1. Large-scale Groundwater Modelling in Africa and other Data Sparse Regions
Charles West, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol

2. Current groundwater use in Africa is poorly managed
Groundwater is a major component of available freshwater in Africa.
It has become increasingly important for ensuring water security and enabling economic development.
However, groundwater management in this region is often ignored.
This is important to ensure sustainable groundwater use going forwards.
One reason for this problem is the lack of adequate large scale modeling tools
Intro using numbers on the slide
Practical questions to answer
How deep is the groundwater
Are aquifer yields good?
Where is it? Is it available in regions with surface water shortages?
How does availability vary seasonally and with climate change.
Can abstraction be sustained?
Ultimately, groundwater could be a valuable resource for arid (The Sahara) and semi-arid regions (Sub-Saharan Sahel, Eastern and Southern Africa) of Africa, especially as surface water schemes become more challenging to manage with climate change, however better tools to assess its potential and sustainability are still required.
Objectives
Imporved represtnation- physical meaning without becoming over-parameterized. Move away from conceptual bucket thinking.
MacDonald et al (2012). doi: / /7/2/024009

3. Current models are inadequate for this task
Problem with catchment models
Problems with large scale models
Frisbee et al (2011). doi: /2010WR009391
Doll & Fiedler (2008). Long term average groundwater recharge (mm/yr). Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 12, 863–885

4. My project has 3 objectives
Possible due to new datasets
To improve the representation of groundwater in large-scale models.
To assess the availability of groundwater resources in African regions which are most likely to turn to groundwater use.
To assess the sustainability of groundwater when faced against climate change and potential demand increases
Intro using numbers on the slide
Practical questions to answer
How deep is the groundwater
Are aquifer yields good?
Where is it? Is it available in regions with surface water shortages?
How does availability vary seasonally and with climate change.
Can abstraction be sustained?
Ultimately, groundwater could be a valuable resource for arid (The Sahara) and semi-arid regions (Sub-Saharan Sahel, Eastern and Southern Africa) of Africa, especially as surface water schemes become more challenging to manage with climate change, however better tools to assess its potential and sustainability are still required.
Objectives
Imporved represtnation- physical meaning without becoming over-parameterized. Move away from conceptual bucket thinking.
Gleeson et al (2014). doi: / 2014GL
Groundwater level data is still sparse