Africa Groundwater Atlas Home

The Africa Groundwater Atlas is currently under development, so please excuse any incomplete pages, and understand that there may be errors that have not yet been identified. Please do return over the coming months to see extended and improved content.

Welcome to the Africa Groundwater Atlas

This Atlas is a web resource that provides an introduction to the hydrogeology and groundwater resources of every country in Africa. The aim of the Atlas is to improve the availability and accessibility of robust information on groundwater in Africa, making it available to a wide range of stakeholders, so that the precious resource of groundwater can be developed and used in a safe and sustainable way.

The Atlas includes a summary of the hydrogeology and groundwater resources of individual countries, with links to further information through the Africa Groundwater Literature Archive; and provides supporting information on aspects of hydrogeology and groundwater at a continental scale.

Hydrogeology by Country

This section provides a summary of the hydrogeology, groundwater resources and status, and groundwater management of 52 African countries, and a gateway to further information.

Country profiles

The country profiles include a page for each country in Africa, with consistent information on the geology and hydrogeology of key aquifers; the status of groundwater resources and management; and supporting information such as climate, hydrology, soils and land cover. Many of the country profiles have been co-written by groundwater experts from that country.

A few of the profiles are still 'skeleton' pages, with minimal information. If you have any information on the hydrogeology and groundwater resources of these countries, please get in touch.

Contributing authors

Deatils of the contributing authors for the country profiles can be found here.

Overview of groundwater in Africa

The Atlas also provides an overview of groundwater in Africa at a continental scale, summarising the main hydrogeological environments and key issues related to groundwater use and management, with links to further information and data. This includes:

Overview of groundwater in Africa

Including a summary of the major hydrogeological environments in Africa.

Resource Pages

Providing an introduction and links to further information on issues related to groundwater in Africa, including climate; surface water; various aspects of physical and chemical hydrogeology; and groundwater development, use and management.

Further Project Information

Background on the Africa Groundwater Atlas project can be found here.

Africa Groundwater Literature Archive

The Africa Groundwater Literature Archive is is an online database containing bibliographic references for thousands of items of literature related to groundwater in Africa. These include published and unpublished reports, journal papers, maps, books and academic theses. The full archive can be searched by country and thematic keywords; selected items can be searched by detailed location; and, where possible, links to full-text documents are provided.

Access the Africa Groundwater Literature Archive.