Sustainable Groundwater

The project takes an inter-disciplinary approach to understanding groundwater resources availability (renewability and storage) and variability/trends, dependence on the resource for agriculture and related uses, livelihoods and pathways to sustainable use in cooperation with local, national and international partners. It investigates the transboundary issues related to internationally shared aquifers and how joint approaches can build trust and further impetus for cooperation around long-term sustainability and use of the aquifer resources for increased resilience in the face of climate change.

This project supports RAMOTSWA, Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP), and liaises with UN-Water and other global international organisations on issue of sustainable groundwater use. 

Activities under this project include:

Groundwater Futures in SSA Phase 2

GroFutures will apply new geophysical techniques and compile long-term observations of groundwater levels from the Network of Groundwater Obsevatories  (NAGO) to substantially improve knowledge of the renewability and volume of groundwater in Sub-Saharan Africa.

GroFutures will also develop an inclusive, participatory framework for groundwater governance in which the views of poor women and men are considered together with the trade-offs associated with groundwater development pathways.

Resilience in the Limpopo Basin: the Potential Role of the Transboundary Ramotswa Aquifer (RAMOTSWA)

The overall objective of the project is to support a long-term joined vision and cooperation on the shared groundwater resources of the upper Limpopo region where the states potentially share significant and valuable freshwater underground resources as well as space for enhanced water storage. The project will  facilitate joint management and better groundwater governance focused on coordination, scientific knowledge, social redress and environmental sustainability, in order to reduce poverty and inequities and to increase prosperity, livelihoods and food security in face of climate chance and variability.

Understanding Recharge in the Limpopo River Basin (GRECHLIM)

The GRECHLIM project will increase the capacity to assess groundwater resources, and in particular groundwater recharge, among students at the University of the Witwatersrand. It will also contribute to improving methodologies and practices for groundwater assessments and management among the national and local partners responsible for water supply and management in the Limpopo River Basin.

Transboundary Ramotswa Aquifer -II

The overall objective of the RAMOTSWA Project is to support a long-term joint vision and cooperation on the shared groundwater resources of the Limpopo River Basin and build a community of practice around transboundary aquifer management in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region. The project will facilitate joint management and better groundwater governance focused on coordination, scientific knowledge, social redress and environmental sustainability, in order to reduce poverty and inequities and to increase prosperity, livelihoods and food security in the face of current climate variability future climate change.