Sustainable Groundwater Resources in Africa
Water supply and sanitation environment

Empowering people, reducing poverty, improving livelihoods and promoting economic growth, while at the ensuring sustainable ecosystems, requires local, appropriate and widely replicable solutions. In the search for these, poor sanitation and poor water supply are major drivers in cycles of disease, poverty and powerlessness which avoid people in developing nations to escape poverty. Sustainable water supply is not only a matter of groundwater and sanitation-technical solutions, but as much implies tackling major issues concerning hydro-social and public health components. The African continent, has lagged behind other regions in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in water supply and sanitation, and continues to be a much neglected water resource. This volume disseminates investigations and pointers towards achieving sustainable groundwater supplies in challenging local community environments across the African continent. The first part presents the search integrated water, sanitation, hygiene delivery and best implementation practice. The second part, through a variety of case studies, illustrates the current status and pitfalls that hydrogeologists experience and highlights the relevant challenges that especially Sub-Saharan Africa still faces in this battle. The chapters present the current situation, best practices, challenges identified and directions developed by the authors in their advancement towards comprehensive solutions. For anyone involved with the development of water supply and sanitation in developing countries.

I. Best practice guidelines: 1.Water supply and sanitation issues; 2. Groundwater resources ; 3. Framework of best practices; 4. Best practice for groundwater quality protection; 5. Summary and recommendations; II – Case studies: 6. Groundwater dynamics in the East African Rift System; 7. Aquifer vulnerability and water supply of Porto-Novo region (South – East of Benin); 8. Vulnerability of dolomite aquifers in South Africa; 9. A low tech approach to evaluating vulnerability to pollution in sub-saharan aquifers; 10. Groundwater quality against microbiological contamination; 11. Fluoride in African groundwater; 12. Practical methods to reduce iron in groundwater; 13. Investigation of borehole failures – Botswana; 14. Cost-effective boreholes in sub-saharan Africa; 15. Water supply and sanitation in D.R.Congo; 16. Rural water supply and sanitation in Malawi; 17. Community-based groundwater quality monitoring; 18. Charitable endowments for sustainable groundwater.