, ERA5, and ECMWF datasets, the system generates real-time, high-resolution forecasts for rivers and streams. While HydroATLAS provides essential baseline discharge and basin characteristics, these are validated and enhanced through continuous, ground-based daily and hourly measurements. The integration of space assets not only improves accuracy and reliability but also offers a cost-effective and scalable solution, setting Data4Water apart from competitors relying on conventional approaches. This capability ensures more informed and timely decision-making for water management practices.
Current Status
We successfully completed the feasibility phase with the launch of the Operational Proof of Concept, confirming Data4Water’s commercial and technical viability. Currently, we are preparing for a trip to India to meet users, strengthen relationships with prospects, and engage future pilot testers. During these meetings, the identification of the sub-basins of interest is also being finalized, ensuring alignment with local priorities and needs. To increase visibility and share our progress, we submitted an abstract to present our services and technical approach at HYDRO International 2025 (December 18–20, NIT Rourkela, Odisha), showcasing the proof of concept developed during the feasibility study.
