AFRICAN countries need regulatory frameworks review, investment in infrastructure, capacity building and partnerships with key stakeholders to improve groundwater monitoring, a supplier of water related equipment has said.
The Managing Director of Davis & Shirtliff Tanzania, Managing Director, Mr Benjamin Munyao, said that improving groundwater monitoring in Africa will require a combination of regulatory frameworks, investment in infrastructure, capacity building, and partnerships with key stakeholders.
“Countries like Tanzania will for instance need to set standards for the quality and quantity of groundwater and put up frameworks allowing for regular testing and reporting of groundwater conditions,” he said.
The supplier of water and energy-related equipment in the East and Southern Africa region said Tanzania and other countries across Africa are experiencing a rise in groundwater abstraction due to rising population pressure on receding levels of freshwater resources on the impact of climate change.
He has called on the strengthening of infrastructure and increased investment in groundwater monitoring to meet the rising demand for clean and sustainable access to water.
Similarly, more investment in wells, sensors, and other technology that can be used to monitor groundwater resources is key in obtaining and compiling important data for better predictions of the future, especially on how the systems will respond to changing land use and climate change.
“Groundwater monitoring is critical in helping to assess the availability and quality of groundwater resources, which can be important for planning and managing the use of these resources,” Mr Munyao added.
For continuous and remote monitoring, local institutions and communities must be roped in for capacity building and training on the effective use of monitoring tools and managing groundwater resources.
However, the most critical element according to Mr Munyao would be to make groundwater monitoring tools more accessible by making them affordable.
“By regularly monitoring groundwater resources, it is possible to identify areas where extraction is unsustainable and could lead to depletion of the resource.
This information can be used to develop strategies to reduce extraction and protect the resource,” he explained.
Already, Davis & Shirtliff has established a water quality monitoring laboratory that provides affordable water analysis services that can assist in groundwater monitoring.
In addition, the iDayliff IOT service developed by Davis & Shirtliff enables individuals and institutions to collect and analyze water quality data from multiple sites.
The Davis & Shirtliff Group was founded in 1946 and currently headquartered in Kenya with subsidiaries in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, South Sudan, DRC, Zimbabwe and a partnership in Ethiopia.
