UPGro Hidden Crisis: Unraveling current failures for future success in rural groundwater supply in Malawi, Uganda and Ethiopia

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Project period: 01 September 2015   To: 31 August 2019

Project details

The Hidden Crisis project is a 4 year (2015‐19) research project aimed at developing a robust evidence base and understanding of the complex and multi‐faceted causes which underlie the current high failure rates of many new groundwater supplies in Africa, so that future WASH investments can be more sustainable. The project is being undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of established researchers in physical and social sciences from the UK, Ethiopia, Uganda, Malawi and Australia, led by the British Geological Survey. The research is focused to three countries – Ethiopia, Uganda and Malawi – to examine functionality and performance of groundwater supplies in a range of hydrogeological, climatic and social, institutional and governance environments. The work is focused to handpump equipped borehole (HPB) functionality, and the indicators required to assess functionality – HPB’s being the main form of improved water supply in rural Africa.