Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures) will develop the scientific evidence and inclusive groundwater management processes by which groundwater resources can be used sustainably for poverty alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It will improve understanding of the volume and renewability of groundwater in SSA, and develop robust models and tools to forecast available groundwater resources under changing climate, land-use and demand scenarios, including expansion of arable land under irrigation. GroFutures will examine current groundwater governance processes and identify pathways toward more sustainable and equitable use of groundwater resources that are reconciled to projections of changing demand and resource availability. It will assemble an international consortium of scientists with an unmatched track record of groundwater research and stakeholder engagement in SSA that both leverages substantial additional investment (£461,000) and engages with research and development communities across Anglophone and Francophone Africa. GroFutures will also establish a Network of African Groundwater Observatories that representing the primary groundwater environments and development governance challenges in SSA that features a new dataset of 25 records of groundwater-level observations that are 2 to 6 decades duration from across SSA enabling the most rigorous analysis of the relationships among climate, land-use and groundwater recharge that has ever been conducted in the tropics. Dedicated basin observatories will be constructed that will enable very detailed monitoring of the physical process by which groundwater is replenished and application of a new method for quantifying the volume of groundwater in African aquifers thereby overcoming fundamental limitations in present knowledge of groundwater in SSA. GroFutures will also employ an innovative and participatory approach to the management of groundwater which will enable for explicit consideration of the views of poor people in making decisions over the allocation and development of groundwater resources.
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.
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.
Organisations
- University College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Sussex (Collaboration)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- University of Copenhagen (Collaboration)
- British Geological Survey (Collaboration)
- Cardiff University (Collaboration)
- United Nations (UN) (Collaboration)
- Institute of Development Research (IRD) (Collaboration)
- United States Geological Survey (Collaboration)
Publications
Bellwood-Howard I
(2022)
A multicriteria analysis of groundwater development pathways in three river basins in Sub-Saharan Africa
in Environmental Science & Policy
Bellwood-Howard I
(2022)
A multicriteria analysis of groundwater development pathways in three river basins in Sub-Saharan Africa
in Environmental Science & Policy
Carvalho Resende T
(2018)
Assessment of the impacts of climate variability on total water storage across Africa: implications for groundwater resources management
in Hydrogeology Journal
Issoufou Ousmane B
(2023)
Changes in aquifer properties along a seasonal river channel of the Niger Basin: Identifying groundwater recharge pathways in a dryland environment
in Journal of African Earth Sciences
Maurice L
(2018)
Characteristics of high-intensity groundwater abstractions from weathered crystalline bedrock aquifers in East Africa
in Hydrogeology Journal
Abdou Babaye M
(2018)
Characterization of recharge mechanisms in a Precambrian basement aquifer in semi-arid south-west Niger
in Hydrogeology Journal
Kashaigili J
(2020)
Climate Impacts on Agricultural and Natural Resource Sustainability in Africa
Opie S
(2020)
Climate-groundwater dynamics inferred from GRACE and the role of hydraulic memory
in Earth System Dynamics
| 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,Security and Diplomacy |
| 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. Research under GroFutures reveals that the replenishment of abstracted groundwater results from ephemeral stream flow generated by rainfall in northern Nigeria near Katsina and the border region of southeastern Niger during the African monsoon (July to October) as well as episodic releases from Jibya dam in northern Nigeria. These pulses of stream discharge leak to the subsurface, providing seasonal replenishment not only of the shallow alluvial aquifer underlying the stream channel but also to an underlying regional sandstone aquifer known as the Continental Hamadien. These research outcomes inform policies to protect the quantity and quality of groundwater resources in Maradi and the Maradi region along the River Goulbi Maradi. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment,Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | Advisor to SAGCOT Ihemi Cluster Green Reference Group |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | Professor Japhet Kashaigili is an advisor to the SAGCOT Ihemi Cluster Green Reference Group on green growth investment and presently emphasizing on the use of groundwater from shallow aquifer to enhance water solutions of smallholder farmer-managed irrigation systems. |
| Description | Appointment to Scientific Council of IRD (France) |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| 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 | GroFutures co-PI advises Niger Government's Strategic Program on Climate Resilience |
| Geographic Reach | Africa |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | GroFutures co-PI and co-lead in the Iullemmeden Basin in Niger, Professor Yahaya Nazoumou is a key adviser for the Niger Strategic Program on Climate Resilience. Under GroFutures, Professor Nazoumou is working towards achieving groundwater-based resilience to climate change |
| URL | https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/article/niger-strengthening-climate-change-resilience-16563/ |
| Description | Research in groundwater and sustainable management and utilization of groundwater in Tanzania |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Water Resources Expert for the review of the National Water Policy of 2002 |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | GroFutures Co-PI; Professor Japhet Kashaigili provides technical expertise in review of the National Water Policy (NAWAPO) of 2002. Emphasis has been on having clear policy statements on sustainable groundwater management and development which were overlooked in the 2002 policy. |
| Description | Africa Capacity Building Initiative |
| Amount | £1,186,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | AQ140023 |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2015 |
| End | 12/2019 |
| 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 | 04/2017 |
| 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 | 08/2016 |
| End | 03/2017 |
| Description | CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems |
| Amount | $2,240,000 (USD) |
| Organisation | CGIAR |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | France |
| Start | 01/2013 |
| End | 12/2021 |
| Description | CLARITY: CLimate Adaptation and Resilience In Tropical drYlands |
| Amount | $8,000,000 (CAD) |
| Funding ID | 110006 |
| Organisation | International Development Research Centre |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Canada |
| Start | 05/2023 |
| End | 10/2026 |
| Description | CLimate Adaptation and Resilience In Tropical drYlands (CLARITY). CLARE programme |
| Amount | $8,000,000 (CAD) |
| Organisation | International Development Research Centre |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Canada |
| Start | 04/2023 |
| End | 10/2026 |
| Description | Danida (ESGUSA Project) |
| Amount | 870,000Â kr. (DKK) |
| Funding ID | 17-M10-KU |
| Organisation | University of Copenhagen |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Denmark |
| Start | 04/2018 |
| End | 09/2020 |
| Description | Enhancing Sustainable Groundwater Use in Africa - Phase 2 |
| Amount | 90,000Â kr. (DKK) |
| Organisation | University of Copenhagen |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Denmark |
| Start | 03/2022 |
| End | 02/2025 |
| Description | Grant for groundwater survey in the Nigerian part of the Iullemmeden Basin for students of UNIMAID |
| Amount | € 1,500 (EUR) |
| Organisation | Institute of Development Research (IRD) |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | France |
| Start | 03/2017 |
| End | 06/2017 |
| Description | PASSAGE: Strengthening PAStoralist livelihoodS in the African Greater horn through Effective anticipatory action |
| Amount | $8,000,000 (CAD) |
| Organisation | International Development Research Centre |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Canada |
| Start | 05/2023 |
| End | 10/2026 |
| Description | Royal Society - Leverhulme Trust Senior Fellowship |
| Amount | £51,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | LT170004 |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2017 |
| End | 09/2018 |
| Description | Scholarship (GroFutures Research Assistantship) |
| Amount | £1,200,000 (XOF) |
| Organisation | Abdou Moumouni University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | Niger |
| Start | 09/2017 |
| End | 09/2019 |
| Description | The Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Fellowships |
| Amount | £150,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | LT170004 |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2017 |
| End | 08/2018 |
| 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 | 07/2018 |
| End | 06/2019 |
| Description | UN SDGs: Pathways to Achievement scheme, 2021-22 - Advancing and sustaining progress towards UN SDGs in African drylands - crossing disciplinary and international boundaries |
| Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 556298 |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2022 |
| End | 07/2022 |
| Description | USAID (GRECHLIM Project) |
| Amount | $90,000 (USD) |
| Funding ID | AID-OAA-A-11-00012 / 2000006305 |
| Organisation | International Water Management Institute (IWMI) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Start | 01/2016 |
| End | 12/2018 |
| Title | A Field Guide on Participatory Research for Identifying and Analysing Groundwater Development Pathways |
| Description | A detailed (102 page) field guide was prepared for GroFutures social scientists to support community-level research on groundwater use and management problems and opportunities. It focuses particularly on qualitative data collection obtained through the use of Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods. The aim is to provide sufficient information to ensure that a standard set of information would be collected across all local partners and in all the focal communities in the three 'Basin Observatories'. Although clearly designed to meet the specific research objectives of the GroFutures project, we believe the integrated approach and novel set of methods presented here will also be of interest to other researchers working on agriculture, water and natural resource governance and management issues. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The country research teams are now intending to combine qualitative research methods based on the Field Guide with a targeted household survey in selected field sites. This quant-qual approach will yield insights on changes in groundwater availability, access and use in the study communities and inform the development of the GroFutures 'Pathways Approach'. |
| URL | http://grofutures.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/GroFutures-Field-Guide-on-Participatory-Research-No... |
| 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 | GRACE, GLDAS and piezometric data for Makutapora and Limpopo Basins |
| Description | Monthly time-series data of GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) total terrestrial water storage (TWS), GLDAS (Global Land Data Assimilation System) soil moisture, surface water (surface runoff), snow water storage, and basin-aggregated observations from piezometric data for the Makutapora Basin (Tanzania) and Limpopo Basin (South Africa). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The research database allows other researchers to evaluate the climate dipole in eastern and southern Africa associated with of El Niño and La Niña events. |
| URL | https://www.bgs.ac.uk/services/ngdc/citedData/catalogue/75b4aa5b-c389-42e5-aa4a-bcb8584b8300.html |
| Title | GRACE, GLDAS and piezometric data for Makutapora and Limpopo Basins |
| Description | Monthly time-series data of GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) total terrestrial water storage (TWS), GLDAS (Global Land Data Assimilation System) soil moisture, surface water (surface runoff), snow water storage, and basin-aggregated observations from piezometric data for the Makutapora Basin (Tanzania) and Limpopo Basin (South Africa). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The impact of this work is growing recognition of the influence of predictable teleconnection among ENSO, rainfall and groundwater replenishment in eastern and southern Africa. |
| URL | https://www.bgs.ac.uk/services/ngdc/citedData/catalogue/75b4aa5b-c389-42e5-aa4a-bcb8584b8300.html |
| 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 | Long-term groundwater-level anomalies across Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Description | Multi-decadal time series of groundwater levels were compiled by the authors from records of observation wells initiated and maintained by government departments and research institutions in nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The pan-African collation of these hydrographs was initiated at the 41st Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) in Marrakech (Morocco) on 14th September 2014. All records were subjected to a rigorous review by the authors during which the integrity, continuity, duration and interpretability of records were evaluated. This process included dedicated workshops in Benin, Tanzania, and Uganda, and records failing these tests were discarded from the analysis. Procedures included taking of the first time derivative to identify anomalous spikes in records commonly associated with errors of data-entry. Where multiple records in same geographic and climate zone were available (e.g. Benin, South Africa) we prioritized records remote from potential areas of intensive abstraction. Statistical clustering of records was also used in the Limpopo Basin of South Africa to identify the representativity of employed records at Modderfontein and Sterkloop. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The Executive Secretary of African Ministerial Council On Water (AMCOW) states, 'The recent pan-African study of groundwater recharge led by GroFutures provides the most compelling evidence to date of the resilience of groundwater to climate change in Africa as well as new evidence of groundwater replenishment in African drylands where groundwater is often the only perennial source of freshwater'. In 2020, UN Water cited GroFutures's work in describing the heightened renewal of recharge associated with the amplification of rainfall intensities under climate change. |
| URL | https://www.bgs.ac.uk/services/ngdc/citedData/catalogue/a6d78c2e-3420-4346-9182-4fd437672412.html |
| Title | Long-term groundwater-level anomalies across Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Description | Multi-decadal time series of groundwater levels were compiled by the authors from records of observation wells initiated and maintained by government departments and research institutions in nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The pan-African collation of these hydrographs was initiated at the 41st Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) in Marrakech (Morocco) on 14th September 2014. All records were subjected to a rigorous review by the authors during which the integrity, continuity, duration and interpretability of records were evaluated. This process included dedicated workshops in Benin, Tanzania, and Uganda, and records failing these tests were discarded from the analysis. Procedures included taking of the first time derivative to identify anomalous spikes in records commonly associated with errors of data-entry. Where multiple records in same geographic and climate zone were available (e.g. Benin, South Africa) we prioritized records remote from potential areas of intensive abstraction. Statistical clustering of records was also used in the Limpopo Basin of South Africa to identify the representativity of employed records at Modderfontein and Sterkloop. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The development of this research database is allowing, for the first time, a continent-wide analysis of the impacts of groundwater use, climate variability and change, and land-use change on groundwater storage across Africa. |
| URL | http://www.un-igrac.org/special-project/chronicles-consortium |
| 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 | Monthly time-series data of individual terrestrial water stores including groundwater storage from GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellites and GLDAS Land Surface Models for the world's large aquifer systems |
| Description | Monthly anomalies (August 2002 to July 2016) of total terrestrial water storage (TWS), soil moisture storage (SMS), surface water storage (SWS), snow water storage (SNS), groundwater storage (GWS) derived from an ensemble mean of 3 gridded GRACE products (CSR, JPL-Mascons and GRGS) and an ensemble mean 4 land surface models (CLM, NOAH, VIC and MOSAIC), provided by the NASA's Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS). Monthly precipitation (CRU) data, derived from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU), were aggregated over each aquifer system. GRACE, GLDAS and CRU datasets are publicly available at the global scale. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The impact of this work is a re-evaluation of the narrative, based on flawed evidence, of global-scale groundwater depletion. |
| URL | https://www.bgs.ac.uk/services/ngdc/citedData/catalogue/0387fd53-9fed-468e-bda9-0bde8f5fda13.html |
| Title | Monthly time-series data of individual terrestrial water stores including groundwater storage from GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellites and GLDAS Land Surface Models for the world's large aquifer systems |
| Description | Monthly anomalies (August 2002 to July 2016) of total terrestrial water storage (TWS), soil moisture storage (SMS), surface water storage (SWS), snow water storage (SNS), groundwater storage (GWS) derived from an ensemble mean of 3 gridded GRACE products (CSR, JPL-Mascons and GRGS) and an ensemble mean 4 land surface models (CLM, NOAH, VIC and MOSAIC), provided by the NASA's Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS). Monthly precipitation (CRU) data, derived from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU), were aggregated over each aquifer system. GRACE, GLDAS and CRU datasets are publicly available at the global scale. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The development of this research database and its finding that groundwater depletion in large-scale aquifer is not universal are helping to shape policies over the use of groundwater as adaptive strategy to improving the resilience of societies around the world to climate change. |
| URL | https://www.bgs.ac.uk/services/ngdc/citedData/catalogue/0387fd53-9fed-468e-bda9-0bde8f5fda13.html |
| 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 | African Groundwater Atlas - Phase II - Institute of Development Studies Support to the Social Science Component of the African Water Atlas in Partnership with the British Geological Survey |
| Organisation | British Geological Survey |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Developed 20 social science case studies of groundwater development in Africa. These have now been added to the AGWA website. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing contacts, refining content and promoting the African Groundwater Atlas. |
| Impact | The social science case studies were added to the AGWA website to provide real-world examples of groundwater development and use in different contexts to complement the mainly physical science material on the site. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| 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 | GRECHLIM: Groundwater Recharge in the Limpopo Basin |
| Organisation | US Geological Survey |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | GroFutures research team members, Karen Villholth and Tamiru Abiye, have developed this partnership funded by USAID and involving the US Geological Survey allied to GroFutures research in the Limpopo Basin of South Africa. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The GRECHLIM Project collaborate with the following main partners: Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), South Africa, Department of Water Affairs (DWA), Botswana, Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM), Water Research Commission (WRC), South Africa, Southern African Development Community (SADC), and University of Texas at Austin, USA. |
| Impact | The project has so far supported field work for three MSc students from the University of Witwatersrand. Two of these students have submitted their theses for examination at the end of February 2017, while the third student has started field work in March 2017. We are expecting more MSc students to join the project team during the course of the year. Furthermore, the project also provided training for PhD and MSc student from both South Africa and Botswana on groundwater recharge estimation techniques on 11-12 October 2016 at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Groundwater model for Dendron/ Hout catchment has been developed to understand the groundwater use and recharge dynamics. Furthermore, independent groundwater recharge estimation using geochemical and stable isotope techniques is in progress. Therefore, we believe that these information could contribute for the development of better groundwater management plan in the basin. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Groundwater Game Development and Prototyping |
| Organisation | United Nations (UN) |
| Department | International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | IDS - technical lead on design and programming of User Interface and Game Manager improvements; UCL - support on testing and application |
| Collaborator Contribution | IGRAC - coordination of game planning, website and materials, Euros 10,000; |
| Impact | 1. Supported the Game Manager role by automating data entry processes, providing notifications and monitoring, and incorporating a Game Manager help function. 2. Extended and added functionality to game to accelerate game flow and provide more in-game tracking of players. 3. Prototyped User Interface designs for the various Game Management screens required to support the above functionality. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Groundwater Game Development and Prototyping |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Department | Department of Geography |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | IDS - technical lead on design and programming of User Interface and Game Manager improvements; UCL - support on testing and application |
| Collaborator Contribution | IGRAC - coordination of game planning, website and materials, Euros 10,000; |
| Impact | 1. Supported the Game Manager role by automating data entry processes, providing notifications and monitoring, and incorporating a Game Manager help function. 2. Extended and added functionality to game to accelerate game flow and provide more in-game tracking of players. 3. Prototyped User Interface designs for the various Game Management screens required to support the above functionality. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Groundwater Game Development and Prototyping |
| Organisation | University of Sussex |
| Department | Department of International Development Studies |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | IDS - technical lead on design and programming of User Interface and Game Manager improvements; UCL - support on testing and application |
| Collaborator Contribution | IGRAC - coordination of game planning, website and materials, Euros 10,000; |
| Impact | 1. Supported the Game Manager role by automating data entry processes, providing notifications and monitoring, and incorporating a Game Manager help function. 2. Extended and added functionality to game to accelerate game flow and provide more in-game tracking of players. 3. Prototyped User Interface designs for the various Game Management screens required to support the above functionality. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| 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 | The Chronicles Consortium |
| Organisation | Institute of Development Research (IRD) |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Chronicles Consortium is an international consortium of scientists from (currently) 12 countries across Africa and beyond collating and analysing multi-decadal records of groundwater levels, representing long-term aquifer dynamics, in order to assess the impacts of groundwater use, climate variability and change, and land-use change on groundwater storage across Africa. It is a joint initiative of the African Groundwater Network (AGW-Net), IAH Commission on Groundwater and Climate Change, and UNESCO-IHP GRAPHIC programme that is supported by the UPGro (Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor) programme of the UK government (DFID, NERC, ESRC) and the French government (IRD). |
| Collaborator Contribution | The consortium was established at the 41st Congress of the IAH (International Association of Hydrogeologists) in Marrakech, Morocco on 14 September 2014 and is led by Guillaume Favreau (IRD, France), and Richard Taylor (University College London, UK). |
| Impact | Collation and analysis of multi-decadal groundwater-level records from 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa; special sessions at the 41st, 42nd and 43rd Congresses of the IAH; a training and knowledge co-production workshop (http://grofutures.org/article/pan-african-groundwater-level-analysis-and-training-workshop/) leading to high-profile research papers (in review at Nature) and special section of a international peer-reviewed journal, HydrogeologyJournal (https://link.springer.com/journal/10040/topicalCollection/AC_e3c0faa5b3f6346668bc822aa431123d). |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | UPGro Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and British Geological Survey (BGS) Collaboration |
| Organisation | British Geological Survey |
| Department | Geomagnetism Group |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | New partnership between the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), which is a co-PI on Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures) has formed to provide key social science elements to the further development of the African Groundwater Atlas (https://upgro.org/africa-groundwater-atlas/), with support from NERC-ESRC-DFID through the 'Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor' (UPGro) programme. GroFutures will provide key social science information to this newly established collaboration. |
| Collaborator Contribution | British Geological Survey (BGS) has already developed the African Groundwater Atlas that is publicly available (https://www.bgs.ac.uk/africagroundwateratlas/) and provides a summary of geological and hydrogeological environments of 51 African countries in Africa. The newly established collaboration will further enrich the African Groundwater Atlas by including critical social science elements for sustainable groundwater development in Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Impact | No outputs or outcomes have yet resulted from this collaboration. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Water stressed cities: individual choice, access to water and pathways to resilience in sub-Saharan Africa |
| Organisation | Cardiff University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Collaboration between Professor Japhet Kashaigili (GroFutures co-PI @ Sokoine University of Agriculture) and Dr. Adrian Healey at Cardiff for a project titled: Water stressed cities: individual choice, access to water and pathways to resilience in sub-Saharan Africa funded by UKRI (2021-2023). |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaboration between Professor Japhet Kashaigili (GroFutures co-PI @ Sokoine University of Agriculture) and Dr. Adrian Healey at Cardiff for a project titled: Water stressed cities: individual choice, access to water and pathways to resilience in sub-Saharan Africa funded by UKRI (2021-2023). |
| Impact | Multi-disciplinary collaboration (hydrogeology and behavioural science) between Professor Japhet Kashaigili (GroFutures co-PI @ Sokoine University of Agriculture) and Dr. Adrian Healey at Cardiff for a project titled: Water stressed cities: individual choice, access to water and pathways to resilience in sub-Saharan Africa funded by UKRI (2021-2023). |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Title | Data Input Programme for The Groundwater Game |
| Description | The Groundwater Game is a spreadsheet-based simulation designed to give players a basic understanding of groundwater resource management at the village level through testing different development strategies under various governance scenarios. The game contrasts practices that can lead to cooperation and collective action versus those that result in a tragedy of the commons. This 'serious game' was developed by the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC), The Netherlands, in partnership with the Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures) project of the UK NERC-ESRC-DFID-funded Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor (UPGro) Programme. The Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK, has been leading the social science elements of GroFutures and working with IGRAC to refine the game and facilitate a set of engagement activities in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Niger, using the Groundwater Game to open up discussions with key stakeholders on 'groundwater development pathways'. Previously, the game had some technical limitations that restrict its broader applicability. IGRAC has commissioned IDS to assist with addressing one of the main constraints in the current game set-up: streamlining data input provided by players to the Game Manager (GM). Programming was done to improve network connectivity between the GM's computer and players' devices (using laptops or mobile phones running Android software). This allowed the exchange of data through a server either running locally on the GM's own PC. A prototype was developed in early 2020 to: 1. Connect a Router to the GM's PC to run a local Wi-Fi network for the game (low-cost Wi-Fi routers are available for less than €40). 2. Develop an Account Management System (AMS) for the server to handle player logins. 3. Create a Data Management System (DMS) that would accept player data input, update the Excel spreadsheet and keep the GM informed of the status of players' data input for each round of the game. 4. Develop a Custom App to enable players to log in to the server, enter and send data and display information from the server using their PCs or mobile Android devices (in this first phase, we did not develop the app for Apple devices, as this would require additional programming and development). This set up requires participants at a typical Groundwater Game workshop to have Android phones to send and receive data and the GM to have a Windows PC with a relatively recent version of Excel installed. It also requires a basic Wi-Fi router to connect the phones to the GM's PC via the game App. Assuming these technologies are available, set-up time to connect the devices should be quick and relatively straightforward. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | The Groundwater Futures team has successfully used earlier, spreadsheet-based versions of The Groundwater Game in multi-stakeholder workshops in our Basin Observatories in Ethiopia, Niger and Tanzania as a means of breaking the ice and introducing concepts such as 'groundwater development pathways', sustainable groundwater management, and 'regulation from above and below'. We believe this new version will be a significant improvement on the previous ones as it will accelerate the game cycle and focus players' attention more on their tactics and strategies rather than game modalities. The new Data Input prototype will be tested in a number of training situations with post-graduate students in the UK in late March / April 2020. After the new version is finalised, IGRAC will make it available through its website. |
| 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 | 3rd National Multi-Sectoral Water Resources Management Forum, JNICC, Dar es Salaam, 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 | Discussed plans for sustainable surface water and groundwater resources governance and management. Discussed a deliberative, multi-stakeholder engagement process in order to inform groundwater planning processes in the basins. The Pathways Analysis identified six emerging and potential 'groundwater development pathways in the Great Ruaha River sub-basin. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | 5th Mike Edmunds Memorial Lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This event was organised to discuss groundwater recharge in Africa, and involved a key speaker from Senegal and 3 other African scientists to debate on groundwater issues. The main purpose was to promote a lively debate on groundwater issues with key African scientists who had been invovled in the NERC UPGRO programme. Many people joined from around the world asking excellent questions, and leading to email discussion afterwards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.water.ox.ac.uk/events/5th-mike-edmunds-memorial-lecture/ |
| Description | AMCOW Pan-African Groundwater Program (APAGroP) meeting, Kampala, Uganda |
| 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 | Discussed hindrances to sustainable groundwater management and development in Africa and looked at the short, medium and long-term actions for handling technical issues |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Africa Climate Risks Conference (ACRC) 2019, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
| 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 | Delivering resilience in the face of climate change uncertainty. Groundwater was appreciated to be a potential source in building a climate resilient community against climate shocks |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | African Ministerial Council on Water - Africa Water and Sanitation Week 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | GroFutures led and presented in three conference sessions at the AMCOW Africa Water and Sanitation Week 2021 Under what conditions are groundwater resources resilient to climate change? (PI Taylor) • Groundwater replenishment from flood discharges in central Tanzania: sustaining Dodoma's water supply (co-PI Kashaigili) • Sustaining groundwater withdrawals in SE Niger from episodic flows of the transboundary River Goulbi de Maradi (co-PI Nazoumou) • Groundwater recharge from heavy rainfall in the southwestern Lake Chad Basin: evidence from isotopic observations (co-I Goni) Putting Groundwater on the pan-African Agenda for Resilience and Sustainable Socioeconomic Transformation (co-PIs Villholth, MacDonald) Managed Aquifer Recharge and its role in climate change resilience in Africa (co-PI Villholth) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://amcow-online.org/events/join-amcow-at-the-world-water-week-2021 |
| Description | Dodoma Stakeholder Engagement Workshop April 2022: Matokeo ya utafiti wa maji yaliyopo chini ya ardhi katika jiji la Dodoma |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 40 participants from the general public to senior government officials (e.g. Tanzanian Director of Water Resources) engaged in sustained discussions over the future of water supply for Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.sua.ac.tz/news/matokeo-ya-utafiti-wa-maji-yaliyopo-chini-ya-ardhi-katika-jiji-la-dodoma |
| Description | GROFUTURES INCEPTION WORKSHOP IN ADDIS ABABA |
| 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 | Some 25 social and physical scientists from 12 participating organisations in 11 different countries met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to kick-off the GroFutures project. The GroFutures team began the workshop with a field trip to the Upper Awash Basin to assess changing patterns of groundwater management and use. Team members then worked together to review integrated physical and social science research plans in the 3 focal 'Basin Observatories' comprising the Upper Awash (Ethiopia), Great Ruaha (Tanzania), and Iullemmeden (Niger/Nigeria). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://grofutures.org/article/grofutures-launched-at-inception-workshop-in-addis-ababa/ |
| 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 | GroFutures Upper Awash 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 | GroFutures Ethiopian team led by Prof. Tenalem Ayenew hosted an inception workshop held at Addis Ababa on July 9, 2016. The workshop was attended by national and local level stakeholders from ministries (Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources) zonal and wereda-level water, mineral, agriculture offices, Awash River basin and oromia irrigation development authorities, and zonal and wereda level administrations. Richard Taylor, lead principal investigator of the groundwater futures project, opened the workshop pointing out the importance of understanding and managing the available groundwater for drinking and especially, sustainable irrigated agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. He added, grofutures project is seeking to improve the understanding and management of groundwater resources under the changing climate and development practices through answering questions regarding how much groundwater is available, how much water is accessible and how much is renewable. He also demonstrates, how important it would be to understand the tradeoffs and opportunities of intensive groundwater use and to answer critical questions including what role do the irrigation officers and local farmers get in the discussion of future groundwater development and use. He wrapped up the opening of the workshop by stating that grofutures is about knowledge generation to substantially improve understanding of replenishment of the groundwater resource and how it behaves in the future as a function of climate change, change in land use land cover and trends of groundwater use. A number of discussion points both from the physical science grofutures team (Prof. Tenalem and Ato Behailu) and social science team (John Thompson, Moutuma and Birhanu) were presented and thoroughly discussed by the participants. The physical science team presented the physical environment of Upper Awash basin with particular emphasis to Becho and Koka plane, which are focal areas of the grofutures research in the Upper Awash basin. Methodology of groundwater assessment, data availability, preliminary results and next work plan have been presented. Water quality assessment, within the context of the grofutures objective were raised to be incorporated by the participants. Besides, wereda level field survey on population growth, population density, irrigation area, land use and land cover, types, characteristics and ownership of shallow wells and water extraction technologies were presented by the social science team. After important reflections which will enrich the theme of the project were gathered from the participants, Prof. John Thompson, lead investigator of the social component of the groundwater futures project, concluded aspect of the social presentation by emphasizing the importance of identifying groundwater development pathways in the course of grofutures research period, which enable us move from narrow set of 'groundwater roads' to a wider set of possible groundwater futures that are more proper, sustainable and bring about large scale benefits to poverty reduction and improvements in wellbeing. Group discussions on two key points: 1. the key opportunities (physical, socioeconomic and political) and threats to improving GW management in Upper Awash basin for alleviating poverty and improving livelihoods and 2. the current and projected uses of groundwater for agricultural water supplies (e.g. crops, livestock's) created a ground to exchange ideas among stake holders. Important thinking and finding generated from the group discussions were presented for the attendants. Finally, as the nature of the project is multidisciplinary integrating social and natural science, the need to have a platform for the different stakeholders to exchange information were raised. The grofutures team and leaders of the project thank the participants for their insight during the discussions and willingness to cooperate in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | GroFutures transboundary Iullemmeden 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 | GroFutures Iullemmeden Basin Stakeholder Workshop was held at Abdou Moumouni University (UAM) of Niamey in Niger on 23rd August 2016. The workshop was opened by the Vice Chancellor, Hon. Professor Amadou Boureima, and welcomed by the Director General of Water Resources in the Ministry of Hydraulics and Sanitation of Niger, Mr. Abdou Moumouni Moussa; Engineer Koné Soungalo representing the Niger Basin Authority; Dr. Oumarou Malam Issa, Country Representative of IRD in Niger; and the Deans of Faculties of Sciences and Agronomy (UAM). The workshop was hosted by the GroFutures team from UAM (Professor Yahaya Nazoumou, Dr. Ouassa Tiekoura), the University of Maiduguri in Nigeria (Professor Ibrahim Baba Goni, Dr. Shettima Abba Gana), and IRD (Dr. Guillaume Favreau). Over 40 participants participated and included representatives from agricultural cooperatives (Coopérative périmètre irrigué in Maradi, Coopérative agricole in Gaya), regional (Maradi, Dosso) and national offices of the Ministry of Hydraulics and Sanitation, and local universities (Mardi, Diffa). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://grofutures.org/article/grofutures-launch-in-transboundary-iullemmeden-basin/ |
| Description | Groundwater Futures Multistakeholder Engagement for the Iullemmeden Basin, Niger |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In July 2019, Groundwater Futures colleagues from Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the ESRC STEPS Centre and University College London (UCL), in collaboration with partners at Universite Abdou Moumouni de Niamey (UAMN), hosted the third and final multi-stakeholder engagement at which a set of Groundwater Development Pathways (GDP) were assessed using Multicriteria Mapping (MCM). Unlike the first two MCM events in Tanzania and Ethiopia, which involved a workshop format where the stakeholders and researchers met in a single room and analysed the GDPs in parallel, because of security and logistical reasons, separate interactions were arranged with individuals and small groups of stakeholders to take them through the MCM process and the assessment of the pathways. This required several days of intensive discussions and meant a final feedback session with all stakeholders did not take place. These engagements were held at the Niamey offices of the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), France. This set of engagements focused on analysing the GDPs for the Iullemmeden Basin using MCM, a multi-stage interview and engagement approach which helps stakeholders to explain their views and priorities in a structured and systematic way without necessarily identifying a single 'best' decision but to highlight underlying criteria that influence people's perceptions of different options or pathways. The GroFutures team used MCM software developed by the University of Sussex and STEPS Centre with stakeholders representing a range of actor groups from local to basin to national levels with knowledge and interest in groundwater development and management. The GroFutures team trained a group of Research Assistants recruited through SUA to serve as MCM facilitators in the workshops. The invited participants represented a range of stakeholder groups - e.g. local irrigators; district water officials; NGO representatives; national agriculture and water officials; and private sector representatives. This allowed the team to cluster them into specific interest groups. A team of IDS and UAMN facilitators supported the stakeholders to assess the six 'stress-tested' pathways against a core set of criteria provided by the GroFutures Team - i.e. equitable access; environmental sustainability; and ease of operation and maintenance - as well as their own specific criteria. The facilitators encouraged the participants to explain why they used each criterion and scored each pathway as they did. This information was captured in the MCM software so that we had a clear description of the decision-making behind the scoring. After they completed the scoring, participants were invited to weight their criteria from most to least important, to add further insights into their preferences. As in the Great Ruaha and Upper Awash Basins (see separate entries), the GroFutures team found that despite the diversity of stakeholders and their varying professional and personal priorities, a clear consensus emerged over their preferred GDPs. This was a preference for more multi-purpose groundwater pathways to support integrated development for both small and medium-scale (but not large-scale) water users. This led to significant discussion about future policy priorities in the basin and how this form of groundwater development could be achieved. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Groundwater Futures Multistakeholder Workshop for the Great Ruaha Basin, Tanzania |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In June 2019, Groundwater Futures colleagues from Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the ESRC STEPS Centre, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and University College London (UCL), in collaboration with partners at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), hosted the first of three multi-stakeholder engagements at which a set of Groundwater Development Pathways (GDP) were assessed using Multicriteria Mapping (MCM). This first event was held in Iringa, Tanzania, and focused on the Great Ruaha Basin. MCM is multi-stage interview and engagement approach which helps stakeholders to explain their views and priorities in a structured and systematic way without necessarily identifying a single 'best' decision but to highlight underlying criteria that influence people's perceptions of different options or pathways. The GroFutures team used MCM software developed by the University of Sussex and STEPS Centre with stakeholders representing a range of actor groups from local to basin to national levels with knowledge and interest in groundwater development and management. The GroFutures team trained a group of Research Assistants recruited through SUA to serve as MCM facilitators in the workshops. The invited participants represented a range of stakeholder groups - e.g. local domestic water users; local irrigators; district agricultural and water officials; NGO representatives; national agriculture and water officials; private sector representatives; and livestock sector representatives. This allowed the team to cluster them into specific interest groups. Each group was assigned one facilitator to assist them in reviewing the six 'stress-tested' pathways and analysing them against a core set of criteria provided by the GroFutures Team - i.e. equitable access; environmental sustainability; and ease of operation and maintenance - as well as their own specific criteria. The groups spent the afternoon of the first day of the workshop defining their criteria and then used the morning of the second day to scoring the pathways against the core criteria and their own additions. For each criterion and pathway, an 'optimistic' and 'pessimistic' score was given on a scale of 0 (low) to 100 (high). The facilitators encouraged the participants to explain why they used each criterion and scored each pathway as they did. This information was captured in the MCM software so that we had a clear description of the decision-making behind the scoring. After they completed the scoring, participants were invited to weight their criteria from most to least important, to add further insights into their preferences. After all participants have done this, the researchers can combine the data from each participant and analyse the whole data set to understand similarities and differences between groups. Despite the diversity of stakeholders and their varying professional and personal priorities, a clear consensus emerged over their preferred GDPs. This was a preference for more imulti-purpose groundwater pathways to support integrated development for both small and medium-scale (but not large-scale) water users. This led to significant discussion about future policy priorities in the basin and how this form of groundwater development could be achieved. Similar preferences were expressed by stakeholders in our Ethiopia and Niger basins (see separate entries). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://steps-centre.org/blog/six-pathways-identified-for-sustainable-groundwater-futures-in-africa/ |
| Description | Groundwater Futures Multistakeholder Workshop for the Upper Awash Basin |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In July 2019, Groundwater Futures colleagues from Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the ESRC STEPS Centre, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and University College London (UCL), in collaboration with partners at Addis Ababa University (AAU), hosted the second of three multi-stakeholder engagements at which a set of Groundwater Development Pathways (GDP) were assessed using Multicriteria Mapping (MCM). This event was hosted jointly by AAU and IWMI, and focused on the Upper Awash Basin. MCM is multi-stage interview and engagement approach which helps stakeholders to explain their views and priorities in a structured and systematic way without necessarily identifying a single 'best' decision but to highlight underlying criteria that influence people's perceptions of different options or pathways. The GroFutures team used MCM software developed by the University of Sussex and STEPS Centre with stakeholders representing a range of actor groups from local to basin to national levels with knowledge and interest in groundwater development and management. The GroFutures team trained a group of Research Assistants recruited through SUA to serve as MCM facilitators in the workshops. The invited participants represented a range of stakeholder groups - e.g. local domestic water users; local irrigators; district agricultural and water officials; NGO representatives; national agriculture and water officials; and private sector representatives. This allowed the team to cluster them into specific interest groups. Each group was assigned one facilitator to assist them in reviewing the six 'stress-tested' pathways and analysing them against a core set of criteria provided by the GroFutures Team - i.e. equitable access; environmental sustainability; and ease of operation and maintenance - as well as their own specific criteria. The groups spent the afternoon of the first day of the workshop defining their criteria and then used the morning of the second day to scoring the pathways against the core criteria and their own additions. For each criterion and pathway, an 'optimistic' and 'pessimistic' score was given on a scale of 0 (low) to 100 (high). The facilitators encouraged the participants to explain why they used each criterion and scored each pathway as they did. This information was captured in the MCM software so that we had a clear description of the decision-making behind the scoring. After they completed the scoring, participants were invited to weight their criteria from most to least important, to add further insights into their preferences. After all participants have done this, the researchers can combine the data from each participant and analyse the whole data set to understand similarities and differences between groups. Despite the diversity of stakeholders and their varying professional and personal priorities, a clear consensus emerged over their preferred GDPs. This was a preference for more imulti-purpose groundwater pathways to support integrated development for both small and medium-scale (but not large-scale) water users. This led to significant discussion about future policy priorities in the basin and how this form of groundwater development could be achieved. Similar preferences were expressed by stakeholders in our Tanzania and Niger basins (see separate entries). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://grofutures.org/papers/ |
| 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 | ISARM (International Shared Aquifer Resources Management) 2nd Conference - UNESCO-IHP (France) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | At the ISARM 2nd Conference, presentations were given by GroFutures Research Assistant Boukari (Niger): "Transboundary groundwater recharge in a dryland environment: evidence from the River Goulbi de Maradi Basin in Niger and Nigeria" (Boukari) and GroFutures Research Assistant Rabilou (Niger): "Groundwater discharge to the River Niger from a large paleochannel estimated from surface geophysics in the Iullemmeden Basin of Niger and Nigeria" as well as GroFutures co-PI Villholth: "Transboundary Aquifer Governance in the Context of Transfrontier Conservation Areas - An opportunity for synergy in the Southern African Development Community" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.isarm2021.org/ |
| 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 | Nigerian Association of Hydrogeologists Annual Meeting 2021 - Katsina, Nigeria |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentations delivered by GroFutures Research Assistant Rabilou (Niger): "Groundwater discharge to the Niger River from a large Quaternary valley estimated from subsurface geophysics in the Iullemmeden Basin" and GroFutures Research Assistant Boukari (Niger): "Groundwater/Surface water relationship in the transboundary basin Goulbi de Maradi: evidence from well hydrographs, and MRS and TDEM Soundings" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://nah-nigeria.org/#/event-details/NAH-32nd-Annual-Conference-2021 |
| 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 | Press release and news articles asscoated with release of new map of Groundwater recharge for Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Press release by BGS, ERL and Nottingham university associated with the releae of a paer mappign out long term groundwter recharge rates for Africa. The press release led to several interviews with media outlets in Africa and 10 online articles. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/new-groundwater-maps-reveal-interesting-patterns-about-africas-water-secu... |
| 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 | Stakeholders' workshop on AMCOW Pan-African Groundwater Program (APAGroP), Nairobi, Kenya |
| 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 | Sustainable groundwater management and development priority areas, approaches as well as delivering mechanisms discussed and actions devised. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| 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 | Tanzania 2nd SUA (Sokoine University of Agriculture) Scientific Conference |
| 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 | Presentation by PI Taylor delivered to policymakers and practitioners: Focused groundwater recharge to the Makutapora Wellfield of central semi-arid Tanzania: empirical evidence to inform Managed Aquifer Recharge |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.sua.ac.tz/events/2nd-sua-scientific-conference-25th-26th-may-2021 |
| Description | UPGRO Film |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We contributed to the development of a ten minute Film on Groundwater in sub-Saharan Africa This film explains groundwater and presents key research findings from the UPGro programme inclusing information from this grant.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLJxw6hkjYM&t=4s. The film explains many of the key research findings and has also been shon at several major international events, including the IWRA and Stolkhom Water Week |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLJxw6hkjYM&t=4s |
| 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 |