SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES FOR WAWI COUNTRIES

Women in a northern Ghanian village get water from a borehole well fitted with a hand pump.

DRI is not a new participant in the international effort to bring potable water to the African regions of Ghana, Mali, and Niger. In 1991, DRI began a five-year study on behalf of the Hilton Foundation to characterize groundwater sources within the Great Afram Plains of central Ghana and identify possible drilling sites near rural Ghanian villages. Several technologies and data sources were incorporated into GIS technology to produce a groundwater model capable of improving well-siting strategies and minimizing potential for dry wells. Use of this model by World Vision International in the Ghana Rural Water Project—predecessor to WAWI—more than doubled previous drilling success rates in certain areas.

DRI recently completed a groundwater-flow model of the Ngobo River Basin within the Northern Project Area. Historical and current data were integrated in the model with GIS software, and over the coming months, the model will be used to simulate water resource sustainability under various water-use scenarios.

Collecting water from a new borehole for analysis to verify water is safe for human use

Water quality is a critical programmatic component of WAWI objectives and an area of strength that DRI brings to the partnership. The World Health Organization has established water-quality guidelines that must be met before a WAWI-funded water supply can be used by rural villagers. To ensure these guidelines are met, DRI researchers prepared the WAWI Water Chemistry Field Methods Manual, which was released in January 2004 for use by in-country hydrologists and laboratory technicians.

This manual is serving to improve local water-quality analyses by establishing consistent methods and procedures for measuring water levels, collecting and handling samples, and testing water quality. In addition, new protocols have been implemented to verify that water from boreholes is safe before these boreholes are commissioned as viable wells. To assist in the commissioning process, over 1,000 water samples have been analyzed for major ions and trace elements at DRI laboratories in Nevada. The institute also is participating in the re-sampling and analysis of wells emplaced in Ghana under the Ghana Rural Water Project to verify water quality.

DRI is investigating in-country laboratory capabilities for analyzing trace elements and determining where building laboratory capabilities would be beneficial. Inter-laboratory comparisons also are being conducted to verify laboratory data. In addition, Jarvis Ayamsegna, a Ghanian hydrologist, joined DRI research faculty in Reno, Nevada, in 2005 for intensive study and experimentation. Mr. Ayamsegna will take his enhanced skills and knowledge back to his West African country of Ghana in order to build capacity in laboratory techniques and water treatment technologies there. DRI also has begun the process to establish a small laboratory at the World Vision Ghana office to handle sample preparation and conduct fluoride treatment research and bacteriological analyses.

DRI hydrologist, Dr. Jim Thomas, and woman test water samples and record analytical results. DRI trains local hydrologists and volunteers to verify that community drinking water is safe.

Educating community members to maintain their own water supplies is key to WAWI partners. Alan McKay and other DRI team members continue to travel to Ghana, Mali, and Niger to train government personnel, local hydrologists, field staff, and community members in all aspects of maintaining and protecting their water supplies. DRI not only provides water chemistry instruments but also provides the training to operate the instruments, collect samples, measure water levels, record data, and analyze results. In addition, DRI scientists are training water-quality personnel to use geochemical software programs in analyzing water-quality data. DRI is helping to interpret the results from these analyses.

There is an urgent need to synthesize available data into a database system to enable efficient management and utilization of groundwater resources in the three West African countries. To enhance WAWI expansion, k ey hydrogeological and socioeconomic elements must be integrated to balance water and land use with groundwater supplies. DRI is working to construct a portable, h ydrologic database management system for collecting, consolidating, and tracking geophysical and geochemical data, logistical data, and sampling results, pertinent to both individual wells and basin-wide groundwater systems. The database will be useful in determining water-resource policies and practices to ensure long-term sustainability. Software has been developed to catalog and organize the large volumes of data that WAWI partners are collecting. The software will allow data previously collected in differing formats to be transformed automatically and seamlessly into standardized and printable formats where parameters can be selected.

Farmer displays produce harvested from micro-enterprise garden.

DRI is collaborating with another WAWI partner, Winrock International, to help rural inhabitants of Ghana, Mali, and Niger build human capacity and achieve balance between the needs for food and income with sustainable water resources . Winrock International is designing and field-testing small-scale irrigation techniques to enhance gardening and farming both to improve human nutrition and generate income. Where lack of appropriate irrigation technologies and skills has prevented production crops for household use or for sale at local markets, now smallholder irrigation and micro-enterprise activities are enabling farmers to continue producing fruits and vegetables over the dry season, as well as increasing agricultural productivity and opportunities for employment. Thus, living standards for rural people in the WAWI countries are gradually improving. DRI, working closely with Winrock, is monitoring groundwater aquifers and individual wells continuously to determine water levels and extraction rates. By integrating monitoring data with water-use data, management strategies are being employed to protect and maintain water resources.