User Guide version 1.2: Africa groundwater atlas country hydrogeology maps

This report is a published product of the Africa Groundwater Atlas project. The project was jointly funded by DFID, NERC and ESRC; supported by the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH); and carried out by the British Geological Survey (BGS) in partnership with hydrogeologists across Africa. It is a part of the Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor (UPGro) Research Programme, which focuses on improving the evidence base around groundwater availability and management in sub-Saharan Africa, to enable the sustainable use of groundwater to benefit the poor. The Africa Groundwater Atlas (referred to in this report as the Atlas) is an online resource that provides a summary of the groundwater resources of 51 African countries, and a gateway to further information, available at https://www.bgs.ac.uk/africagroundwateratlas/index.cfm. The new 1:5,000,000 scale hydrogeology (aquifer type and productivity) and geology (with particular relevance to hydrogeology) maps developed for the Atlas have been released as digital GIS maps for 43 countries in Africa. Maps for 38 countries were released in 2019, and for an additional 5 countries in 2021. These are Version 1.0 of the maps dataset. Maps for a final 5 countries may be released in future. This guide is written for users of these digital country maps. It describes their format, scale, attributes and content, how they were developed and what underlying datasets they are based on. A basic appreciation of Geographical Information System (GIS) terminology will help readers understand some of the information given here.