Abstract
Water insecurity is a growing concern globally, especially for developing countries, where a range of factors including urbanization are putting pressure on water provisioning systems. The role of groundwater and aquifers in buffering the effects of climate variability is increasingly acknowledged, but it can only be fully realized with a more robust understanding of groundwater as a resource, and how use of it and dependency on it differ. Accra and its hinterland exemplify an African city with chronic water shortages, where groundwater resources offer opportunities to improve resilience against recurring droughts and general water insecurity. Based on a mixed-methods study of a peri-urban township, it was found that for end users, particularly poor urban households, resilience is an every-day matter of ensuring access from different sources, for different purposes, while attention to drinking water safety is falling behind. Planners and decision makers should take their cue from how households have developed coping mechanisms by diversifying, and move away from the focus on large infrastructure and centralized water supply solutions. Conjunctive use, managed aquifer recharge, and suitable treatment measures are vital to make groundwater a strategic resource on the urban agenda.
Highlights
Risks to universal drinking water security are accelerating
The resilience concept is only just beginning to be applied to groundwater (Foster and MacDonald 2014), leaving many questions to be explored in terms of what this conceptual lens can mean
This paper aims to put a spotlight on the role of groundwater as a strategic resource, on the one hand for actual coping with inadequate drinking water services, as developed at household level, and on the other hand for a city’s short- and long-term planning to improve resilience to water shortage and periods of drought in the face of urbanization and climate change
Summary
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), a major challenge comprises of negative trends in piped water access on premises in urban areas (Hope and Rouse 2013). In SSA groundwater is the major source of drinking water and has an important role in improving health and sustaining urban livelihoods (Adelana et al 2008; MacDonald et al 2012). Interest in the role of groundwater has grown rapidly recently, but management of it has not featured strongly in national and regional African water agendas (Braune and Xu 2010), despite it being a critical underlying resource for human survival and economic development in extensive drought-prone areas across SSA, including for urban water supply (Foster et al 2012). The resilience concept is only just beginning to be applied to groundwater (Foster and MacDonald 2014), leaving many questions to be explored in terms of what this conceptual lens can mean
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