By Duncan Mboyah
Kenyan climate change researchers call for regional monitoring and protection of surface and groundwater quality in Eastern Africa.
The researchers say that water in arid and semi-arid areas can only be managed well through continuous monitoring in order to secure groundwater resources and their safety.
Prof. Daniel Olago, Chairman, Department of Earth and Climate Sciences at the University of Nairobi (UoN) observed that surface and groundwater resources in the region are currently under risks and uncertainties that are posed by climate change in dryland areas.
“Surface and groundwater is a critical resource for buffering climatic and other risks to future water supplies, particularly in arid and semi-arid lands and immediate interventions have to be undertaken by the regional countries,” Prof. Olago told journalists during the launch of a study, water security in dry lands in light of climate change in Nairobi.
Prof. Olago said that all the countries in the region need to have sustainable management of surface and groundwater resources to keep consumers safe from contracting diseases as well.
The countries, he added, should put measures in place to ensure that there are safe and affordable water supplies while balancing demand and supply, fuelling economic growth and subsequent poverty reduction.
Prof. Olago who is also the principal investigator REACH Kenya urged the countries to invest in groundwater studies to secure water supplies that are under threat from climate change.
REACH is a research program being conducted by the University of Oxford in collaboration with the University of Nairobi through the Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCA).
The program aims to answer the overarching question of how water security can be achieved sustainably at different scales in varying geographic environments for the benefit of the poor, focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Prof. Olago said that studies conducted under the REACH program in Turkana in northwestern Kenya, bordering Uganda and Ethiopia, show that the regional aquifer requires protection.
The professor of geology observed that the aquifer in Lodwar town in Turkana is estimated to hold 1.3 billion cubic metres of renewable and potable freshwater.
Prof. Olago said that the findings of the study have been shared with the African Ministerial Council of Water (AMCOW) to provide an opportunity for future comparative studies with other dry lands in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.
Prof. Gilbert Ouma, a Lecturer at the University of Nairobi Department of Earth and Climate Sciences said that the study provides strategies for planning and implementation of early migration measures of foreseen human and climate risks to groundwater resources.
Prof. Ouma said that groundwater systems and their recharge catchments must be protected for climate resilience and water security.
The study that was done in 2017 – 2022 found that Lodwar aquifer is significantly contributing to the design of aquifer monitoring and management in the ongoing Horn of Africa’s groundwater and climate resilience programs.
The aquifer is recharged by the Turkwel River but the water quality and quantity is influenced by local events, as well as events taking place in the extensive upstream catchment areas of the river.
It reveals that high climate variability, rising water demand, and land use conversion to irrigated crops are the key stressors of the aquifer making it highly vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic pollution.
The study finds that the quality of water from boreholes and hand pumps in the Lodwar aquifers deteriorates during the wet seasons.
The study attributes the condition to the continuous flushing of pollutants into the groundwater system by recharging water from the river and through piston recharge from the ground surface in the case of the shallow aquifer.
The university under REACH project has carried out comprehensive hydrogeological studies to characterize the aquifer and lay the basis for its sustainable management.
The study establishes science practitioner partnerships with the government, private sector and civil society stakeholders in long-term interdisciplinary observatories to understand and influence the most significant but uncertain risks.
