The Water Sources Live Map is a web application that has features for both data management and data visualization through the internet. Agencies that manage water information can now use the live map to collect, update, and disseminate water sources data while other information users will be able to use the live map to visualize the data as well as “export” it for a variety of uses outside the live map. The live map has dramatically improved how water source information is managed in Somalia, where point water sources are the primary source of water. Through the live map, water sources information is accessible from any location, as long as there is internet connectivity. The published data is be available to all users in UN agencies, NGOs and private sector users.

The lower reaches of the Juba and Shabelle Rivers frequently experience devastating floods during the rainy seasons. For effective response that saves live and property, timely data is needed on the current flood situation, areas affected and availability of emargency kits and other materials. SWALIM developed a Flood Risk and Response Information portal, to support the work of the Somalia Interagency Flood Working Group. The information available includes information on:historical floods,river levels, flooded areas, road conditions and estimation of populations under flood, response management showing contact information for cluster leads. The system’s value and importance relies on information provided by partners. The system is expected to evolve with time to include more strategic information on logistics.Land and Water resources intervention

SWALIM has developed a new drought index called the Combined Drought Index. It is a statistical index comparing the present hydro-meteorological conditions with the long-term average characteristics in the same interest period. The detailed description of the index and the relevant mathematical expressions are explained in SWALIM Technical Report No W-14 and the brochure “Drought Monitoring with the Combined Drought Index”. The performance of the Combined Drought Index has been tested for Kenyan, Somali and some European stations and the index was used during the severe drought in Somalia at the beginning of 2011.

The Somalia Hydromet TimeSeries Data (SCT) is a web application that has features for both data management and data visualization through the internet. Agencies that manage water information can now use the live map to collect, update, and disseminate water sources data while other information users will be able to use the live map to visualize the data as well as “export” it for a variety of uses outside the live map. The live map has dramatically improved how water source information is managed in Somalia, where point water sources are the primary source of water. Through the live map, water sources information is accessible from any location, as long as there is internet connectivity. The published data is available to all users in Government Agencies, UN agencies, NGOs and private sector users

Somalia experiences two types of flooding: river floods and flash floods. River floods occur along the Juba and Shabelle rivers in Southern Somalia, whereas flash floods are common along the intermittent streams in the northern part of the country. In the recent past, the country has experienced an increasing severity and frequency of floods. The historically most recent severe floods were those of the Deyr in 1961, 1977, 1997, and 2006, and the floods of the Gu in 1981 and 2005. These floods resulted in human casualties and major economic damage. Whereas flash floods in Somalia result from localised rains, river flooding along the Juba and Shabelle rivers are primarily due to drainage from catchment areas located in the Ethiopian highlands, which normally experience heavier and more frequent rainfall than what occurs in Somalia. The flooding is worsened by illegal openings on the river embankments (made to create outlets for irrigation water during the dry season). Water coming out of the river through these openings during high river flows cause havoc to the adjacent land. SWALIM has developed a Flood Mapping/Monitering tool in order to assist in collection, synthesis and sharing of flood data and information. This tool has the follwoing major sections; the dashboard and the web map. The dashboard section allows a user to interact with the data and produce insightful statistics in form of graphs and charts that can be exported and used in reports. The web map section is used for visualization purposes only. A user can choose to visualize flood data, field data (photos) and river breakages of different years and seasons.

This application displays all the river gauging stations in both River Juba and Shabelle. It shows infromation such as the daily levels, daily flow, peak flow and catchment information.

FAO SWALIM developed an online 4W (Who is doing What, Where and When) interactive data visualization platform where we visualize data provided by the Water and Flooding Task Force – interagency coordination.