Catalyst Phase →
Consortium Summary:
Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures) will develop the scientific evidence and inclusive groundwater management processes by which groundwater resources can be used sustainably for poverty alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
It will improve understanding of the volume and renewability of groundwater in SSA, and develop robust models and tools to forecast available groundwater resources under changing climate, land-use and demand scenarios, including expansion of arable land under irrigation.
GroFutures will examine current groundwater governance processes and identify pathways toward more sustainable and equitable use of groundwater resources that are reconciled to projections of changing demand and resource availability. It will assemble an international consortium of scientists with an unmatched track record of groundwater research and stakeholder engagement in SSA that both leverages substantial additional investment and engages with research and development communities across Anglophone and Francophone Africa.
GroFutures will also establish a Network of African Groundwater Observatories that representing the primary groundwater environments and development governance challenges in SSA that features a new dataset of 25 records of groundwater-level observations that are 2 to 6 decades duration from across SSA enabling the most rigorous analysis of the relationships among climate, land-use and groundwater recharge that has ever been conducted in the tropics.
Dedicated basin observatories will be constructed that will enable very detailed monitoring of the physical process by which groundwater is replenished and application of a new method for quantifying the volume of groundwater in African aquifers thereby overcoming fundamental limitations in present knowledge of groundwater in SSA.
GroFutures will also employ an innovative and participatory approach to the management of groundwater which will enable for explicit consideration of the views of poor people in making decisions over the allocation and development of groundwater resources.
RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS
- University College London (UCL), UK – Grant NE/M008932/1
- Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey (AMUN), Niger
- Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia – Grant NE/M008584/1
- British Geological Survey (BGS), UK – Grant NE/M008622/1
- Institut Recherche pour le Developpment (IRD), France – Grant NE/M008576/1
- Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK – Grant NE/M008347/1
- International Water Management Institute (IWMI), South Africa & Global
- Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania – Grant NE/M008592/1
- University of Ngaoundere (UNG), Cameroon
- University of Maiduguri (UMA), Nigeria
- University of Sussex (USX), UK
RESEARCH TEAM
- UCL: Prof. Richard Taylor (PI), Dr Mohammad Shamsudduha
- AAU: Dr Tenalem Tegaye, Ass. Prof. Yohannes Aberra Ayele
- AMUN: Yahaya Nazoumou, Ouassa Tiekoura
- BGS: Prof. Alan MacDonald
- IRD: Dr Guillaume Favreau, Dr Jean-Michel Vouillamoz
- UNG: Dr Benjamin Ngounou Ngatcha
- IDS: Dr John Thompson, Charlie Dobson
- IWMI: Dr Karen Grothe Villholth, Dr Gebrehaweria Gebregziabher
- SUA: Dr Japhet Kashaigili, Devotha Mosha, Prof. Andrew Tarimo
- USX: Prof. Martin Todd
Groundwater in Africa: Voices from the field (video interviews)
- Professor Tenalem Ayenew, Addis Abba University, Ethiopia
- Professor Ibrahim Goni, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria
- Professor Japhet Kashaigili, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
- Dr. Yahaya Nazoumou, Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey, Niger
- Professor Andrew Tarimo, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
Find out more on the GroFutures website
Selected Publications, Abstracts & Presentations:
2019:
- Shamsudduha, M. and Taylor, R.G., 2019. Groundwater storage dynamics in the world’s large aquifer systems from GRACE: uncertainty and role of extreme precipitation. Earth System Dynamics Discussion, doi:10.5194/esd-2019-43.
- Cuthbert, M.O., Taylor, R.G., Favreau, G., Todd, M.C., Shamsudduha, M., Villholth, K.G., MacDonald, A.M., Scanlon, B.R., Kotchoni, D.O.V., Vouillamoz, J.-M., Lawson, F.M.A., Adjomayi, P.A., Kashaigili, J., Seddon, D., Sorensen, J.P.R., Ebrahim, G.Y., Owor, M., Nyenje, P.M., Nazoumou, Y., Goni, I., Ousmane, B.I., Sibanda, T., Ascott, M.J., Macdonald, D.M.J., Agyekum, W., Koussoubé, Y., Wanke, H., Kim, H., Wada, Y., Lo, M.-H., Oki, T., Kukuric, N., 2019. Observed controls on resilience of groundwater to climate variability in sub-Saharan Africa. Nature, 572, 230-234.
- Kolusu, S.R., Shamsudduha, M., Todd, M.C., Taylor, R.G., Seddon, D., Kashaigili, J.J., Ebrahim, G.Y., Cuthbert, M.O., Sorensen, J.P.R., Villholth, K.G., MacDonald, A.M. and MacLeod, D.A., 2019. The El Niño event of 2015–16: Climate anomalies and their impact on groundwater resources in East and Southern Africa. Hydrology and Earth System Science, 23, 1751-1762.
- Ebrahim, G.Y., Villholth, K.G. and Boulos, M., 2019. Integrated hydrogeological modelling of hard-rock semi-arid terrain: supporting sustainable agricultural groundwater use in Hout catchment, Limpopo Province, South Africa, Hydrogeology Journal, 27(3), 965-981.
- Taylor, R.G., Favreau, G., Scanlon, B.R. and Villholth, K.G., 2019. Topical Collection: Determining groundwater sustainability from long-term piezometry in Sub-Saharan Africa. Hydrogeology Journal, 27(2), 443-446.
- Kotchoni, V.D.O., Vouillamoz, J.-M., Lawson, F.M.A, Adjomayi, P., Boukari, M. and Taylor, R.G., 2019. Relationships between rainfall and groundwater recharge in seasonally humid Benin: a comparative analysis of long-term hydrographs in sedimentary and crystalline aquifers. Hydrogeology Journal, 27(2), 447-457.
2018:
- Maurice, L., Taylor, R.G., Tindimugaya, C., MacDonald, A.M., Johnson, P., Kaponda, A., Owor, M., Sanga, H., Bonsor, H.C., Darling, W.G., and Gooddy, D., 2018. Characteristics of high-intensity groundwater abstractions from weathered crystalline bedrock aquifers in East Africa. Hydrogeology Journal, doi:10.1007/s10040-018-1836-9.
- Bonsor, H.C., Shamsudduha, M., Marchmont, B., MacDonald, A.M., and Taylor, R.G., 2018. Seasonal and decadal groundwater changes in African sedimentary aquifers estimated using GRACE products and LSMs. Remote Sensing, 10, 904, doi:10.3390/rs10060904.
- Gudaga, J.L., Kabote, S.J., Tarimo, A.K.P.R, Mosha, D.B. and Kashaigili, J.J., 2018. Effectiveness of groundwater governance structures and institutions in Tanzania. Applied Water Science, 8(77), doi.org/10.1007/s13201-018-0721-y.
- Gudaga, J.L., Kabote, S.J., Tarimo, A.K.P.R, Mosha, D.B. and Kashaigili, J.J., 2018. Groundwater users’ awareness of water institutions in Tanzania: A case study of Mbarali District, Mbeya Region. Journal of African Studies and Development, 10(3), 29-42, doi:10.5897/JASD2017.0485.
2017:
- Shamsudduha, M., Taylor, R. G., Jones, D., Longuevergne, L., Owor, M. and Tindimugaya, C., 2017. Recent changes in terrestrial water storage in the Upper Nile Basin: an evaluation of commonly used gridded GRACE products. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 21, 4533-4549. doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4533-2017.
- Jasechko, S., Perrone, D., Befus, K.M., Bayani Cardenas, M., Ferguson, G., Gleeson, T., Luijendijk, E., McDonnell, J.J., Taylor, R.G., Wada, Y. and Kirchner, J.W., 2017. Global aquifers dominated by fossil groundwaters but wells vulnerable to modern contamination. Nature Geoscience, 10, 425-429. doi:10.1038/NGEO2943.
- Berehanu, B., Ayenew, T. and Azagegn, T., 2017. Challenges of groundwater flow model calibration using MODFLOW in Ethiopia: with particular emphasis to the Upper Awash River Basin. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 5, 50-66. doi:10.4236/gep.2017.53005.
- Damkjaer, S. and Taylor, R., 2017. The measurement of water scarcity: Defining a meaningful indicator. Ambio, doi:10.1007/s13280-017-0912-z.
2016 and earlier:
- Zeitoun, M., Lankford, B., Krueger, T., Forsyth, T., Carter, R., Hoekstra, A.Y., Taylor, R.G., Varish, O., Cleaver, F., Boelens, R., Swatuk, L., Tickner, D., Scott, C.A., Mirumachi, N., and Matthews, N., 2016. Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges. Global Environmental Change, Vol. 39, 143-154.
- Nazoumou, Y., Favreau, G., Adamou, M.M., Maïnassara, I., 2016. La petite irrigation par les eaux souterraines, une solution durable contre la pauvreté et les crises alimentaires au Niger? Cahiers Agricultures, 25, 15003. doi:10.1051/cagri/2016005.
- Jasechko, S. and Taylor, R.G., 2015. Intensive rainfall recharges tropical groundwaters. Environmental Research Letters, 10, 124015. ERL News article, 3 May 2016.
- Taylor, R.G., 2014. When wells run dry. Nature, 516, 179-180.
- Ibrahim, M., Favreau, G., Scanlon, B.R., Seidel, J.L., Coz, M., Demarty, J. and Cappelaere, B., 2014. Long-term increase in diffuse groundwater recharge following expansion of rainfed cultivation in the Sahel, West Africa. Hydrogeology Journal, 22(6), 1293-1305.
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13 responses to “Grofutures: Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa”
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[…] resources recharge and how they may vary as climate and land use change, as part of UPGro’s GroFutures strand. “Part of the media interest surrounding that paper was ‘there might be a lot of […]
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[…] a project known as Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures), a team of 40 scientists from Africa and abroad have teamed up to develop a scientific basis and […]
[…] a project known as Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures), a team of 40 scientists from Africa and abroad have teamed up to develop a scientific basis and […]
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[…] a project known as Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures), a team of 40 scientists from Africa and abroad have teamed up to develop a scientific basis and […]
[…] a project known as Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures), a team of 40 scientists from Africa and abroad have teamed up to develop a scientific basis and […]