Groundwater Contamination Hinders Sustainable Groundwater Management in Africa

What is Groundwater?

Groundwater is water stored underground in a medium called aquifer. Most aquifers are composed of sand, gravel, sandstone, or fractured limestone that allow water to move through their interconnected spaces. The speed at which the groundwater flow in the aquifer depends on the size of the spaces in the aquifer material, as well as how these spaces are connected. Groundwater is a natural resource that can be exploited both in urban and rural areas for water supply.

Source : http://coastgis.marsci.uga.edu/summit/aquifers.htm

Concerns of Groundwater Management in Africa

Groundwater resources in Africa are faced with increasing threats of pollution, overexploitation, and climate risks. Groundwater contamination, in most cases, is due to increasing urbanization, industrial growth, agricultural activities, mining activities, and poor sanitation practices. Besides, increasing demand for water to meet human, industrial, and agricultural needs contributes significantly to the overexploitation of the aquifers. Due to the hidden nature of this resource, it is usually forgotten, unmeasured, and unmanaged. However, groundwater resources in the continent are still underdeveloped and can meet future needs if they are maned and used sustainably.

The reasons for poor groundwater management in Africa are due to a lack understanding of the groundwater resources in terms of;

•           The location of the aquifers
•           Hydrogeological characteristics-
•           The prevailing water quality of these aquifers
•       Lack of  groundwater monitoring
•           Recharge sources/discharge conditions
•           Water demand and abstraction allocation e.t.c.

Health challenges associated with contaminated groundwater

With the increasing human population, lack of access to water and sanitation has been termed as a matter of life and death. Coupled with access to contaminated water, the transmission of diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, and dysentery have been amongst alarming Africa’s health reports. Annually, 315, 000 children die in the continent from diseases caused by drinking unsafe water and poor sanitation. The groundwater contamination linked to poor hygiene is often shown by the presence of fecal contaminants in the groundwater. This is an indication that the achievement of the United Nations Development Goal of water and sanitation by 2030 is yet a dream for Africa.

Population growth, overexploitation, and pollution

Overexploitation of groundwater in Africa is a possible threat faced by urban areas. The rapid population growth in the urban areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, has to lead to the extraction of large volumes of groundwater. The surface water resources in Africa are limited and unsustainable owing to the variable climatic conditions in the region. The rate at which the groundwater resources are recharged is often less than the abstraction rate. Thus, the danger of aquifer depletion is a growing concern for groundwater management institutions. The development of improved sanitation facilities that meet the needs of the ever-increasing population is not always timely, resulting in on-site sanitation and subsequent groundwater contamination. In essence, the influx of human waste outpaces the development of wastewater management and sewerage facilities. This leads to the pollution of shallow groundwater systems by the infiltration of contaminated water.