Category: Catalyst Project News

  • Fancy a swig? Water quality in shallow wells in Kisumu, western Kenya

    by Heather Price, reposted from: http://sti-cs.org/2015/07/16/fancy-a-swig-water-quality-in-shallow-wells-in-kisumu-western-kenya/ We all know that access to sufficient clean water is vital for sustaining life. For us humans, the ideal scenario is that everyone can go to a tap in their house, turn it on, and an endless supply of clean water pours out. But currently more than 700 million…

  • UPGro win at Stockholm World Water Week
    UPGro win at Stockholm World Water Week

    Patrick Thomson, from the Oxford-led UPGro project “Gro For Good”, has won the prize for the best poster at World Water Week 2015 for the work that he and colleagues at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Oxford have been doing on shallow groundwater monitoring using Smart Handpumps in Kenya. This work will continue under…

  • Zambia: Study Finds Shallow Groundwater Unsafe.

    Originally posted on WaterSan Perspective: Water Journalists Africa (WJA) August 18, 2015 Kabwe is a transport hub and old mining town in central Zambia. One resident, Joseph, recounted how when he was growing up in the town in the 1970s, most houses had a tap and a reliable water supply from the municipal system. Few…

  • UPGro Catalyst Researcher recognised as a leading ‘Innovator under 35’ by MIT Technology Review
    UPGro Catalyst Researcher recognised as a leading ‘Innovator under 35’ by MIT Technology Review

    Dr Sharon Velasquez Orta (Newcastle University) has been recognised by the MIT Technology Review as one the leading “Innovators under 35” for 2015 for her work on developing a low-cost biosensor of measuring groundwater quality. In the UPGro Catalyst project (INGROUND), she and colleagues from Newcastle University and Ardhi University have been developing the sensor…

  • Merti aquifer: Kenya’s largest water source faced with resistance

    By Peter Mutai NAIROBI (Xinhua) —Wajir town in Northern Kenya has never had a regular water supply system forcing majority of the residents to use water drawn directly from shallow wells that exposes them to many potentially harmful elements.

  • 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.…

  • 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…

  • 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…