Dwindling waters

Water levels in the Theewaterskloof Dam in South Africa’s Western Cape Province have dropped dramatically over recent years. The dam is the major source of water for domestic and agricultural uses in the region. Over the last year, this lack of water has caused the production of grain to drop by more than 36% and the production of wine grapes to drop by 20%, for example. It is estimated that it will need to receive at least three years of good winter rainfall for it to return to its earlier healthy level. Thanks to the TIGER initiative, the Stellenbosch University is applying machine-learning algorithms to data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions to carefully monitor the situation.