Owor, M;
Okullo, J;
Fallas, H;
MacDonald, AM;
Taylor, R;
MacAllister, DJ;
(2022)
Permeability of the weathered bedrock aquifers in Uganda: evidence from a large pumping-test dataset and its implications for rural water supply.
Hydrogeology Journal
, 30
pp. 2223-2235.
10.1007/s10040-022-02534-0.
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Abstract
Weathered crystalline-rock aquifers underlie around 40% of sub-Saharan Africa providing water supplies for half of its rural population; they are also prevalent across the tropics. The hydrogeology of these aquifers is complex and better understanding of the controls to aquifer transmissivity, alongside accurate borehole siting and appropriate design, is pivotal to the long-term performance and sustainability of water services in many countries. This study examines a substantial new dataset (n = 655) of aquifer transmissivity values across Uganda derived from previously unanalyzed pumping-test data. These data provide important new insights: weathered crystalline-rock aquifers are distinguished by pervasively low transmissivities (median <2 m2/d) in comparison to other areas in the tropics; highest transmissivities are observed in boreholes <50 m deep, implying that drilling deeper boreholes does not typically improve supply success or sustainability in Uganda; and increased groundwater abstraction through the use of higher-yielding pump technologies will prove challenging in most areas of Uganda and limit their use for piped water supplies. This study highlights the scientific value of data held in drillers’ records, which remain unanalyzed in many countries but may provide useful insight and understanding of aquifer characteristics.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Permeability of the weathered bedrock aquifers in Uganda: evidence from a large pumping-test dataset and its implications for rural water supply |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10040-022-02534-0 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-022-02534-0 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Groundwater development · Weathered bedrock aquifers · Crystalline rocks · Permeability · Uganda |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10158859 |
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