This dataset provides a set of hydrometric indices for about 1500 stations across Africa with daily discharge data. These indices represent mean flow characteristics and extremes (low flows and floods), allowing us to study the long-term evolution of hydrology in Africa and support the modeling efforts that aim at reducing the vulnerability of African countries to hydro-climatic variability.

Water management faces the challenge of non-stationarity in future flows. To extend flow datasets beyond the gauging data, this study presents a method of generating an ensemble of weekly flows from tree-ring reconstructed flows to represent uncertainty that can overcome certain long-standing data challenges with paleo-reconstruction. An ensemble of 500 flow time series were generated for the four sub-basins of the Saskatchewan River basin, Canada, for the period 1600–2001.

Input data (and model parameters) are significant sources of uncertainty that should be quantified. In southern Africa, water use data are among the most unreliable sources of model input data because available databases generally consist of only licensed information and actual use is generally unknown. The study assesses how uncertainty impacts the estimation of surface water resources of the Mogalakwena and Shashe sub-basins when using the databases that are currently available.

Channel transmission losses play a significant role in the water balance of the Limpopo River Basin, therefore understanding loss processes and quantifying the impact on water resources is integral for advancing knowledge and improving water resource management. Using three functions of the Pitman Model, loss simulations were conducted and results indicate that all three functions are able to simulate losses,albeit with differing magnitudes. Better quantification requires reliable observed data.

WQSAM is a water quality model designed specifically for South Africa as it relies on flow data generated by South African-specific flow models. However, many of the characteristics of WQSAM would make it suitable for other developing semi-arid countries. This study attempted to adapt WQSAM to take in flow data from the globally-applied WEAP flow model so that WQSAM can be applied elsewhere. WQSAM could effectively use the flow data from the WEAP model as demonstrated on a case-study catchment.