Groundwater Data

Africa Groundwater Atlas >> Resource pages >> Groundwater Data

 This page is still being developed. Please check back soon for more information.

Please cite page as: Africa Groundwater Atlas. 2019. Groundwater Data. British Geological Survey. Accessed [date you accessed the information]. Weblink.

This page provides an overview of groundwater data, with a particular focus on Africa; and links to further information and to available groundwater data sources.

Groundwater Data

Groundwater data usually refers to measured physical or chemical information on groundwater, which is collected at point groundwater sources (boreholes, wells or springs).

Some examples of groundwater data are:

• groundwater levels, usually measured in boreholes or wells. These may be rest or static water levels (unaffected by groundwater pumping) or pumped water levels; and may be one-off measurements or monitored over time.
• groundwater chemistry and microbiology. This can include a wide range of parameters from the simple to complex: pH, alkalinity or water conductivity (SEC); inorganic chemistry including major ions such as calcium, magnesium and sodium; minor ions such as iron and manganese; or trace elements such as arsenic or cadmium; organic chemistry parameters such as nutrients and carbon or oil pollutants; microbiological parameters, often related to pathogens such as E-coli, giardia, cryptospiridium or viruses; environmental tracers including stable isotopes (such as deuterium and oxygen-18) and radioactive isotopes (such as tritium); and dissolved gases such as CFCs, methane and carbon dioxide.
• borehole drilling logs with geological and hydrogeological information, such as aquifer lithology, water strikes and borehole construction information.
• test pumping data: direct and derived data from hydrogeological tests, usually on boreholes, including pumping rates and associated drawdowns; measured aquifer properties; and estimated sustainable yields.

Much groundwater data is collected during ongoing groundwater monitoring, and specific information and issues relating to this can be found on the Groundwater monitoring page. Some groundwater data is collected during drilling and testing of new boreholes.

Collecting, checking, storing and managing groundwater data so that it can be used effectively is challenging. Often, data collected during drilling and testing is stored separately from groundwater monitoring data.

Most countries have a national borehole inventory, holding geological and groundwater data from the time of borehole drilling: this can include borehole depths, geological (drilling) logs, geophysical data from borehole siting, and test pumping data.

Many countries also have strategic groundwater level monitoring networks and some also have a strategic groundwater quality monitoring network, with the monitoring data stored in databases at national level. However, such monitoring networks are not always fully operational, or representative of groundwater across a whole country; and monitoring data are not always easily available.

Adelana (2009) discusses some of the issues with monitoring groundwater resources in Africa. One of the countries that has put in place a functional National Groundwater Database and developed a groundwater quality monitoring programme is South Africa.

Water Point Data

Groundwater data is different from water point data. In recent years, there have been huge improvements in the availability of water point data in Africa and globally, as part of WASH activities. Many new procedures, databases and digital apps have been developed, designed to allow more efficient collection, storage and availability of water point data in Africa, at project, organisation and national level, including the development of online databases. However, although most water points in Africa are groundwater sources, water point databases typically contain little groundwater data, and therefore can tell us little about the groundwater resource on which the water points rely.

Some examples of data portals or digital technologies for water point data collection and management are:

• MWater
• the Water Point Data Exchange (WPDx)
• Akvo Flow
• Water Point Mapper
• the Sierra Leone national WASH Data Portal

Africa-wide or Global Groundwater Data Sources

Chronicles Consortium

The Chronicles Consortium initiative is collating long term - multi-decadal - records of groundwater levels from around Africa.

IGRAC Global Groundwater Information System

IGRAC hosts the Global Groundwater Information System (GGIS) - an interactive, web-based portal to groundwater-related information. This includes some groundwater level monitoring data collated from a number of countries, including some in Africa, in the Global Groundwater Monitoring Network (GGMN).

UNHCR Refugee Site Borehole Data

The UNHCR have an online WASH GIS portal, which includes groundwater data from water boreholes at UNHCR refugee sites, including borehole locations, depths, casing diameters, rest (static) water levels and estimated safe yields.

EAWAG Groundwater Quality information

EAWAG (the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) developed the Groundwater Assessment Platform, with information on geogenic (naturally occurring in groundwater) contaminants. This database includes some measured data on groundwater arsenic and fluoride concentrations, including in Africa.

Country-specific National Groundwater Data Sources

Most countries in Africa have some national groundwater data holdings, such as a water borehole inventory, groundwater level or quality data. However, it is often difficult to access this data, and very few countries have so far made this data available online (this is also the case for most non-African countries).

South Africa

The South Africa Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) Data Management portal includes links to the National Groundwater Archive, an online database allowing users to register and explore groundwater related data collected from the National Groundwater Level Archive and the National Groundwater Quality Monitoring Project.

Namibia

The Namibian Monitoring Information System (NA-MIS) is an online interactive map viewer showing the locations of groundwater monitoring boreholes across Nambia and summary information on groundwater quality from monitoring boreholes. It also shows groundwater maps of Nambia: of aquifer/groundwater potential; groundwater abstraction; groundwater vulnerability; and recharge. NA-MIS is available online via the SADC Groundwater Management Institute.

Project-based and Private Sector Groundwater Data Sources

Many projects and private industries carry out some form of groundwater data collection and/or monitoring. These data are often detailed, but usually focus on small areas and sometimes for short time scales (e.g. weeks to months, or in some cases a few years). These data holdings are rarely integrated with national, government-held databases. It can be difficult for people outside the project or private company to identify what data holdings exist, and if identified, to access the data.

An example of private sector groundwater data is groundwater level monitoring data for a shallow aquifer at a large mine in Kwale country, Kenya, which is collected by the mine operator Base Titanium. This data was shared by the mine operator with the UPGro research project Gro for Good, illustrated by a poster by Mutua et al (2014).

Poster by Mutua et al (2014)

An example of project-based groundwater level monitoring comes from a WaterAid project in Burkina Faso, where WaterAid initiated community-based water resource monitoring. More information is in this case study on community monitoring in Burkina Faso.

Dipping the water level in a hand dug well. Image credit: Djibril Barry / WaterAid (2016)

References

Adelana SMA. 2009. Monitoring groundwater resources in Sub-Saharan Africa: issues and challenges. Groundwater and Climate in Africa: Proceedings of the Kampala Conference, June 2008, IAHS Publ. 334.

Return to Africa Groundwater Atlas >> Resource pages