Groundwater availability and use in Sub-Saharan Africa: a review of 15 countries

ion from springs nowadays is through two spring boxes: the protection box to protect the water against surface contamination and the collection box to provide storage and ensure that the all the water from the spring is collected. Loose stones are piled up at the back of the spring box to serve as a wall and to prevent the washing away of soil. the spring boxes are often fitted with an overflow pipe and a drain pipe. From the collection chamber water is conveyed either straight to the consumers or to the service reservoir. Most of the spring capping works done in ethiopia are for small rural towns and villages and are executed at the regional level and often by NGOs working in the area. In ethiopia, wells with depth up to 60 m are normally considered as shallow. Shallow depth wells are either hand dug or augers are employed to drill or are bored using rigs. Most hand-dug wells are lined using either stone masonry or pre-cast concrete rings and when used communally it is normally covered and equipped with hand pumps. the abay river basin master plan estimates that 70 percent of the rural community of the basin gets their water GROUNDWATER AVAILABILITY AND USE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: A Review of 15 Countries 35 from hand-dug wells fitted with hand pumps and 20 percent from boreholes with submersible pumps. In rural areas where traditional dug wells are used the main water lifting equipment is the ‘‘rope and bucket’’ system. these types of wells are not well covered and mostly exposed to pollution. In wells constructed by the government and NGOs, the hand-dug wells are properly covered and fitted with hand pumps. the walls of the wells are cased with concrete rings or masonry. For shallower wells (up to a depth of 45m), mostly afridev hand pumps are fitted. For depths up to 80 m, Indian Mark II pumps are installed. these hand pumps are selected because of their simplicity during operation and maintenance. they are usually termed as ‘‘Village Level Maintained and Operated’’ (VLMO) pumps. In most places where the groundwater table is at an average depth of 10 m, privately owned hand dug wells are found. these wells are normally open and are rarely lined and may serve as a sole source of water or a supplementary source to the household. Cost of groundwater development the cost of drilling in ethiopia is very high, owing to limited drilling companies and the high price of machinery and accessories for drilling. hence development of groundwater sector requires a huge financial investment towards appropriate machinery and building capacities to handle them. In some governmental organizations like the amhara Water Works Construction enterprise (aWWCe), the cost of drilling is higher, mainly due to the greater staff numbers and the aged machineries with high maintenance cost. Cost analysis of wells shows that the percentage share of cost based on itemized costs varies from place to place and significantly from country to country. In ethiopia all drilling equipment, including vehicles, casings, fuel, oil, lubricant spare parts, etc., are imported, with the depreciation costs accounting for 33 to 42 percent, and the material costs including fuel, oil, grease accounting for 22 to 25 percent and the labour, overhead, profit margin, and Vat accounts for 33 to 45 percent (aWWCe, 2004). typical costs of groundwater development are shown in table 3.5.