Resilience of rural groundwater supplies during drought in Ethiopia

MacAllister, Donald John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8893-9634; MacDonald, Alan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6636-1499; Kebede, Seifu; Bell, Rachel; Azagegn, Tilahun; Calow, Roger. 2020 Resilience of rural groundwater supplies during drought in Ethiopia. [Poster] In: Addressing Groundwater Resilience under Climate Change, Online, 28-30 Oct 2020. https://iwraonlineconference.org/posters/, IWRA.

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Abstract/Summary

As a result of climate change, sub-Saharan Africa, is expected to experience more frequent and extreme droughts, contributing to greater water insecurity. Droughts affect the reliability, quantity and quality of water available, potentially undermining recent gains in drinking water access and making it difficult to extend services. Ethiopia, in particular, is highly vulnerable to drought. Since 1965, Ethiopia has experienced 15 severe droughts affecting more than 65 million people and causing serious economic damage. Most recently, in 2015 and 2016, Ethiopia suffered a harsh drought, linked to El Nino, which forced more than 10 million people to rely on emergency aid due to crop and water supply failures. During the 2015-16 drought significant effort was made to monitor and understand the performance and use of rural water points. Drawing on two recently published studies we demonstrate that with adequate monitoring and maintenance rural groundwater points can deliver a consistent and safe water supply during drought. The first study monitored a total of 5196 water points (hand-pumps, motorized boreholes, springs, open-sources) and the success of a maintenance programme, every week for 12 weeks in early 2016. Enumerators used questionnaires on mobile phones to gather quantitative and qualitative data from those responsible for water points. The second study involved monitoring 51 groundwater points (hand-pumps, springs, hand-dug wells) over an 18 month period. Water sources were equipped with water level loggers and water was tested monthly for Thermo-tolerant Coliforms (TTCs). All sources were put under considerable strain during drought. Most demand was placed on motorised boreholes in lowland areas. Increases in functionality for motorised boreholes, as a result of the maintenance programme, lagged behind those of hand-pumped boreholes. More complex technologies have longer downtimes due to a lack of appropriate and/or accessible maintenance skills. Real time-monitoring and effective information flow helped facilitate responsive and proactive maintenance of infrastructure, and ensured demand was spread across a larger infrastructure portfolio reducing pressure on individual sources during the drought. Water level monitoring showed that shallow boreholes equipped with handpumps recovered quickly from daily abstraction. Recovery rates of hand-dug-wells and springs was longer. All sources were contaminated during the rains marking drought cessation but boreholes were least affected. We conclude that prioritising access to groundwater via multiple improved sources and a portfolio of technologies, such as hand-pumped and motorised boreholes, supported by responsive and proactive maintenance, increases rural water supply resilience to drought and climate change.

Item Type:	Publication - Conference Item (Poster)
Additional Keywords:	GroundwaterBGS, Groundwater
NORA Subject Terms:	Earth Sciences Hydrology
Date made live:	12 Nov 2020 12:58 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528811

Item Type:

Publication - Conference Item (Poster)

Additional Keywords:

GroundwaterBGS, Groundwater

NORA Subject Terms:

Earth Sciences
Hydrology

Date made live:

12 Nov 2020 12:58 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528811