How Smart Tech Is Helping Catch Precious Water That’s Flowing Away

Imagine a huge pipe network under your city, carrying water to people’s homes. Now picture one-third of that water (enough to fill thousands of swimming pools) just vanishing into leaks, theft, or bad bills every year. Fixing leaks with traditional methods can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. It’s costly, slow, and often misses hidden issues. Even worse, analyzing data by hand is error-prone and overly complex for many teams to manage (UNDP).

📖 You can read more and join the discussion in the Community at the UNCCD CLP platform:
👉 https://lnkd.in/egPbpgBF

Here’s where smart, data-powered tools come in (think of them as super-sleuth gadgets for water systems). Two technologies team up to make this happen:

1. Internet of Things (IoT), which is like putting tiny, connected sensors (smart meters) across the water pipes, watching how much flows and how fast, around the clock.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is like teaching a computer to spot unusual patterns—such as pressure dropping in the middle of the night or flow spiking in one spot.

Together, these tools turn data into clues. They help water teams find trouble spots quickly and accurately (without sending field crews everywhere).

UNDP’s Accelerator Lab worked with the startup FlowLess to test this smart system, so it was much cheaper than expensive foreign alternatives and adapted to different local water networks and needs, and the team remained open to feedback and improvements.
📖 You can read more and join the discussion in the Community at the UNCCD CLP platform:
👉 https://lnkd.in/egPbpgBF
Read more:
👉https://lnkd.in/e3h_E-gh
👉https://lnkd.in/eYcKxv4P).

How Smart Tech Is Helping Catch Precious Water That’s Flowing Away

Imagine a huge pipe network under your city, carrying water to people’s homes. Now picture one-third of that water (enough to fill thousands of swimming pools) just vanishing into leaks, theft, or bad bills every year. Fixing leaks with traditional methods can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. It’s costly, slow, and often misses hidden issues. Even worse, analyzing data by hand is error-prone and overly complex for many teams to manage (UNDP).

📖 You can read more and join the discussion in the Community at the UNCCD CLP platform:
👉 https://lnkd.in/egPbpgBF

Here’s where smart, data-powered tools come in (think of them as super-sleuth gadgets for water systems). Two technologies team up to make this happen:

1. Internet of Things (IoT), which is like putting tiny, connected sensors (smart meters) across the water pipes, watching how much flows and how fast, around the clock.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is like teaching a computer to spot unusual patterns—such as pressure dropping in the middle of the night or flow spiking in one spot.

Together, these tools turn data into clues. They help water teams find trouble spots quickly and accurately (without sending field crews everywhere).

UNDP’s Accelerator Lab worked with the startup FlowLess to test this smart system, so it was much cheaper than expensive foreign alternatives and adapted to different local water networks and needs, and the team remained open to feedback and improvements.
📖 You can read more and join the discussion in the Community at the UNCCD CLP platform:
👉 https://lnkd.in/egPbpgBF
Read more:
👉https://lnkd.in/e3h_E-gh
👉https://lnkd.in/eYcKxv4P).

In the face of growing drought across West Asia, Saudi Arabia emerges as a success story

📖 You can read more and join the discussion in the Community at the UNCCD CLP platform:
👉 https://lnkd.in/egPbpgBF

According to UN-Water, Saudi Arabia is rapidly accelerating SDG-6 progress through a powerful mix of policy, partnerships, and innovation:
📊 97% of the population now has access to safely managed drinking water
📈 100% urban wastewater is collected, more than 60% of it is safely treated and reused
🔧 AI-driven leak detection helped reduce non-revenue water to 23%, down from previous levels near 30%
🌊 Through public-private partnerships, Saudi Arabia operates the world’s largest desalination capacity, producing over 9 million m³/day
Saudi Arabia proves that even in one of the world’s driest regions, water security is possible when Vision 2030, strong governance, private sector engagement, and smart technologies work together.
📖 You can read more and join the discussion in the Community at the UNCCD CLP platform:
👉 https://lnkd.in/egPbpgBF
📖 The link of UN-Water:
👉 https://lnkd.in/ekhiNbTK

How to get portable water in rural areas

Imagine this…
You’re in a barren place. No electricity, no equipment, and no ready-to-drink water. What would you do to secure water with the few resources you have?
Here are some simple, practical ideas:

1- Purifying salty or dirty water with a simple solar still

Find any glass or transparent plastic sheet and a box (preferably a wooden box). put the water inside, and place the sheet at a 30–45° angle on top of the box. The sun will evaporate the water, and it will condense on the sheet. The drops will slide down into a small channel and collect in a clean container.
This can produce around 5–10 liters of clean water per day, depending on the sheet size.

Just remember to clean the sheet from dust and the box bottom from salt deposits.

📖 You can read more and join the discussion in the Community at the UNCCD CLP platform:
👉 https://lnkd.in/egPbpgBF

2- Extracting water from the air
Dig a hole in the ground and place a metal or plastic pipe inside. Let air flow through it. Temperature differences between the ground and the air will cause water vapor to condense inside the pipe.
If you have a small fan powered by wind, you can attach it to increase airflow.

3-Collecting dew and fog using a mesh
Set up a mesh (plastic) in an open area, especially in mountainous or coastal regions. At night, as temperatures drop, water vapor will condense on the mesh and drip into a container or small pipe below.

4- Air well to condense moisture
If you have stones or bricks, arrange them into a small tower or stone chamber with gaps. At night, the stones cool down, and during the day, moist air passing through will condense on them, dripping water to the base.

If you have an impactful drought resilience project, now is your chance to shine! Winners will receive travel support to present at the UNCCD CRIC 23 in Panama (December 2025), be featured in official UNCCD publications and platforms, and gain global recognition for their solutions.

Submit your case study by September 17, 2025.

The link: https://lnkd.in/g3nX4qBd

https://www.travelandtourworld.tw/news/article/italys-vacation-paradise…
Water scarcity in Sicily. Possibly cross-sector competition of water resources (e.g., between agriculture and tourism)

Saludos cordiales a la Dra. Saida Rivero... exitos en la Dirección y Coordinación de esta importante plataforma para América Latina y el Caribe !

¿Cómo perciben la sequía en su entorno? Comprender qué es y cómo actúa permite diseñar estrategias más coherentes y efectivas para mitigar su impacto.(Jun-Agt, 2025)

Hello Colleagues, My name is Yusuf Abdi Maalim, A Somali National. Am climate resilience expert based in the Horn of Africa. Am currently PhD program with University for Peace on Land Degredation and Desertification (LDD). Am currently serving as Senior Technical Advisor in the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MoAI) and also a program Director with SADAR Development & Resilience Institute based in Mogadishu, Somalia. SADAR Institute is currently implementing GEF & GAFSP funded program on Adaptive Agriculture and Rangeland rehabilitation program in Somalia.

Why Rainfall Frequency Matters More Than You Think

A new study published in Nature Communications (2025) shows that less frequent rainfall (not just less total rain) can lead to earlier autumn leaf senescence (leaf aging and fall) across the Northern Hemisphere.

When rain events become less frequent:

Soil moisture drops
Air becomes drier (higher vapor pressure deficit)
Plants shed their leaves earlier due to increased drought stress
They also acclimate faster to drought, which shortens their growing season

Perhaps most importantly, the study found that many global climate models fail to capture this effect, missing a critical piece of how ecosystems respond to climate change. Climate and vegetation models must consider how often it rains, not just how much. This could greatly improve our predictions of future ecosystem health and carbon dynamics.

📖 The link of study:
👉 https://lnkd.in/e-V2MPVw

hello everyone,

My name is Walid Madi, and I’m from Tunisia.
I am a forest and spatial planning engineer with a degree in Geo-information for Environmental Management. I’ve recently been admitted to the Master's program in Nature Conservation at the Faculty of Forestry, University of Sopron in Hungary.

My interests focus on forest ecology, remote sensing, and the sustainable management of natural resources. I’m glad to join this community and look forward to learning from your experiences and sharing my own.

Thank you!
Madi Walid