The Africa Groundwater Atlas has released digital, GIS-enabled, national-scale hydrogeology maps for 38 African countries, which are freely available to download.
The online, open-access Africa Groundwater Atlas was launched in 2016.

It brings together groundwater information from many sources and provides a consistent overview of groundwater resources at a country scale for 51 countries in Africa. It is widely used by hydrogeologists, water supply practitioners, policymakers and others across Africa and beyond.

The atlas was developed by the BGS in partnership with the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) Burdon Groundwater Network for Developing Countries and groundwater experts across Africa. It was funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and UK Aid through the UPGro research programme.

The new country hydrogeology maps show the hydrogeology (aquifer type and productivity) and geology (with particular relevance to hydrogeology) at a scale of 1:5 million. At the moment, maps for 38 countries are available to download; maps for the remaining countries will be released later.

The maps are provided as free-to-download shapefiles (.shp), also known as ESRI ‘shape’ format. There is a single shapefile for each country, which contains attribute information for geology and hydrogeology themes in attribute tables. Each shapefile is provided with layer files with legends for geology and hydrogeology in English and, for selected countries, French or Portuguese. A user guide gives supporting information about the maps, how they were developed and how they can be used.

The successful, sustainable development of groundwater resources is critical to future safe water supplies in Africa and has a key role in future economic and social development and food security. Doing this depends on a good understanding of groundwater and hydrogeology. All too often, high-quality information about groundwater in Africa – even where it exists – is hard to find.

The Africa Groundwater Atlas is helping increase awareness and availability of information about groundwater in Africa. The country hydrogeology maps are available to download from the Africa Groundwater Atlas at http://www.bgs.ac.uk/africagroundwateratlas/index.cfm

For more information, please email AfricaGWAtlas@bgs.ac.uk.