AfriWatSan

Dr. Luiza Campos, AfriWatSan co-Investigator from UCL, visited Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) Dakar (Senegal) from 6th to 10th March, 2017. Her visit sought to: (1) identify potential areas of collaborative research on urban, low-cost sanitation provision; (2) understand the sanitation service supply chain and its relation to groundwater resources and public health in Dakar;(3) review equipment needs; and (4) advise on research activities related to sanitation aspects including on-going PhD research under AfriWatSan. Dr. Campos meets UCAD AfriWatSan Team, visits Laboratory of Wastewater Treatment (LATEU), and together with Dr Seydou Niang, runs a seminar with UCAD post-graduate students. Left: Dr Luiza Campos…

From the 21st November and 11th December (2016), the cross-disciplinary (groundwater-sanitation-health) University of Nairobi team conducted water quality analyses in Kisumu in both a densely populated, urban area (Obunga, Manyatta) and a less-densely populated peri-urban area (Kanyakwar).   The team, comprising the PI, two co-PIs, a geophysicist, PhD student, 4 Laboratory technologists, 2 MSc students and a Public Health PhD researcher, conducted rapid tests for (faecal) thermotolerant coliforms as well as hydrochemical analyses using newly acquired HydroLab Quanta water quality monitoring kit and Wagtech potable water quality laboratory (Figs. 1 & 2) and geophysical tests (Vertical Electrical Soundings) to assess depth to bedrock…

From the 28th November to 3rd December (2016) the cross-disciplinary (groundwater-sanitation-health) University of Nairobi AfriWatSanteam surveyed water supply and sanitation conditions in Kisumu in both a densely populated, urban area (Obunga, Manyatta) and a less-densely populated peri-urban area (Kanyakwar).  The team sought to characterize the health status/disease burden of populations living in informal settlements in Kisumu in relation to urban aquifers, water-supply well catchments, and on-sanitation systems. Figure 1: Unprotected Spring In Obunga, the team noted the existence of a range of water sources including piped water supplied by KIWASCO (Kisumu Water and Sewerage Company), individual boreholes (some unprotected) and…

AfriWatSan, supported by the UPGro programme and ESPRC, conducted a pan-African capacity-strengthening and knowledge co-production workshop at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania from the 10th to 12th of February 2017. Fourty (40) participants from 12 countries in Africa took part and analyzed multi-decadal, groundwater-level data (“chronicles”) from 9 countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger, Sénégal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.  Participants comprised PhD students and more experienced researchers (mentors & supervisors) as well as representatives from government ministries and the private sector. Training focused on the application of the water-table fluctuation method for analyzing groundwater-level records and was led by The Chronicles Consortium, an international consortium of scientists…

AfriWatSan held its first team-wide training workshop at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda from 11 to 15 July, 2016. Figure 1: AfriWatSan workshop at Makerere University, Uganda  A key focus of this workshop was the risk posed by on-site sanitation and inadequate community hygiene to the quality of shallow groundwater accessed through wells and springs. Additionally, the workshop provided an opportunity to engage with key stakeholders in Uganda including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Water and Environment, and the private sector. The team was also able to review field research plans including the construction of urban observatories, training needs…

AfriWatSan, a new 5-year research and capacity-strengthening project, which seeks to sustain low-cost, on-site water supplies and sanitation systems in urban Africa, was launched last week in Dakar, Sénégal. The project, funded under Africa Capacity Building Initiative of The Royal Society and UK government’s Department for International Development, is led by Professor Richard Taylor (UCL Geography), and involves scientists from Université Cheikh Anta Diop (Sénégal), University of Nairobi (Kenya) and Makerere University (Uganda). The AfriWatSan project recognises that pursuit of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (6.1 & 6.2), of universal and equitable access to safe water and sanitation in African cities, depends on…