Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa

Lead Research Organisation: Sokoine University of Agriculture
Department Name: Fac of Forestry and Nature Conservation

Abstract

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Planned Impact

GroFutures will benefit: (1) poor water users (women and men, rural and urban) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) through increased knowledge and evidence of sustainable groundwater use to alleviate poverty through improved resource management and enhanced health and livelihoods; (2) water planners and policy makers in SSA through the development of new evidence and methodologies to enable equitable and sustainable management of groundwater resources; and (3) research communities in SSA and beyond through creating improved new tools, methods and datasets for interdisciplinary analysis of groundwater resources and their management, as well as scholarly information exchanges and networking activities that will strengthen a growing Community of Practice involving Anglophone and Francophone scientists.

The primary pathway by which GroFutures will generate impacts for poor people is through the development of new evidence and tools which water managers in the focal countries and across SSA can use to: (1) target groundwater development where it can most effectively reduce poverty; and (2) ensure equitable and sustainable development of groundwater resources.

GroFutures will contribute to unlocking the poverty-reducing potential of groundwater in SSA by:
1) Establishing a unique Network of African Groundwater Observatories (NAGO) that will generate new evidence on groundwater availability and demand, including insights into how these are likely to change over the next two to three decades giving planners at basin, national and regional levels the information they need to plan for an equitable and sustainable allocation of groundwater for multiple users and uses;
2) Identifying locations in which groundwater development (for domestic supply or irrigation) is a technically appropriate and politically feasible strategy to reduce poverty;
3) Identifying locations at risk of future depletion due to likely demand/supply imbalances enabling appropriate management responses to be developed on a preventive rather than curative basis;
4) Providing specific information on variations in groundwater availability and demand which can carry high costs for economies and for the livelihoods of poor people and make planning and management difficult;
5) Strengthening the capacity of water planners, researchers and their institutions through the co-production of knowledge and collaborative, demand-led research and stakeholder engagement;
6) Identifying governance arrangements for pro-poor, sustainable groundwater management, in collaboration with water managers and other key stakeholders; and
7) Disseminating new evidence and knowledge on the positive outcomes of groundwater development for health and livelihoods enabling poverty alleviation.

The GroFutures team will engage staff of national, regional and local water bureaux in Ethiopia, Niger and Tanzania, as well as basin authorities (Great Ruaha, Niger) as project partners from the start in the research planning, data analysis and tool/metric development and piloting. They will also embed new scientific knowledge, models and methods for managing groundwater for poverty alleviation within water ministries to inform decision-making and initiate discussions about equity in groundwater development among relevant stakeholders.

Production and dissemination of high quality, open-source publications - in the form of academic outputs in high impact journals, as well as targeted policy briefs and other bespoke communications materials suited to different audiences - will be a central aim of the project. These will involve all members of the team and will be published in English, as well as French, Amharic, Hausa and Kiswahili, where appropriate. All materials and information will be accessible via a dedicated, bilingual website (grofutures.org) that is linked to institutional websites of the project team (AAU, BGS, IDS-STEPS, IGRAC, IRD, IWMI, SUA, UAM, UCL, UoS) and the UPGro Knowledge Broker.

Publications

10 25 50

 
Description GroFutures research derived from inter-disciplinary research in three basins in each of Tanzania, Ethiopia and Niger found: (1) substantial increases in urban and irrigated-land areas have occurred at the expense of natural land cover; (2) access to groundwater for productive purposes is associated with improved agricultural production, reduced agricultural risk, and increased household income; and (3) stakeholders expressed a strong preference for small to medium-scale, multi-purpose groundwater development pathways that are managed municipally and a strong aversion to large-scale groundwater development pathways due largely to concerns of environmental impact and equity. GroFutures also led a pan-African analysis of long-term piezometric records under conditions of varying aridity across 9 countries in tropical Africa that revealed a bias in groundwater replenishment to heavy rainfalls that is most pronounced in drylands and is often predictable, associated with large-scale controls on climate variability such as El Niño. Further the research highlighted the importance of focused recharge pathways in replenishing aquifers in drylands, a process that is not represented in hydrological models estimating recharge and the impacts of climate change on groundwater recharge. Detailed field research in a semi-arid environment, the Makutapora Wellfield supplying Tanzania's capital city, Dodoma, shows that groundwater replenishment is episodic, occurring primarily during heavy rain events associated with El Nino; this replenishment results primarily via leakage from ephemeral stream discharge.
Exploitation Route GroFutures research showing access to groundwater for productive purposes is associated with improved agricultural production and increased household income is being taken forward by AMCOW (African Ministerial Council on Water) as well as national governments to promote groundwater use to alleviate poverty and realise UN Sustainable Development Goals. Further, GroFutures research revealing a bias in groundwater replenishment to heavy rainfalls across tropical Africa, expected to increase under global warming, is being taken up through climate change adaptation plans as use of groundwater may prove a logical adaptation to climate change and projected increases in freshwater withdrawals for drinking water and irrigation. Research under GroFutures at the Makutapora Wellfield supplying Tanzania's capital city, Dodoma, shows that groundwater replenishment is episodic and occurs primarily during heavy rain events associated with El Niño events. Further, field research also shows that it occurs primarily via leakage from ephemeral stream discharge associated with heavy rainfall events. As a consequence of this research, the Government of Tanzania with support from The World Bank has issued a tender for the development plans to explore the feasibility of enhancing wellfield replenishment through Managed Aquifer Recharge in order to improve the capacity and resilience of Dodoma's water supply.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Communities and Social Services/Policy

Environment

URL http://www.grofutures.org
 
Description Research under GroFutures at the Makutapora Wellfield supplying Tanzania's capital city, Dodoma, shows that groundwater replenishment is episodic and occurs primarily during heavy rain events associated with El Niño events. Further, field research also shows that it occurs primarily via leakage from ephemeral stream discharge associated with heavy rainfall events. As a consequence of this research, the Government of Tanzania with support from The World Bank has issued a tender for the development plans to explore the feasibility of enhancing wellfield replenishment through Managed Aquifer Recharge in order to improve the capacity and resilience of Dodoma's water supply.
First Year Of Impact 2019
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment,Healthcare
 
Description Field Guide on Participatory Research for Identifying and Analysing Groundwater Development Pathways
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description African Groundwater Atlas - Phase II - UPGro Programme
Amount £3,622,077 (GBP)
Funding ID NE/M008347/1 
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2017 
End 03/2019
 
Description Banking the Rain: enhancing the resilience of water supplies in dryland Africa
Amount £92,000 (GBP)
Funding ID 172313 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2016 
End 03/2017
 
Description Scholarship (GroFutures Research Assistantship)
Amount £1,200,000 (XOF)
Organisation Abdou Moumouni University 
Sector Academic/University
Country Niger
Start 08/2017 
End 09/2019
 
Description UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund
Amount £88,500 (GBP)
Funding ID GCRF UCL QR 
Organisation University College London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2018 
End 06/2019
 
Title Water-Table Fluctuation Method 
Description Analytical tool for groundwater-level time series data analysis 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The analytical tool for groundwater-level time series data analysis is currently available to GroFutures project members and researchers who received training on the research tool in February 2017 in a training workshop organised by GroFutures. 
 
Title Integrated surface water - groundwater model of the Makutapora Basin, Tanzania 
Description The development model in MIKE-SHE has been calibrated with observational records and applied to test scenarios of groundwater withdrawals for the city of Dodoma, Tanzania. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The model outcomes have been shared with the Tanzanian government. These outcomes are of utmost importance as they show that increased pumpage from the wellfield supplying the capital of Tanzania, Dodoma, is unsustainable. 
 
Title MIKE-SHE hydrological model of the Upper Awash Basin, Ethiopia 
Description A basin-scale hydrological model in MIKE-SHE has been calibrated to observations and run with a range of climate projections to evaluate climate change impacts on the hydrology of this basin. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The calibrated MIKE-SHE model highlights the magnitude of uncertainty associated with climate change impacts on terrestrial hydrology as well as the intensification of rainfall as a result of global warming on river discharge. 
 
Title Questionnaires from 400 households on groundwater use in each of Ethiopia, Niger and Tanzania 
Description Database comprises 400 respondents to questionnaires on groundwater use in groundwater observatories in Ethiopia, Niger and Tanzania 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Analyses of questionnaire data are on-going in 2019. 
 
Description Banking the rain: Understanding episodic groundwater recharge from 2015-16 El Nino rains in semi-arid Tanzania, for sustainable water supplies 
Organisation University of Sussex
Department Department of Geography
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution My research team and I prepared a proposal to NERC for funding under the programme, "Understanding the Impacts of the Current El Nino Event".
Collaborator Contribution My partners contributed to the preparation of a proposal to NERC for funding under the programme, "Understanding the Impacts of the Current El Nino Event".
Impact A proposal was submitted to NERC through JeS and we are awaiting the outcomes of this evaluation.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Sustaining groundwater use in the Hout Catchment in the Limpopo Basin of South Africa 
Organisation University of Copenhagen
Department Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management
Country Denmark 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution GroFutures is actively collaborating with the University of Copenhagen and the University of Western Cape (South Africa) in an analysis of the sustainability of groundwater use in the Hout Catchment, part of the Limpopo Basin in South Africa. GroFutures has provided a detailed analysis including a basin model of the hydrology and hydrogeology of this catchment and is contributing to the analysis of extreme weather events and their relation to groundwater recharge as well as engaging with stakeholders in workshops to better understand groundwater use and opportunities for community monitoring of water resources (i.e. Citizen Science).
Collaborator Contribution University of Western Cape is providing inputs to stakeholder engagement processes including Citizen Science as well as the understanding of the hydrogeology of the Hout Catchment. University of Copenhagen is providing inputs around numerical modelling.
Impact Outcomes include a paper in an international, peer-reviewed journal and active participation in stakeholder engagement meetings.
Start Year 2018
 
Description 1st Multi-Stakeholder Workshop in the Hout Catchment of South Africa: establishing Citizen Science 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact GroFutures contributed to the 1st Multi-Stakeholder Workshop in the Hout Catchment of the Limpopo Basin South Africa in an effort to establish Citizen Science activities, primarily monitoring water resources. 48 people from government, community organisations, farmers, consultants and researchers participated in a two-day meeting evaluating the sustainability of groundwater use in the Hout Catchment including the dependency upon groundwater and opportunities for improving monitoring through Citizen Science.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description GroFutures Great Ruaha Basin Stakeholder Inception Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Sokoine University of Agriculture of Tanzania hosted the GroFutures Great Ruaha Basin Inception Workshop in Iringa on March 31st 2016. It was opened by the District Commissioner for Iringa, Hon. Richard Kasesela, and was attended by national, basin-level and local stakeholders (listed below) who discussed current groundwater use and management in the Great Ruaha Sub-Catchment of the Rufiji Basin and as well as both proposed and potential groundwater development pathways that might best reduce poverty. The event was featured on national television news in Tanzania (see clip here) and leading newspapers (The Guardian, Mwananchi).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://grofutures.org/article/grofutures-launch-in-tanzania/
 
Description Household questionnaires on groundwater use in Ethiopia, Niger and Tanzania 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact GroFutures researchers have engaged with groundwater users in Ethiopia, Niger and Tanzania in 2017 and 2018 through the implementation a common survey instrument. In the Iullemmeden Basin in Nigeria and Niger, the Upper Awash Basin in Ethiopia, and the Great Ruaha Sub-Catchment in southern Tanzania, GroFutures researchers have been polling groundwater users' views on small-scale, household-level use of groundwater for irrigation, the status of groundwater governance, and their experiences of different irrigation, pump, conveyance and application technologies. This research activity addresses a critical lack of detailed information regarding not only groundwater use and dependence but also governance arrangements as experienced at the household level. In the Upper Awash Basin, the GroFutures team working alongside the Oromia Irrigation Development Authority has recently completed a survey of 400 households, representing 30% of the population from predominantly agricultural communities within the Becho and Koka Plains at Alango Tulu and Dungigi-Bekele. In the Great Ruaha Sub-Catchment, the survey has been trialled with user communities in Chimala and Mbarali as well as the Maradi and Gaya areas of Niger. Results from the surveys will inform scenarios being co-created by GroFutures researchers, groundwater users and other stakeholders to inform an inclusive an participatory Pathways Approach in which groundwater users and other stakeholders will develop their own criteria for evaluating different groundwater development pathways for which the physical sustainability is determined by models developed using evidence from local observatories recently established under GroFutures.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017,2018
 
Description International Conference on Lake Chad 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The international conference on environmental challenges faced by the Lake Chad Basin in West Africa. The conference was attended by politicians, and the head of states from Niger, Nigeria, Gabon, Central African Republic and Chad.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://lcbconference2017.ng/english/index.php
 
Description Multi Sectoral Forum for Water Resources Management 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Discussed future planning for sustainable groundwater governance in Tanzania
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Pan-African Groundwater-level (Chronicles) Training Workshop in Morogoro,Tanzania 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The UPGro programme, supported by AfriWatSan & ESPRC, conducted a pan-African capacity-strengthening and knowledge co-production workshop at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania from the 10th to 12th of February, 2017. 40 participants from 12 countries in Africa took part and analysed multi-decadal, groundwater-level data ("chronicles") from 9 countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger, Sénégal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Participants comprised PhD students and more experienced researchers (mentors & supervisors) as well as representatives from government ministries and the private sector, and included team members from all 5 UPGro consortium projects GroFutures, BRAVE, Hidden Crisis, GroForGood, and T-Group. Training focused on the application of the water table fluctuation method for analysing groundwater-level records and was led by GroFutures and The Chronicles Consortium, an international consortium of scientists from across Africa and beyond collating and analysing multi-decadal records of groundwater levels in order to assess the impacts of groundwater use, climate variability and change, and land-use change on groundwater storage across Africa. In addition to addressing key capacity-strengthening goals, the workshop provided a platform for the co-production of knowledge. As a result, a collaborative, pan-African analysis of multi-decadal groundwater-level records is in preparation and a number of participants is expected to contribute their national-scale analyses to an upcoming special section of Hydrogeology Journal.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://grofutures.org/article/pan-african-groundwater-level-analysis-and-training-workshop/
 
Description Side event at Africa Water Week 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact LSE organised a side event at the Africa Water Week Conference in July 2016 in Tanzania as part of the FCFA-UMFULA and the SAHEWS projects. The side event was on "Climate resilience and the water-energy nexus in East and Southern Africa".

Two short presentations
Prof Declan Conway - Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE
Prof Julien Harou, Manchester University

Panel discussion
Prof Japhet Kashaigili - Sokoine University of Agriculture
Mr Peter Oluoch Odhengo - Environment and Climate Finance, National Treasury, Government of Kenya
Mr Stephen Mooney - Department For International Development, DFID Tanzania

Declan Conway highlighted recent studies that demonstrate the significance of climate variability and climate change for hydropower and environmental flows, and present practical methods to integrate climate risks in sustainable water management. He presented the various challenges that climate variability presents to east and southern Africa's water-energy nexus.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.futureclimateafrica.org/news/data-key-to-climate-resilience-in-east-and-southern-africa/
 
Description Stakeholder workshop at the Rufiji River Basin Office 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Declan Conway (UMFULA PI) attended this final workshop on 25-26 June 2015. The main elements of the Rufiji Basin Decision Support System and the Basin Development Plan were presented and discussed with a range of stakeholders. Contacts were made and the UMFULA project was introduced to a range of key people from the region who expressed interest.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Stakeholders Consultation Engagement 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The group discussed issues around groundwater use, quality and governance.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Sustainability of the water supply to Dodoma, Tanzania 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact GroFutures continues to work closely with the WamiRuvu Basin Water Board in Tanzania and DUWASA (Dodoma Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Authority) to assess the sustainability of the Makutapora Wellfield which is the sole, perennial source of safe water to the nation's rapidly growing capital, Dodoma. In strategic planning and policy meeting with DUWASA (Dodoma Urban Water Supply and Sewage Authority) and Ministry of Water & Irrigation held in Morogoro, Tanzania in May 2018 and February 2019, GroFutures has outlined a new monitoring strategy including the construction of new monitoring wells to clarify whether current and projected abstraction are sustainable and options for enhancing wellfield replenishment through Managed Aquifer Recharge.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019
 
Description Unleashing Agricultural Potential, SAGCOT Annual Forum 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact A decision was made collectively on the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater as a solution to declining surface water availability
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description VPO Task Force on Restoration of Great Ruaha Flows 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Recognised the role of groundwater water in augmenting surface water supply
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017