Discussion on ‘An investigation of the basement complex aquifer system in Lofa county, Liberia, for the purpose of siting boreholes’ Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology , Vol. 47, 2014, pp. 159–167

Abstract

The Authors (Elster et al. 2014) raise the important issue of knowledge loss contributing to the difficulty of effective borehole siting for water supplies in Liberia and are to be commended for publishing their investigations leading to verification of the standard conceptual model of basement complex weathering in Lofa county. It is unfortunate that the Authors probably have no awareness of the DANIDA funded project in Maryland county, Liberia carried out in 1986/1987 before the civil war. A team of staff were trained by us to use ABEM resistivity equipment for traversing with Schlumberger spreads to locate fractures in basement complex rocks for village water supplies although the actual drilling work took place in a later phase. Where knowledge loss is a likely issue, as in Liberia. an important step would be to contact aid agencies and non-governmental organizations other than the immediate project sponsors …