Academics may call it “self-supply of ground water”; those who benefit from it are more likely to refer to “having their own well”. Either way, it is a crucial part of the water supply to cities in the developing world, and one which is almost entirely absent from official statistics.
Now a new study from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) urges that much more attention should be paid to these wells, on which, it estimates, something like a third of all urban dwellers in Africa, and South and Southeast Asia depend for their water.
“The policy trend is to promote the use of piped water, but as our research shows, large proportions of urban populations are not served and must supply themselves with groundwater from wells,” says the report’s co-author Jenny Grönwall. “Unfortunately most official statistics, including those that measure progress towards the UN Millennium Development Goal on water, fail to acknowledge the value of different kinds of wells.”
The statistics which are available show Liberia as having the heaviest dependence on this kind of well water - 70 percent - not a surprise, since the only large city, Monrovia, always had numerous wells, even before the civil war. When the city’s water supply was destroyed in 1990, in the early days of the war, it was well-water which enabled the people in the city to survive. Even now, despite the reconnection of some areas, pre-war houses in many parts of town still have taps which have produced no water for 20 years.
Perhaps more surprising is that the second most well-dependent country is Nigeria, where 59 percent of urban households use wells as their principal source of drinking water. The rich as well as the poor in Nigeria are likely to have their own wells, and this dependence on well water is growing, having more than doubled between 1999 and 2008. The IIED report said that “on economic grounds alone, it is impossible to explain the rapidly increasing dependence on wells in urban Nigeria.”
However, anyone who knows Lagos, the largest city, is familiar with the erratic nature of its public water supply, and the fact that an aging supply network, leaking sewers, cracked pipes and a high water table have led to frequent contamination. A well or borehole is certainly likely to be more reliable than the public supply, and, if properly dug, its water may not be any worse in quality.
Using groundwater sustainably
In most countries, however, it is the poor who are the most likely to depend on private wells rather than the public water supply. And it is true that in crowded cities pit latrines close to wells can cause contamination.
Development efforts are focussed on trying to get rid of these private wells, even, in some cases, forbidding their use - one reason, said the IIED, that statistics are so hard to come by: Households with a free and convenient source of water inside their compound may prefer not to declare it to their authorities.
The IIED report argues for a less rigid approach. “It is a misconception that sanitation facilities near wells will automatically cause disease and that such wells deserve to be shut down,” said the report’s co-author, Martin Mulenga. “In reality, transmission routes for harmful microbes are much more complex.”
And even if the well water is not of safe drinking quality, just having an affordable, convenient and reliable source of lower quality water for cooking, washing and watering plants contributes to better health.
“Household treatment and good hygiene practices such as hand-washing may still need to be promoted to reduce health risks,” said Mulenga.
“Governments and donor agencies should take steps to enable poor communities to use groundwater in a safe and sustainable way, rather than discouraging their use of this resource.”
Studies in Bangalore, Lusaka
Grönwall and Mulenga did detailed studies of private groundwater supply in two cities, Bangalore and Lusaka. Bangalore, which has grown rapidly in recent years, has an acute shortage of piped water and (unless they live in the same street as a VIP) customers receive water for only a limited period each day, or every other day, or (in poorer areas) much less frequently. The water table is low, so deep boreholes are needed, and those who can afford to drill them sell the water in bulk to middlemen who then resell it in smaller quantities. At 1 or 2 rupees (2-4 US cents) for a 13 litre container, these provide what the report describes as an “expensive but very important service” to poor households. Tests showed, they said, that the quality of Bangalore’s groundwater was slightly substandard. But there is no alternative for most Bangalore residents.
In Lusaka the water table is much closer to the surface and simple hand-dug wells are the norm in the city’s poorer areas. They are easy and cheap to dig, and seldom run dry, but there is a serious problem of contamination from nearby latrines, and cholera outbreaks are frequent.
Lusaka is one of the places where the authorities have at times attempted to stop people using such wells, but residents have merely become more ingenious in concealing them, hiding them under flower beds and the like. If anything, the study found that the number of shallow wells in Lusaka was probably increasing, since poorer people could not afford to pay commercial prices for water.
The conclusion of this report is that these private wells cannot just be ignored. “Although government authorities cannot shy away from having primary responsibility to ensure safe water as a human right,” the authors say, “in practice they will often fall short. The best option is for residents of low-income settlements to develop holistic measures themselves, in order to safeguard the resilience of aquifers, wells, and their own living environment.”
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Now a new study from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) urges that much more attention should be paid to these wells, on which, it estimates, something like a third of all urban dwellers in Africa, and South and Southeast Asia depend for their water.
“The policy trend is to promote the use of piped water, but as our research shows, large proportions of urban populations are not served and must supply themselves with groundwater from wells,” says the report’s co-author Jenny Grönwall. “Unfortunately most official statistics, including those that measure progress towards the UN Millennium Development Goal on water, fail to acknowledge the value of different kinds of wells.”
The statistics which are available show Liberia as having the heaviest dependence on this kind of well water - 70 percent - not a surprise, since the only large city, Monrovia, always had numerous wells, even before the civil war. When the city’s water supply was destroyed in 1990, in the early days of the war, it was well-water which enabled the people in the city to survive. Even now, despite the reconnection of some areas, pre-war houses in many parts of town still have taps which have produced no water for 20 years.
Perhaps more surprising is that the second most well-dependent country is Nigeria, where 59 percent of urban households use wells as their principal source of drinking water. The rich as well as the poor in Nigeria are likely to have their own wells, and this dependence on well water is growing, having more than doubled between 1999 and 2008. The IIED report said that “on economic grounds alone, it is impossible to explain the rapidly increasing dependence on wells in urban Nigeria.”
However, anyone who knows Lagos, the largest city, is familiar with the erratic nature of its public water supply, and the fact that an aging supply network, leaking sewers, cracked pipes and a high water table have led to frequent contamination. A well or borehole is certainly likely to be more reliable than the public supply, and, if properly dug, its water may not be any worse in quality.
Using groundwater sustainably
In most countries, however, it is the poor who are the most likely to depend on private wells rather than the public water supply. And it is true that in crowded cities pit latrines close to wells can cause contamination.
Development efforts are focussed on trying to get rid of these private wells, even, in some cases, forbidding their use - one reason, said the IIED, that statistics are so hard to come by: Households with a free and convenient source of water inside their compound may prefer not to declare it to their authorities.
The IIED report argues for a less rigid approach. “It is a misconception that sanitation facilities near wells will automatically cause disease and that such wells deserve to be shut down,” said the report’s co-author, Martin Mulenga. “In reality, transmission routes for harmful microbes are much more complex.”
And even if the well water is not of safe drinking quality, just having an affordable, convenient and reliable source of lower quality water for cooking, washing and watering plants contributes to better health.
“Household treatment and good hygiene practices such as hand-washing may still need to be promoted to reduce health risks,” said Mulenga.
“Governments and donor agencies should take steps to enable poor communities to use groundwater in a safe and sustainable way, rather than discouraging their use of this resource.”
Studies in Bangalore, Lusaka
Grönwall and Mulenga did detailed studies of private groundwater supply in two cities, Bangalore and Lusaka. Bangalore, which has grown rapidly in recent years, has an acute shortage of piped water and (unless they live in the same street as a VIP) customers receive water for only a limited period each day, or every other day, or (in poorer areas) much less frequently. The water table is low, so deep boreholes are needed, and those who can afford to drill them sell the water in bulk to middlemen who then resell it in smaller quantities. At 1 or 2 rupees (2-4 US cents) for a 13 litre container, these provide what the report describes as an “expensive but very important service” to poor households. Tests showed, they said, that the quality of Bangalore’s groundwater was slightly substandard. But there is no alternative for most Bangalore residents.
In Lusaka the water table is much closer to the surface and simple hand-dug wells are the norm in the city’s poorer areas. They are easy and cheap to dig, and seldom run dry, but there is a serious problem of contamination from nearby latrines, and cholera outbreaks are frequent.
Lusaka is one of the places where the authorities have at times attempted to stop people using such wells, but residents have merely become more ingenious in concealing them, hiding them under flower beds and the like. If anything, the study found that the number of shallow wells in Lusaka was probably increasing, since poorer people could not afford to pay commercial prices for water.
The conclusion of this report is that these private wells cannot just be ignored. “Although government authorities cannot shy away from having primary responsibility to ensure safe water as a human right,” the authors say, “in practice they will often fall short. The best option is for residents of low-income settlements to develop holistic measures themselves, in order to safeguard the resilience of aquifers, wells, and their own living environment.”
eb/cb
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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