Groundwater and Governance – How it Should be Done

Over the duration of this blog, we’ve really built up a keen understanding of the immense potential groundwater has for agriculture across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). For many academics, it appears to be the future, and a way to carve a path towards economic development, food security and development.

However, as Villholth (2013) observes, whilst generally regional and international policies are increasingly beginning to favour small-scale groundwater irrigation in the region, this is not mirrored by national policy and institutions. Currently, groundwater irrigation has no clear management body across numerous countries, instead being managed between agricultural bodies and what Villholth refers to as WASH sectors; those of water, sanitation and hygiene. This is evident especially in countries such as Ethiopia, which, although having significant plans to boost groundwater development, has clearly insufficient institutional capacity wherein roles and responsibilities regarding the facilitation of this boost are entirely unclear. It is necessary then, Villholth (2013) argues, for the state to become both a facilitator and regulator of groundwater irrigation, rather than remaining a passive entity.

This is a sentiment shared by Tuinhof et al. (2001) in their working paper for the World Bank. They insist that SSA’s new development agenda will require a much greater focus on strategic assessment and investment planning regarding the use and proliferation of groundwater resources, in order to not only promote a sustainable model of irrigation but also support urban water-supply development and rural livelihoods. The authors suggest that this “New Agenda” for development will require significant strengthening, evolution and reform of current institutional frameworks of groundwater governance. 

Foster et al.(2012) also argue in this vein, stating that a delicate balance will be needed between the promotion and creation of an enabling framework of groundwater development, abstraction and pollution regulation to avoid over extraction and contamination of resources and the integration of groundwater monitoring and assessment, development and recharge assessment with the management of land-use.

Groundwater has a huge part to play in the future of the SSA region, and hence needs an effective, efficient and equitable method of governance

Only adding to the challenges of creating suitable and effective groundwater legislation is that the institutional framework into which it needs to be inserted is currently in a state of flux. Tuinhof et al. (2001) observe that a general trend of decentralisation currently exists regarding water management, which stems from attempts to address “upstream-downstream” issues and create more focused management for stakeholders. Whilst such changes arguably create opportunities for groundwater management, they also offer a huge complication; for example, in 2001, Tuinhof et al. had observed 60 such decentralised management schemes, however very few had a significant operational capacity or included groundwater legislation in their operational framework.

There are calls then for an integration of groundwater management and promotion into national policy. There is widespread agreement amongst academics such as Villholth (2013), Tuinhof et al. (2001) and Foster etal. (2012) that this is essential for groundwater to begin making an effective contribution to economic development, food security and urban and rural livelihoods. There are also calls for the development of cross-sector dialogue between different government institutions and levels, as to accommodate the particular needs of groundwater within different river basins and management authorities whilst still maintaining a national focus. Tuinhof et al (2001) and Foster et al. (2012) present succinct arguments for the direction, limitations and prerequisites that this national governance features, and this is what we will be exploring throughout the rest of the blog.

Needs for Governance

Tuinhof et al.(2001) states that it is generally agreed the primary function of any government should be to act as “custodian” or “trustee” if you will over renewable resources on behalf of the citizens they represent. Legislation, then, concerning groundwater, should be flexible, enforceable and most importantly enabling. Tuinhof et al. present in their working paper six key recommendations for governments when deciding on legislation, which we will explore below.

Catchment and Aquifer Resource Planning and Allocation

This involves the establishment of appropriate and suitable boundaries for resource management, whether by basin or by region. It also involves effective translation of nationwide plans for groundwater to sensible regional scales to create a unified vision for groundwater and surface water resources.

Land-use zoning for Conservation and Protection of Groundwater

This would involve allowing for the creation of “special control areas” that are either critical to the resource in terms of recharge or storage or perhaps particularly vulnerable to pollution and hence contamination.

Monitoring of Groundwater and the Provision of Information

Another suggested role of government is to provide essential monitoring and periodic evaluation of groundwater status in a way that facilitates the open exchange of data and provided information for both individuals and cooperatives

The Facilitation of Stakeholder Participation and Engagement

This includes actively encouraging the involvement both users and potential polluters of groundwater (alongside other interest groups) to ensure that development of the resource can be optimally beneficial for the majority involved 

The Administration of the Use of Groundwater

Governments and legislative bodies should have the authority to allocate and control groundwater usage, through well construction permits, groundwater user registers, allocation of rights or permits to abstract, and appropriate resource charging (generally targeted at commercial or large-scale users). They should also have the power to issue and enforce sanctions against those who do not comply with regulations, in order to deter misuse.

Licensing of the Discharge of Wastewater and Landfill Disposal

Governments should be able to limit and control practices that may cause pollution through effective licensing, and be able to apply sanctions to those who break these regulations

Limitations and Prerequisites to Groundwater Governance

However, these recommendations are idealistic, and are more often an unachievable target than a reality for many governments in Sub-Saharan Africa. The large majority of government institutions and bodies are currently plagued by a severe lack of capable and aptly trained staff to carry out duties, and this goes doubly so for activities concerning groundwater, which currently hold relatively little attention in the political world. There is also the issue of budgets; setting up new groundwater institutions and legislation will present itself as a rather expensive process, and many government agencies simply lack the capital to undergo processes of mass monitoring and policing of usage. There is also the current issue of groundwater not receiving that much institutional attention; the nature of the resource as somewhat hidden and out of sight in this regard does it no favours  (Tuinhof et al. 2001).

Often, the establishment of an effective private-sector groundwater provider can help provide services that governemnts simply do not have the resources themselves to offer

Foster et al.(2012) hence set out a series of prerequisites; things that need to happen before governments can go about establishing effective and efficient groundwater legislation and government bodies. They call first for the building of professional capacity through providing widespread training and the more effective deployment of currently trained personnel. Alongside this, they stress the necessity for the stimulation of private-sector participation (a concept mentioned in an earlier blog), so that high quality contracting services can be provided alongside professional consultancy. This will provide platforms for the provision of construction, maintenance and siting services, as well as set the ball rolling on surveying, monitoring and evaluation. They also call for government agencies to have the capabilities and authority to ensure that the work commissioned to the private sector is to a high quality.

Conclusions

Whilst there is still a lot of work to be done before effective groundwater institutions that promote, protect and monitor groundwater sources are set up, both papers by Tuinhof et al. (2001) and Foster  et al. (2012) present strong recommendations for governments. 

 

Probably the strongest points of these frameworks are that they understand and facilitate the fact that groundwater at heart is a local resource; both papers call for local engagement with stakeholders (both recipients and potential polluters), however also realise the importance for a national-scale effort to manage groundwater. Both then also suggest a more “top-down” approach, that ensures that there is significant authority ensuring sustainable and equitable use of groundwater, and using the resource to its full potential in order to bring about empowerment, economic development and greater security on a national scale. The only thing left to do, is for countries to begin implementing suggestions, and taking the first steps towards a future where groundwater plays a significant role in livelihoods all across the country.

Groundwater and Sustainability - Ensuring the Future of Africa's Sunken Sea

Around the globe, the cracks in the groundwater revolution are beginning to show. Since 2003, the water reserves in 21 of the 37 largest aquifers have declined – 13 to the point whereby regional water availability is threatened (Walton 2015). This groundwater depletion can be put down to overexploitation of the resource, meaning that the amount pumped out is far greater than the recharge rate. This risk of depletion currently threatens many countries, such as the US and China, and is even beginning to threaten some parts of Africa.

In the north and northwest Somalia, for example, it is thought that mass unregulated and inappropriate drilling of boreholes are leading to overexploitation of groundwater and even cases of pollution. In Garowe, the administrative capital of the Puntland region, it was even observed that groundwater levels fell by as much as 1.2m in just 38 days (FAO 2013).

The sustainability of groundwater then presents itself as a huge issue. It is clear that, in order for groundwater to continue to meet water demand needs for the foreseeable future, its use needs to be considered responsibly and appropriate limits and guidelines put in place. Groundwater can only be relied upon so much, and over-usage can be catastrophic. In today’s blog, I will discuss this in the context of the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Currently, due to relatively low groundwater usage, the region is unplagued by issues of overexploitation. When one considers the absolutely key role that groundwater will play in defining the region’s agricultural future however, issues of sustainability suddenly come to mind, and the idea of establishing precautions before it becomes an issue presents itself as an ideal solution.

Groundwater depletion, especially in a semi-arid region like Sub-Saharan Africa, would have devastating consequences

Groundwater, as stated, is key to the Sub-Saharan region of Africa. In the face of increasing variability in precipitation due to climate change, coupled with rapid population growth and urbanisation, groundwater will play a central role in supporting people both in terms of domestic water supply and through irrigated agriculture. This has already been the case for decades in SSA, with the accessibility of groundwater largely dictating the extent of human settlement, and today it is almost undisputable that a relationship of dependence exists between rural settlements and groundwater as a water-supply. In fact, it has even been seen that correlation exists between use of groundwater and poverty reduction, as the hidden resource offers significant drought resistance. (Foster et al. 2012).

Over the past few years, new pressures for groundwater development have begun to emerge, namely the rapidly increasing demand for urban water supply from groundwater and the growing interest of using groundwater for irrigation, both at the commercial and subsistence scales. The latter, according to Foster et al.(2012), has apparently been flagged by political leaders as a focal point for future investment. It is likely then, that for all these reasons, groundwater usage in the region will only be seen to increase, making questions of sustainability all the more pertinent.

Groundwater is of huge importance to the Sub-Saharan African region, both as a domestic and agricultural source of water that is resilient to drought

Barriers do exist that make understanding how to go about using groundwater sustainably quite the challenge. One of the most prominent, according to MacDonald et al. (2012), is the extremely limited knowledge of African groundwater resources; currently, due to the lack of information, there is major uncertainty in what resources are currently available for use and how these resources will be affected by climate change (although in previous blogs we have discussed how climate change may actually prove beneficial to groundwater recharge). MacDonald et al. (2012) call for more spatially explicit information on groundwater resources in Africa that can inform strategies that deal with issues not only of population growth but also climate change. This is a call echoed by Foster etal. (2012), who suggests that information on recharge rates, aquifer characteristics, flow regimes and water quality need to be of a higher standard so that the development of groundwater no longer features such uncertainty. Accurate mapping and understanding of resources is essential if aquifers and groundwater are to be managed responsibly. 

Another key requirement of assuring sustainability is monitoring. In order to understand the effects that groundwater usage is having on basins, there needs to be a substantial influx of relevant data. Villholth(2013) suggests that simple monitoring methods will be most appropriate, and that these could be adapted by farmers. Tests could be as simple as taking daily records of the pumping rate, duration and quality of water, all of which are rather straightforward and do not involve expensive or sophisticated equipment. Foster et al. (2012) take this further, suggesting that monitoring could even be funded by implementing a “resource usage fee” for commercial users. Greater data availability would allow for a far greater understanding of the groundwater situation and allowed for far more focused management of usage to occur, arguably promoting a more sustainable future for the resource.

Villholth (2013) also recommends that, in order to prevent regional depletion and long-term over-extraction, there should be a regional or national institution with the power to invoke sanctions and solve disputes between stakeholders of the groundwater resources. Again, Foster et al. (2012) elaborate on this, and offer many suggestions as to how groundwater sources could be managed by an institutional body. They see it as “imperative” to impose management in cooperation with users both commercial and small-scale, which could include a system of groundwater rights, allocations, permits and the authority to pose bans on drilling and overuse and distribute sanctions for offenders. This could effectively prevent a “tragedy of the commons”, and would be an effective and incentivised way of managing interests in groundwater in a controlled and responsible manner.

Foster et al.(2012) also propose that for smaller communities that utilise local bodies, community management may be the way forward. They suggest that governments could promote self-regulation through education and empowerment, and ultimately put the responsibility in the hands of the community, allowing them to manage their own resources democratically and with a sense of community pride. 

Community management of water resources has seen great success across the continent - it seems then like an ideal solution for small-scale groundwater management

It is clear then that sustainable management is not a foreign concept and that there are several strategies that would ensure the viability of groundwater for years to come. As we have seen, however, it is unfortunately never that simple. The issues would always exist of who exactly should be in charge of what groundwater. Just like basins, groundwater very rarely is consistent with administrative boundaries, and whether such policing could even gain legitimacy would present a huge obstacle. Fortunately enough for SSA, there is plenty of time to figure out a system that works, as, at least present, groundwater usage generally is low. In the future, however, sustainability will become a big issue, and appropriate institutional tools for dealing with it absolutely need to be developed.