PowerPoint presentation made at the 1st African Water Symposium, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 19-21 June 2013.

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Water for a food-secure world
Transboundary aquifer mapping and management in Africa:
a harmonised approach
Yvan Altchenko
& Karen G. Villholth
1st African Water Symposium
Bloemfontein, 19-21 June 2013

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Water for a food-secure world
Groundwater resources in Africa
• Total groundwater storage in Africa is
0.66 million km3 (0.36–1.75 million
km3)
• Not all is available for abstraction
• BUT the estimated volume is more
than 100 times estimates of annual
renewable freshwater (MacDonald et
al., 2012)
(MacDonald et al., 2012)
• 75 % of the African population depend on groundwater for basic water supply (UNECA et
al., 2000)
• Groundwater demands are set to increase in the future with:
• Population increase
• Climate change
• Need to combat growing food insecurity

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Water for a food-secure world
• Impacts of groudwater (GW) development and use in one state may affect another
• Water and land use development in one state may affect GW resources in another
• GW impacts across borders may not be obvious without joint monitoring
• Equitable, informed, and mutually agreed development of GW and land use can prevent
tension
• Costs, results, and benefits of monitoring can be shared
• Many transboundary terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are GW-dependent and cannot be
properly managed without knowledge on the GW resources
• Surface Water (SW) issues involve, or even have root in, GW related activities and impacts
• General collaboration and goodwill can be enhanced
• Equitable and informed GW development and management has a lot to do with achieving
MDGs, poverty alleviation, food security, climate change adaptation, and drought
mitigation
Why focus on groundwater management in a transboundary sense?

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Water for a food-secure world
What is a Transboundary Aquifer (TBA)?
Where to find TBAs?
(UNESCO/ISARM, 2001)
A transboundary aquifer or a transboundary aquifer system (TBA) is defined as “an
aquifer or aquifer system, parts of which are situated in different States” (UN
International Law Commission - UNILC)
DEFINITION
BUT
in practical identification and verification of a TBA, the spatial delimitation, hydrogeological
similarity, recharge and discharge mechanisms and zones, and significant hydraulic
connectivity between the national compartments of the TBA are important and should be
established and agreed upon between aquifer-sharing states.

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Water for a food-secure world
Evolution of the number of identifiec TBAs in Africa
WHYMAP(2006) IGRAC (2009) IGRAC (2012)

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A new nomenclature proposed
based on 3 regional zones and most prominent development communities

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Water for a food-secure world
 80 transboundary aquifers
 42 % of area of Africa
 30 % of African population
 63 international river/lake
basins
 21 international water
basin organisations
The TBA map of
Africa

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Water for a food-secure world
TBA information table

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Water for a food-secure world
TBA management
• Transboundary water resources management has been totally dominated by a surface water
focus, practically ignoring the interconnections with surface water
• Data on TBAs reside in national institutions, transboundary River/Lake Basin Organisations
(R/LBOs) and other international organisations i.e. IGRAC
• Presently, there are two options for adopting groundwater into international agreements on
water cooperation:
• The 1997 United Nations Water Courses Convention (UNWCC), which defines GW as a
physical extension of surface water body within the watercourse spatial domain
BUT groundwater boundaries don’t necessary match with river basin boundary
• The 19 drafts articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers presented in 2008
BUT still not adopted by the UN General Assembly which promotes bilateral or regional
agreement between the countries in the interim i.e. Guarani Aquifer in S. America
• African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) promotes TBA management by R/LBOs

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Water for a food-secure world
International basins
TBAs
TBA management by River/Lake Basin Organisations (R/LBOs) ?
• Argument for:
Their present integral role as
custodians for shared river
and lake basin resources
• Counterargument:
• Poor human capacity,
financing and authority
• The geographical location
of the TBAs doesn’t
necessary match with the
spatial mandate of the
R/LBOs

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Water for a food-secure world
• Three international agreements with explicit focus on groundwater:
• Nubian Sandstone aquifer system (AFNE12) from 2000
• North Western Sahara aquifer system (AFNE16) from 2002
• Irhazer – Iullemeden (AFWC15) from 2009
• R/LBOs with high focus on groundwater
• Orange-Senqu River Basin
• Lake Victoria Basin
• Lake Chad
• SADC is taking a frontrunner position in TBA management:
• Protocol on Shared Watercourses revised in 2000 and hinges on the UNWCC
• Regional Strategic Action Plan III (2011-2015) for integrated water resources
management explicitly addressing TBA management
• Work in process on identifying “troublesome” TBAs in order to prioritise support and
pilote solutions
TBAs management in Africa

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Water for a food-secure world
• TBA identification and delineation is an on-going process
• TBA management is expected to raise the profile of neglected local/national GW resources
management, especially in low development countries
• TBAs management can reduce future conflicts linked with groundwater abstraction and land
use development
• BUT there is a need to:
• understand flow processes and interactions with surface water
• develop collaboration and knowledge sharing between the riparian countries
• reformulate and adapt the legal basis of R/LBOs to include explicit mentioning of GW
(not as a new and separate domain)
• design flexible and hybrid institutional models built on the present customary approach
of making the R/LBOs responsible
Conclusions

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Water for a food-secure world
Altchenko Y. and K.G. Villholth (2013 – in press) Transboundary aquifer mapping and management in
Africa: a harmonised approach , Hydrogeological J., DOI: 10.1007/s10040-013-1002-3.
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), African Union (AU), and African Development
Bank (AfDB) (2000) The Africa Water Vision for 2025: Equitable and Sustainable Use of Water for
Socioeconomic Development. 28 pp.
MacDonald A., H. Bonsor, B. Dochartaigh and R. Taylor (2012) Quantitative maps of groundwater
resources in Africa, Environ. Res.. Lett., 7. DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024009
World-wide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Programme (WHYMAP) (2006) Groundwater
resources of the world - Transboundary aquifer systems. BGR/ UNESCO.
International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) (2009) Transboundary aquifers of the
world – update 2009. Special Edition for 5th World Water Forum, Istanbul, Turkey, March 2009 (Ed.
Kukuric N.)
International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) (2012) Transboundary aquifers of the
world – update 2012. Special Edition for 6th World Water Forum, Marseille, France, March 2012 (Ed.
Kukuric N)
References

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Water for a food-secure world
THANK YOU

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Water for a food-secure world
• 2000: UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Scientific Cooperative Programme in Hydrology and
Water Resources launched the ISARM Project (International Shared Aquifer Resources
Management) which published in 2004 the first Africa-wide TBA map
• 2000: SADC adopted Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses
• 2007: AMCOW at its 6th Session in Brazzaville states the aim to ‘promote the
institutionalisation of GW management by river basin organisations
• 2008: 19 draft articles of the UNILC Law of Transboundary Aquifers, still in process for
adoption by the UN General Assembly
History of TBAs in Africa