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.