FOCUS AREA:

The Water Sector in Mauritius relies on the monitoring of water collected in different reservoirs at different times of the year and for allocating the commodity for different competing social and economic activities. Over the past decades, observed rainfall suggests that the pattern of rainfall has changed over Mauritius.

Extreme rainfall events as well as intra-seasonal variability have been increasing thus providing additional complexity to the water resource management. The Water Sector currently uses the 6-month seasonal rainfall forecast to plan for water distribution. This product is delivered by the Mauritius Meteorological Services (MMS) and is based on the regional outlook forum SARCOF and SWIOCOF.

Lately the MMS has started issuing a running 3-month seasonal forecast based on statistical model output with a low spatial resolution. Improvements on the spatial and temporal resolutions of the long-term forecast would provide a better insight for near-future changes in rainfall and temperature thus supporting the Water Sector in the challenge of managing of water resources for all domestic, industrial and agricultural use.

THE TEAM:

INFOGRAPHICS: