Air Quality Forecasting in Latvia

Can Sentinel data solve Catalonia’s water shortage crisis ?

Latvia

Challenge description

Despite the efforts conducted by Catalan authorities to manage water resources sustainably, the region regularly faces severe water shortages. The most recent crisis, one of the worst in decades, has caused significant societal and economic damages, increasing anxiety, social tensions, and economic losses, especially in agriculture.

More on the challenge

Catalonia relies heavily on groundwater while water stresses are worsened by overtourism, illegal groundwater extraction, agricultural activities and climate change. In 2024, it forced Catalan authorities to impose drastic emergency cuts on water for industries, citizens and farmers causing important damages and conflicts.

44%

of household and urban water consumption comes from Catalonia’s internal basins.

The solution

To address future water shortages, innovative solutions using Sentinel data are now being implemented by the Catalan Water Agency [MP1] (ACA) together with the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia [MP2] (ICGC). This technology can detect ground subsidence caused by aquifer exploitation, providing insights into groundwater extraction levels and aiding in sustainable, fair, and efficient water management.

MORE about the sentinel Sentinel-1’s SAR technology

Copernicus Sentinel-1 provides free-of-charge, frequent, all-weather, day-and-night C-band radar images over Catalonia approximately every 6 days.

helps detect illegal wells, redefine concession rights, and maintain aquifer levels above critical points to prevent saltwater intrusion and compaction.

provides information on groundwater extraction levels by detecting ground deformation at millimetres precision.

thus preserving long-term water  capacity and quality.

Concrete use case

Service provider

ICGC leveraged Copernicus Sentinel-1 data to offer satellite-based services for ground deformation monitoring in Catalonia.

Service provider

ICGC leveraged Copernicus Sentinel-1 data to offer satellite-based services for ground deformation monitoring in Catalonia.

The result

Optimized wells concession rights
Detection of illegal extraction
Mitigating issues such as aquifer salinization and subsidence

The benefits

Economic

Economic benefits relate to impacts on the production of goods and services and on monetary flows, including revenue generation, cost reductions, productivity gains, capital efficiency, and employment effects associated with operational use of Sentinel-derived information.
Direct impacts are typically reflected through measurable efficiency gains, while broader downstream effects may be estimated using proxy indicators or scenario-based approaches. Where relevant, Willingness-to-Pay methods are applied to capture value associated with public goods and non-market outcomes. Economic value is often cumulative, emerging progressively as operational adoption matures and practices diffuse across organisations or markets.

Environmental

Economic benefits relate to impacts on the production of goods and services and on monetary flows, including revenue generation, cost reductions, productivity gains, capital efficiency, and employment effects associated with operational use of Sentinel-derived information.
Direct impacts are typically reflected through measurable efficiency gains, while broader downstream effects may be estimated using proxy indicators or scenario-based approaches. Where relevant, Willingness-to-Pay methods are applied to capture value associated with public goods and non-market outcomes. Economic value is often cumulative, emerging progressively as operational adoption matures and practices diffuse across organisations or markets.

Innovation

Economic benefits relate to impacts on the production of goods and services and on monetary flows, including revenue generation, cost reductions, productivity gains, capital efficiency, and employment effects associated with operational use of Sentinel-derived information.
Direct impacts are typically reflected through measurable efficiency gains, while broader downstream effects may be estimated using proxy indicators or scenario-based approaches. Where relevant, Willingness-to-Pay methods are applied to capture value associated with public goods and non-market outcomes. Economic value is often cumulative, emerging progressively as operational adoption matures and practices diffuse across organisations or markets.

Regulatory

Economic benefits relate to impacts on the production of goods and services and on monetary flows, including revenue generation, cost reductions, productivity gains, capital efficiency, and employment effects associated with operational use of Sentinel-derived information.
Direct impacts are typically reflected through measurable efficiency gains, while broader downstream effects may be estimated using proxy indicators or scenario-based approaches. Where relevant, Willingness-to-Pay methods are applied to capture value associated with public goods and non-market outcomes. Economic value is often cumulative, emerging progressively as operational adoption matures and practices diffuse across organisations or markets.

Science and technology

Economic benefits relate to impacts on the production of goods and services and on monetary flows, including revenue generation, cost reductions, productivity gains, capital efficiency, and employment effects associated with operational use of Sentinel-derived information.
Direct impacts are typically reflected through measurable efficiency gains, while broader downstream effects may be estimated using proxy indicators or scenario-based approaches. Where relevant, Willingness-to-Pay methods are applied to capture value associated with public goods and non-market outcomes. Economic value is often cumulative, emerging progressively as operational adoption matures and practices diffuse across organisations or markets.

Societal

Economic benefits relate to impacts on the production of goods and services and on monetary flows, including revenue generation, cost reductions, productivity gains, capital efficiency, and employment effects associated with operational use of Sentinel-derived information.
Direct impacts are typically reflected through measurable efficiency gains, while broader downstream effects may be estimated using proxy indicators or scenario-based approaches. Where relevant, Willingness-to-Pay methods are applied to capture value associated with public goods and non-market outcomes. Economic value is often cumulative, emerging progressively as operational adoption matures and practices diffuse across organisations or markets.

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