AMGRAF: Adaptive management of groundwater in Africa

The problem: Productive use of groundwater in Africa offers many opportunities. Much information on groundwater exists in the form of global remote sensing products, while local indigenous knowledge also has much to offer. These two information sources need to be combined with hydrological modelling and appropriate social and governance systems to achieve sustainable development and to assure equitable access to the resource by the poor.

The approach: A multi-scale, multi-disciplinary approach was taken, including water resource monitoring by community members, modelling and social science studies.

Key findings: Potential exists for shallow groundwater irrigation. Simple water balance models and community monitoring can be used with appropriate governance systems for local adaptive resource management.

Where?

• Ethiopia

Principal Investigator:

John Gowing, Newcastle University

Mr Demis Alamirew Ayenew, Geological Survey of Ethiopia (Co-I)

Dr Simon Langan, International Water Management Institute (Co-I)

Research Organisations:

• Newcastle University – Grant NE/L002019/1
• Geological Survey of Ethiopia – Grant NE/L001918/1
• International Water Management Institute (IWMI) – Grant NE/L001845/1
• Water Research Institute (WRI), Ghana
• Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa

Research Team:

• Dr Geoff Parkin, Newcastle University
• Dr Liz Oughton, Newcastle University
• Dr Jaime Amezaga, Newcastle University
• Dr Emmanuel Obuobie, Water Research Institute (CSIR)
• Dr Nebo Jovanovic, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa
• Dr Karen Villholth, IWMI

Find out more:

• Final Catalyst reports:
  • AMGRAF Hydrogeology report
  • AMGRAF Preliminary assessment of governance
  • AMGRAF Preliminary assessment of livelihoods
• PDF Summary:
  • AMGRAF: Adaptive management of groundwater resources for small-scale irrigation in SSA
  • AMGRAF: La gestion adaptative des eaux souterraines pour l’irrigation à petite échelle en Afrique sub-Saharienne
• AMGRAF project website at Newcastle University
• John Gowing as a discussant on the RWSN-UPGro webinar Africa Groundwater Research, 9 December 2014
• Parkin, G., N. Forsythe, D. Alamirew and A. Haile (2014) “MODELLING SHALLOW GROUNDWATER RESOURCES FOR SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION IN ETHIOPIA” Poster submission to 41st IAH congress
• Villholth K. G. “GROUNDWATER IRRIGATION FOR SMALLHOLDERS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA – A SYNTHESIS OF CURRENT KNOWLEDGE” at 41st IAH Congress, Marrekech [Abstract]
• AMGRAF news and blog posts
• “Developing Shallow Groundwater Resources for Small-Scale Irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa” by Lisa Bunclark at 2015 WEDC Conference

Journal Papers

• “Filling the observational void: Scientific value and quantitative validation of hydrometeorological data from a community-based monitoring programme” (2016) David Walker, Geoff Parkin, Nathan Forsythe, John Gowing, Journal of Hydrology, Volume 538, July 2016, Pages 713-725
• “Insights From a Multi‐Method Recharge Estimation Comparison Study” (2018) David Walker, Geoff Parkin, Petra Schmitter, John Gowing, Seifu A. Tilahun, Alemseged T. Haile,  Abdu Y. Yimam, Groundwater, Volume 57, Issue 2, March/April 2019, Pages 245-258
• “Can shallow groundwater sustain small-scale irrigated agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from N-W Ethiopia” (2020) John Gowing, David Walker, Geoff Parkin, , Alemseged Tamiru Haile, Demis Alamirew Ayenew, Groundwater for Sustainable Development Volume 10, April 2020, 100290