Records in the live release
4,759
Release 2026-11-12, 13 November 2026. Its fingerprint: c4761e9ec047a0658170b4a44f2ad3d6b5cf84c627de695ecb31ec9ea29ab1f6 (what that is).
Datasets·UM-322·Water·Early access
Surface water by ward
How much water lies on the land in every ward each year since 1984: the usual water, the water that never dries up, and land that was wet at some time. Measured from space, not a survey.
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What it holds
In more detail
The water seen on the ground from space each year since 1984 for every 2026 ward, municipality, district and province: the average water area, the permanent part and the area wet at some point, with the share of the place seen clearly. From Digital Earth Africa's Water Observations from Space (USGS Landsat), cross-checked with the JRC Global Surface Water and with our dams from space. Measured from space, not a survey.
How far it reaches
4,759 records: every 2026 ward, municipality, district and province, each year from 1984 to 2025.
How often it changes
Yearly
Yearly: Digital Earth Africa publishes a year's WOfS summary early in the next year.
Where the figures come from
Digital Earth Africa; European Commission Joint Research Centre.
02
Measured accuracy
Not measured yet. How we measure it.
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Get it
On this site
See surface water, free, no account.
Through the API
/v1/datasets/surface-water-by-ward/records, as JSON, CSV or Excel, with filters and any past date. Fields and filters. It takes a key.
All of it at once (Parquet)
Being built. The list.
For data portals
Described in DCAT in /catalog.json and on this page.
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