Groundwater resources in the ECOWAS region : expected aquifer productivity

The Groundwater resources in the ECOWAS region map has been developed to raise awareness of the potential and limitations of groundwater resources in the ECOWAS region of West Africa. Groundwater plays an important role in supporting agricultural and domestic water supply in West Africa, with more than 50 % of the population currently dependent on groundwater for their main drinking water source (Danert 2020; JMP 2020). Groundwater could play an increasingly important role in adapting to climate change in West Africa, which is projected to cause „increases in drying and agricultural and ecological droughts as well as delayed onset and retreat of the monsoon season“ (IPCC 2021). This new map, Groundwater resources in the ECOWAS region, is a contribution to the World-wide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Programme (WHYMAP) of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP). It was developed under the auspices of the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) Pan-African Groundwater Program (APAGroP), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Water Resources Coordination Centre (WRCC), and the Niger Basin Authority (NBA). The map was produced by a consortium comprising the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), British Geological Survey (BGS), Bureau de recherches géologiques et minières (BRGM), Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), and the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC). Map development was funded by the geological surveys themselves, UNESCO, and a contribution to BRGM by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A map draft was reviewed by a group of hydrogeologists with regional groundwater expertise. The printed map was released at the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, 2022, accompanied by this Technical Note. The map, the technical note, and the digital dataset of the expected aquifer productivity map are available for download on the WHYMAP-website (www.whymap.org); the inset maps on the respective institutions’ websites (cf. 4.2 Inset maps).