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THE
VULNERABILITY OF AFRICA'S SURFICIAL AND GROUNDWATER AQUIFERS TO URBAN
POLLUTION |
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THE
VULNERABILITY OF AFRICA'S SURFICIAL AND GROUNDWATER AQUIFERS TO URBAN
POLLUTION |
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Six countries of the seven involved in the project regularly presented and disseminated reports on their activities and contributions to the project database. Five countries – Sénégal, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Bénin and Burkina Faso – presented original data of different quality in relation to their specific urban hydrological contexts. One country, Mali, partially implemented its work programme, namely some field activities planned at the meetings of December 2000 and September 2001.
The remaining country, Guinea, submitted no data except for some general maps without any direct connection to the project objectives. After the project initiators decided to exclude Guinea from the project, they invited Ghana to replace it. However, due to the time limit set for the end of the project, the work and activites carried out by the Ghanaian team will be presented in Phase II.
The outputs of the national research teams are presented in Fig 5 for the following zones:
The scientific and technical outputs of the research teams resulted in:
1. A compilation and updating of existing hydrogeological information;
2. Classification of the surveyed urban areas as groundwater sensitive areas, based upon a combination of hydrogeological and pedological criteria;
3. Data on pollution generated by urban developments without efficient or fully operational sewerage systems;
4. Vulnerability Maps for each urban area surveyed;
5. Periodical follow up studies of water quality and controls on its degradation;
6. Establishment of the indisputable links between polluted shallow aquifers and groundwater tapped by boreholes for urban water supplies;
7. Early Warning Bulletins.
The impacts of the results achieved by the network of researchers involved in
the project were:
1. The preliminary identification of an information network for Early Warning Bulletins;
2. The dissemination (to be improved) of information bulletins.
Following the two Early Warning Bulletins issued by each country to date, it is still too early to evaluate the project’s impact on development planners in the cities involved. In the recent past, regulations on environmental conservation have been largely ignored, except in the case of environmental emergencies. For this reason, there remain some grounds for skepticism regarding the project’s likely impact on the ground.