Gro for GooD: Groundwater Risk Management for Growth and Development

THE BIG IDEA

Groundwater is essential for economic growth and can contribute to human development if resources are used sustainably to benefit the poor. New approaches need to be found to balances growth and development goals.

RESEARCH AIM / HYPOTHESIS

To develop Groundwater Risk Management Tool that will help government and groundwater users balance the demands of human development and better health, economic growth and groundwater sustainability so that the poorest benefit.

STUDY DESCRIPTION

Africa’s groundwater systems are a critical but poorly understood socio-ecological system. Central to accelerating and sustaining Africa’s development is improved understanding of groundwater risks and institutional responses to competing growth and development goals is needed. Explosive urban growth, irrigated agricultural expansion, industrial pollution, untapped mineral wealth, rural neglect and environmental risks converge to increase the complexity and urgency of groundwater governance across Africa.

The research will focus on tackling the following questions:

1. How can risks to groundwater quality and quantity for drinking water security be identified and reduced?
2. How can groundwater governance be designed to balance growth and development?
3. What are the most significant and uncertain future scenarios affecting sustainable groundwater use for the poor?

The study will focus on the Kwale County area of South East Kenya where the poverty rate is high (7^th most deprived out of 47 Counties in Kenya) and there is intensive use of groundwater for urban water supply, sugar cane irrigation and mining. Tackling the three questions above will involve detailed data collection, including the use of innovative ‘Smart Handpumps’ developed by University of Oxford that measure handpump use. The research brings together rigorous analysis and modelling of environmental, social, economic and governance systems and processes. A risk management tool will be developed and then tested. While sensitive to context of Kwale, the Groundwater Risk Management Tool will be designed to be flexible so that it can be scaled-up across Kenya and can be adapted to other countries and contexts.

RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS

• University of Oxford (OU) – Grant NE/M008894/1
• University of Nairobi (UoN)
• Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)
• Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
• Rural Focus Ltd. (RFL)

RESEARCH TEAM

OU: Dr Robert Hope (PI), Dr Katrina Charles, Dr David Clifton, Dr Caitlin McElroy, Patrick Thomson, Jacob Katuva, Johanna Koehler, Farah Colchester, Prof David Bradley, Heloise Greeff ,  Dr. Achut Manandhar, Saskia Nowicki, Nancy Gladstone

JKUAT: Prof Bancy Mati, Prof John Gathenya.

UoN: Prof Daniel Olago, Julius Odida

UPC: Dr Albert Folch, Dr Daniel Fernàndez-Garcia, Dr Xavier, Sanchez-Vila, Prof Emilio Custodio, Prof Jesus Carrera, Núria Ferrer Ramos

RFL: Michael Thomas, Mike Lane

WORKING IN:

• Kenya

PUBLICATIONS

Peer-reviewed articles and book chapters

Thomson P, Stoler J, Byford M, Bradley DJ The Impact of Rapid Handpump Repairs on Diarrhea Morbidity in Children: Cross-Sectional Study in Kwale County, Kenya JMIR Public Health Surveill 2024;10:e42462 doi: 10.2196/42462

Koehler, J., Thomson, P., Goodall, S., Katuva, J. and Hope, R., 2021. Institutional pluralism and water user behavior in rural Africa. World Development, 140, p.105231. doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105231

Thomson, P., 2020. Remote monitoring of rural water systems: A pathway to improved performance and sustainability?. WIREs Water, 8(2). doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1502

Katuva, J., Hope, R., Foster, T., Koehler, J. and Thomson, P., 2020. Modelling Welfare Transitions to Prioritise Sustainable Development Interventions in Coastal Kenya. Sustainability, 12(17), p.6943.

Ramos, N., Folch, A., Fernàndez-Garcia, D., Lane, M., Thomas, M., Gathenya, J., Wara, C., Thomson, P., Custodio, E. and Hope, R., 2020. Evidence of groundwater vulnerability to climate variability and economic growth in coastal Kenya. Journal of Hydrology, 586, p.124920.

Manandhar, A., Greeff, H., Thomson, P., Hope, R., Clifton, D. (2020) Shallow aquifer monitoring using handpump vibration data, Journal of Hydrology X,
Volume 8, August 2020, 100057.

Katuva, J., Hope, R., Foster, T., Koehler, J. and Thomson, P. (2020) Groundwater and welfare: A conceptual framework applied to coastal Kenya. Groundwater for Sustainable Development, 10. doi: 10.1016/j.gsd.2019.100314.

Hope, R., Thomson, P., Koehler, J. and Foster, T. (2020) Rethinking the economics of rural water in Africa. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 36(1): 171-190. doi: 10.1093/oxrep/grz036.

Charles, K.J., Nowicki, S., Thomson, P. and Bradley, D. (2019) Water and Health: A Dynamic, Enduring Challenge. Chapter 6 in, Dadson, S.J., Garrick, D.E., Penning-Rowsell, E.C., Hall, J.W., Hope, R. and Hughes, J. (eds.) Water Science, Policy, and Management: A Global Challenge. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. pp. 97-116. ISBN: 9781119520603.

Dadson, S.J., Hirpa, F., Thomson, P. and Konar, M. (2019) Monitoring and Modelling Hydrological Processes. Chapter 7 in, Dadson, S.J., Garrick, D.E., Penning-Rowsell, E.C., Hall, J.W., Hope, R. and Hughes, J. (eds.) Water Science, Policy, and Management: A Global Challenge. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. pp. 117-137. ISBN: 9781119520603.

Hope, R., Foster, T., Koehler, J. and Thomson, P. (2019) Rural Water Policy in Africa and Asia. Chapter 9 in, Dadson, S.J., Garrick, D.E., Penning-Rowsell, E.C., Hall, J.W., Hope, R. and Hughes, J. (eds.) Water Science, Policy and Management: A Global Challenge. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. pp. 159-179. ISBN: 9781119520603.

Sharma, P., Manandhar, A., Thomson, P., Katuva, J., Hope, R. and Clifton, D. (2019). Combining Multi-Modal Statistics for Welfare Prediction Using Deep Learning. Sustainability, 11(220), p.6312. doi: 10.3390/su11226312.

Mati, B. and Thomas, M. (2019). Overview of Sugar Industry in Kenya and Prospects for Production at the Coast. Agricultural Sciences 10, 11. 1477-1485. doi: 10.4236/as.2019.1011108.

Hope, R. and Ballon, P. (2019) Global water policy and local payment choices in rural Africa. npj Clean Water 2, 21. doi:10.1038/s41545-019-0045-y.

Ferrer, N., Folch, A., Masó, G., Sanchez, S., Sanchez-Vila, X. (2019) What are the main factors influencing the presence of faecal bacteria pollution in groundwater systems in developing countries? Journal of Contaminant Hydrology. doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2019.103556.

Ferrer, N., Folch, A., Lane, M. et al. (2019). How does water-reliant industry affect groundwater systems in coastal Kenya? Science of the Total Environment doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133634.

Ouédraogo, W., Gathenya, J. & Raude, J. (2019). Projecting Wet Season Rainfall Extremes Using Regional Climate Models Ensemble and the Advanced Delta Change Model: Impact on the Streamflow Peaks in Mkurumudzi Catchment, Kenya. Hydrology 6 (3): 76. doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6030076

Greeff, A. Manandhar, P. Thomson, R. Hope and D. A. Clifton (2019). Distributed Inference Condition Monitoring System for Rural Infrastructure in the Developing World. IEEE Sensors Journal 19 (5): 1820-1828.

Wara, C., Thomas, M., Mwakurya, S. and Katuva, J. (2019). Development of River Rating Curves for Simple to Complex Hydraulic Structure Based on Calibrated HEC-RAS Hydraulic Model, in Kwale, Coastal Kenya. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 11, 468-490.

Ferrer, N., Folch, A., Lane, M., Olago, D., Odida, J., and Custodio, E., (2019). Groundwater hydrodynamics of an Eastern Africa coastal aquifer, including La Niña 2016-17 drought. Science of the Total Environment, 661: 575-597.

Thomson, P.. Bradley, D., Katilu, A., Katuva, J., Lanzoni, M., Koehler, J., and Hope, R. (2019). Rainfall and groundwater use in rural Kenya. Science of the Total Environment. 649: 722-730.

Nowicki, S., Lapworth, D., Ward, J., Thomson, P., and Charles, K. (2019). Tryptophan-like fluorescence as a measure of microbial contamination risk in groundwater. Science of The Total Environment646: 782-791.

Olago, D. (2018). Constraints and solutions for groundwater development, supply and governance in urban areas in Kenya. Hydrogeology Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-018-1895-y

Koehler, J., Rayner, S., Katuva, J., Thomson, P. and Hope, R. (2018).A cultural theory of drinking water risks, values and institutional change. Global Environmental Change, 50, pp.268-277.

Koehler, J. (2018). Exploring policy perceptions and responsibility of devolved decision-making for water service delivery in Kenya’s 47 county governments. Geoforum, 92, pp.68-80

Foster, T., J. Willets, M. Lane, P. Thomson, J. Katuva, R. Hope (2018) Risk factors associated with rural water supply failure: A 30-year retrospective study of handpumps on the south coast of Kenya. Science of the Total Environment 626 (2018) 156-154.

Garrick, D., Hall, J., Dobson, A. et al. (2017) Valuing water for sustainable development. Science 358 (6366); 1003-1005. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao4942.

Foster, T. (2017). A critical mass analysis of community-based financing of water services in rural Kenya. Water Resources and Rural Development 10, 1-13.

Foster, T., and Hope, R. (2017). Evaluating waterpoint sustainability and access implications of revenue collection approaches in rural Kenya. Water Resources Research 53(2), 1473-1490.

Colchester, F. E. , Marais H. G. , Thomson P., Hope, R., Clifton D. A. (2017) Accidental infrastructure for groundwater monitoring in Africa, Environmental Modelling & Software 91 (2017) 241 – 250

Thompson, P. & Koehler J. (2016) Performance-oriented Monitoring for the Water SDG – Challenges, Tensions and Opportunities, Aquatic Procedia 6: 87-95.

Colchester, F.E., Greeff, H., Thomson, P., Hope, R., and Clifton, D.A. (2014). Smart Handpumps: A Preliminary Data Analysis. IET Appropriate Healthcare Technologies (AHT), London, 2014, pp. 1-4.

Theses

Koehler, J. (2019). Water risks and institutional change in Kenya. DPhil thesis. University of Oxford

Katuva, J. (2019). Water and Welfare in Coastal Kenya. DPhil thesis. University of Oxford.

Ferrer, N. (2019). Assessment of a groundwater system under global change scenarios: the case of Kwale (Kenya). PhD thesis. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

Nowicki, S. (2017). Variability in Drinking-water Microbial Contamination Risk: Exploring short-term hazard and exposure dynamics in rural Kwale County, Kenya. MSc thesis. School of Geography and the Environment. University of Oxford.

Jou, S. (2017). Importància I dinàmica de la intrusion marina en aigües subterrànies a la costa de Kwale, Kènia. MSc thesis. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

School resource

The Water Module Student Resource, and Water Module Educator Guide. School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford (2018)

Briefs

• Research Brief: A critical mass analysis of community-based financing of water services SSEE (pdf).
• Research Brief: Risk factors associated with rural water supply failure SSEE (pdf).
• Policy Brief for Kwale County Government: Delivering Water Security and Welfare– 22nd November, 2018. Gro for GooD project.
• Research Brief: Evaluating waterpoint sustainability research brief SSEE (pdf).
• Policy Brief: Poverty Transitions in Kwale County. Jacob Katuva, 2017
• Policy Brief: How has devolution fared in its first term? Responses from Kwale County at the end of the transition period. Johanna Koehler, 2017
• Briefing Note: Distributed Monitoring of Shallow Aquifer Level using Community Handpumps” Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Water Programme, August 2015 Thomson, P. Greef, H., Colchester, F., Hope, R. (Work funded by Oxford University’s John Fell fund).

Newsletters

• Gro for GooD newsletter – June 2018
• Gro for GooD newsletter 1 2017
• Gro for GooD newsletter 2 2016
• Usemi Wetu – Base Titanium quarterly newsletter (2016) Groundwater Risk Management, Issue 14,  July – September 2016
• Gro for GooD newsletter 1 2016

 

Media Coverage

• The Economist: An innovative cure for broken water pumps in Africa (Mar 2017)
• BBC ‘Good Vibration’ hand pumps boost Africa’s water security (Feb 2017)
• Guardian: How do you solve a problem like a broken water pump?
• World Water Day 2016 article on The Guardian by Katherine Purvis, (Mar 2016)

 

Presentations and posters from UPGro and related research

• What is the status of groundwater science in Africa? Presentation by Prof Daniel Olago, University of Nairobi at the REACH Water Security and Poverty Conference, Keble College, Oxford, 27-29 March 2019.
• Presentations from Gro for GooD project final stakeholder workshop. Kwale County, Kenya, November 22nd 2018.
• Illuminating microbial contamination risk: the usability of fluorimetry for rapid groundwater assessment in low-resource contexts. Poster by Saskia Nowicki, Dan Lapworth and Katrina Charles. Ineson Meeting, October 2017.
• Groundwater and Poverty: Evidence from Coastal Kenya. Poster by Jacob Katuva, Johanna Koehler, Patrick Thomson, Tim Foster and Rob Hope. 44^th IAH conference, Dubrovnik, September 2017.
• Presentations at RWSN Seventh Forum “Water for Everyone” Nov-Dec 2016, Abidjan.
  • The FundiFix Model (Susie Goodall) [224]
  • FILM: FundiFix in Kenya (Jacob Katuva) [203]
  • Implementing the right to water – water policy choices with decentralised politics in Kenya (Johanna Koehler)
• Handpump usage changes in response to rainfall. Poster by Patrick Thomson at UNC Water and Health, North Carolina, October 2016.
• Water policy choices in Kenya’s 47 Counties. Presentation by Johanna Koehler (Gro for GooD, work done under ESRC grant), 3^rd Annual Devolution Conference, Meru, Kenya, April 2016
• First step to understand the importance of new deep aquifer pumping regime in groundwater system in a developing country, Kwale, Kenya. Poster by Nuria Ferrer, Albert Folch, Willy Sasaka, Mike Lane, Calvince Wara, Said Banje, Mike Thomas, Dan Olago, Jacob Katuva, Patrick Thomson, Emilio Custodio and Rob Hope. Poster at EGU General Assembly, Vienna, April 2016.
• Keynote 5: Translating research ideas into water security impacts for the poor in rural Kenya. Presentation by R. Hope (Gro for GooD) at the ESRC-DFID Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research conference, Pretoria, South Africa, March 2016.
• Do the poor think they are poor? Presentation by Jacob Katuva (Gro for GooD) at the ESRC-DFID Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research conference, Pretoria, South Africa, March 2016.
• Do close elections benefit the poor? Water policy choices in a decentralised system. Presentation by J. Koehler (Gro for GooD, work done under ESRC grant) at the ESRC-DFID Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research conference, Pretoria, South Africa, March 2016.
• Presenting new insights into the relationship between rainfall and water use using innovative handpump monitoring technology by P. Thomson (presented by R. Hope) (Gro for GooD) at the ESRC-DFID Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research conference, Pretoria, South Africa, March 2016.
• “Financing water infrastructure for sustainable growth” . Presentation by Dr Rob Hope (Gro for GooD), at World Water Week, August 2015.
• Presentations from Gro for GooD project inception workshop (Mar 2015)
• Groundwater risks and institutional responses in Kwale, Kenya. Presentation by Jacob Katuva. RWSN Webinar Mar 2015