Is it possible to effectively manage transboundary aquifers?

Hello! Today’s post will look at the cooperation on Africa’s transboundary groundwater resources and aquifers. 

‘Many of Africa’s groundwater resources are stored in approximately 40 transboundary aquifer systems’ (Scheumann & Alker, 2009).  Groundwater resources in the past may have been conventionally only used for minimal water use but as the demand for water increases the need for better transboundary aquifer management also increases (Altchenko and Villholth, 2013). There is also increasing shortages and changing quality seen in surface water, thus many turn to groundwater resources to keep up with demands from a rapidly growing population and to keep the agricultural sector afloat in Africa. However, this has led to the over-pumping of these aquifers which mean possibilities of some countries not having enough water available for themselves and risks of conflicts arising between these transboundary countries (Hayton and Utton, 1989). 

Locals in Africa measuring vibrations from handpumps to work out the depth of groundwater

Scheumann and Alker (2009) in their paper explain that cooperation on Africa’s rivers and lakes that cross through several borders are more well-managed than on Africa’s transboundary aquifer systems, which says a lot since with the example of the Nile Basin in my previous blogposts we have seen how cooperation on that transboundary river basin has created its own share of problems. The added negative impact of trying to share out and manage groundwater resources is that the risk of overexploitation and over-extraction are not easily realised in groundwater resources as they are on surface water resources. The nature of trying to cooperate and manage groundwater resources also means that there are many complicated issues and uncertainties associated with time lags of recharge areas, the different characteristics of discharge and flow and the quality of water being affected by pollution (Scheumann and Alker, 2009). Further, it wasn’t until 2004 when the first transboundary aquifer in Africa was identified and mapped, before that knowledge on where these transboundary aquifers were located was very limited (Altchenko and Villholth, 2013). This of course made the management of such groundwater aquifers even more difficult, but with a better sense of where these aquifers are located today, it should not be as difficult to manage such resources now. However, even if governments are now equipped with better planning and monitoring systems, there are other problems such as the impossible nature to accurately measure the amount of water each country is utilising and if it the right amount in terms of avoiding over-exploitation (Scheumann and Alker, 2009). 

It’s vital that aquifers, rivers and lakes in Africa are all effectively managed not only to guarantee water security for all those that need it but also for the long-term sustainable development as a continent (Altchenko and Villholth, 2013). However, the question remains whether it is ever possible for Africa to reach a stage where it can effectively manage and cooperate on groundwater resources. Groundwater aquifers just constrained within one country has challenges itself in terms of extraction and overexploitation, groundwater aquifers that transcend several borders makes these challenges even more difficult to overcome. There’s also an issue to consider on who should be responsible for the management of such groundwater resources, again the politics surrounding such issues can be much disputed, but the best approach is one that is a blended mix of both top down and bottom-up approaches. Governments and institutions will need to make an effort and leverage their resources to provide countries with information on the mapping of aquifers and monitoring systems equally, and then allow local participatory development schemes to manage and find a solution amongst themselves, with stakeholders overseeing this (Altchenko and Villholth, 2013).  Of course we cannot rely on hydropolitics being universally same across all transboundary countries in Africa, and will need to accept that the relationships between each country vary, and this will first need to be considered before coming to a solution that works for all (Giordano et al, 2003).