Through RESILIM-O, AWARD has installed three duplicate flow gauges and one water quality gauge in the lower Olifants. The objective is to increase the reliability of real-time water resources monitoring to support rapid responses related to flow and water quality in the Olifants Catchment. The initial focus is on the Lower Olifants Catchment to protect the Kruger National Park, Massingir Dam in Mozambique and other surrounding communities.
Increased reliability is achieved by combining monitoring efforts between the Department of Water and Sanitation and AWARD. By installing additional backup data loggers, probes, communication system and a data server alongside the existing DWS loggers, we are able to validate data in realtime. This facilitates rapid action whereas in the past, if flows data suggested non-compliance with benchmarks (such as the Resource Quality Objectives or the Reserve), data had to be validated before action could be taken.
A realtime water quality logger has also been installed at Mamba weir which triggers a warning for non-compliant data.