Aquifer Plenary

1. GEF International Waters Science Conference 2012
Bangkok, Thailand – 24 to 26 September 2012
Transboundary aquifers management :
How can science help?
Prof. Cheikh B. Gaye, UCAD, Senegal

2. Groundwater stored
= Water resources
inherited from the
past millennia
Groundwater: an important
part of the Water Cycle

3. Groundwater…the “hidden”
resource
Aquifers have differences with respect
to their hydrogeological setting.
Underground reservoir (rocks) and
transmitted through interconnected spaces

4. Storage capacity
(storage coefficient
or specific yield)
Transfer capacity
(transmissivity)
•Physical and
chemical interaction
capacity (reservoir-
rock vs GW)
Aquifers main functions

5. • Hard rock or soft rock terrain?
Availability of groundwater
and also its primary
natural quality is largely
dependent on geology.
Groundwater occurrence in
Africa

6. Shared aquifer systems of the
World and GEF projects
Guarani aquifer
Latin America Africa

7. Major findings of the
Groundwater WG
• Science has played an important role,
particularly the hydrological sciences.
• Science has provided understanding of
water occurrence in most of the projects,
great benefits and opportunities but also
carries a warning
• Not all sciences involved

8. Scientific outcomes and impacts
Scientists side
• Scientific target audiences are primarily other scientists.
• Poor communication skills
• Lack of follow through to extract the applied significance of
results
• Short term projects with no responsibility for follow up.
• No clear engagement between scientists and user
community and capacity building elements are not
incorporated into projects

9. • Lack of openness in objectives and beneficiaries, as
regards especially benefits to poorer members of society
• Time limited projects may not fully account for scientific
knowledge in the target/subject areas
• Results are usually confidential and whilst performed to
internationally agreed standards and quality assurance,
may not be available to wider scrutiny
• Results end up as grey documents and are seldom
published in peer reviewed literature
• Data may be seen as confidential, withheld or unavailable
and does not contribute to sum total of knowledge for the
recipient countries
• Policy makers are not at the hauteur
Scientific outcomes and impacts
Donors and decision makers side

10. How can science help ?
• Enhance scientific knowledge through data gathering and
understanding of the functioning of the aquifer systems
• Fill the gap between discovery and application, science and
practitioner, know-how and end-user
• Ensure holistic approaches involving not only the physical
aspects of groundwater systems, but also the management
processes in terms of water shares for the different users
including the ecosystem and potential impacts (quality and
quantity ) on the neighbouring countries sharing the
resources.

11. Thank you
www.iwlearn.net/iwsc2012