Author: RWSN Secretariat

  • Collecting Water With Roads – ground-breaking research wins Global Environment Award

    Water is short in many places but roads are everywhere – and when it rains it is often along these roads that most water runs, as roads unknowingly either serve as dike or a drain. By harvesting the water with these roads, water shortage can be overcome and impacts of climate change can be mitigated.…

  • Threats to groundwater supplies from contamination in Sierra Leone, with special reference to Ebola care facilities
    Threats to groundwater supplies from contamination in Sierra Leone, with special reference to Ebola care facilities

    Although not an UPGro study, this is a relevant new paper by Lapworth, D.J.; Carter, R .C.; Pedley, S.; MacDonald, A.M.. 2015 Threats to groundwater supplies from contamination in Sierra Leone, with special reference to Ebola care facilities. Nottingham, UK, British Geological Survey, 87pp. (OR/15/009) Abstract: The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa…

  • UPGro Consortium Kick-Off

    On 22nd April this year, the UPGro Consortium phase was officially launched at a special event in London. It was an opportunity for representatives from the five projects, the funders and the knowledge broker team to meet and present to each other what they plan to do over the coming four years. Below you can…

  • Synthesis of the Catalyst projects now available

    “Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor (UPGro), is a seven-year international research programme funded by the United Kingdom. It focuses on improving the evidence base around groundwater availability and management in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to enable developing countries and partners to use groundwater in a sustainable way in order to benefit the poor.…

  • Roads for Water – new research puts Ethiopian farmers in the driving seat

    Media Release World Water Day is an opportunity to reflect on the immense challenge that faces millions of people every day. Much of Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, is notably off-track from the Millennium Development Goals[i], which come to an end this year. Yet hope is emerging from unexpected directions: the UK is leading pioneering research…

  • Gro For Good workshop: 23 March, Kwale County, Kenya
    Gro For Good workshop: 23 March, Kwale County, Kenya

    The Groundwater Risk Management for Growth and Development (GRo for Good) project is holding a workshop on 23rd March 2015 in Kwale County, Kenya as part of the Africa-wide UPGRo programme funded by NERC, ESRC and UK DFID. Improved understanding of groundwater risks and institutional responses against competing growth and development goals is central to…

  • Call for papers on “Groundwater in rural areas: the challenges of improving local water security”
    Call for papers on “Groundwater in rural areas: the challenges of improving local water security”

    We are delighted that Professor Alan MacDonald (British Geological Survey), who is leading one of the Hidden Crisis UPGro project the Africa Groundwater Atlas, and Professor Richard Taylor who is the leading the UPGro GroFutures project and the Groundwater Chronicles Consortium with are chairing sessions at the 2015 IAH Congress in Rome, 13—18 September: Session…

  • Groundwater Governance

    10th March 2015 Two presentations followed extensive discussion. Groundwater risks and institutional responses in Kwale, Kenya (Jacob Katuva, Oxford University) and From Codes of Practice to a Code of Conduct – groundwater governance in Kenya from a drillers perspective (Tom Armstrong, JB Drilling). Practical issues of borehole design and construction, groundwater quality, gender and poverty…

  • Groundwater Resources and Supplies in Africa

    Two research-based presentations by: Joy Obando (Kenyatta University, Kenya) and Dan Lapworth (British Geological Survey, UK). With a focus on selected sites in in Comoros, Tanzania and Kenya, Obando’s presentation sets out key social and economic issues with respect to groundwater resources in coastal East Africa. Lapworth’s presentation examines the changes in water access and…

  • UPGro invited by UNICEF to present at the UN Zaragoza Conference
    UPGro invited by UNICEF to present at the UN Zaragoza Conference

    (with thanks to John Chilton, Sharon Velasquez-Orta and Jose Gesti-Canuto) The UN-Water Annual Zaragoza Conferences serve UN-Water to prepare for World Water Day, which in 2015 will focus on “water and sustainable development” and celebrated the end of the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’, so it was especially important for taking stock of…