Groundwater Monitoring in Somalia

 Our Roadmap to Impact: World Vision's 2021-2025 Global WASH Business Plan  sets forth World Vision's strategy and commitments for the coming five years in support of Sustainable Development Goal 6—clean water and sanitation for all. Offering a bold vision for our work in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector, Our Roadmap to Impact describes how World Vision will advance our mission to bring transformative WASH services to every community we serve across more then 40 countries. This strategy lays out four core programming areas: Water Supply; Sanitation and Hygiene; Governance and Finance; and Water Security and Resilience. The following StoryMap focuses on the final area—Water Security and Resilience—and, more specifically, the fundamental role of groundwater monitoring and management in sustaining access to clean water for the world's most vulnerable communities.

The theme of the  United Nation's World Water Day for 2022 —"Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible"—serves as a timely reminder of the crisis beneath our feet. The confluence of multiple factors—including watershed degradation, climate change, and unsustainable rates of aquifer pumping—means that precious groundwater resources are under threat in many countries around the world. Indeed, while groundwater represents the primary source of clean water for billions of people, groundwater levels continue to plummet as aquifer withdrawals exceed replenishment. As noted by  J. S. Famiglietti  at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "most of the major aquifers in the world's arid and semi-arid zones, that is, in the dry parts of the world that rely most heavily on groundwater, are experiencing rapid rates of groundwater depletion". In other words, what UN Water refers to as the "hidden treasure" that is groundwater, is in a state of peril. Notably, the multitude of risks that threaten the sustainability of groundwater resources is further exacerbated by a broader lack of information on the quantity, quality, and use of those resources.

Out of sight, under our feet, groundwater is a hidden treasure that enriches our lives. In the driest parts of the world, it may be the only water people have. ~UN Water, 2022~

At World Vision, we strive to bring clean water to the marginalized, working in partnership with communities, governments, and civil society. Groundwater resources are vital to this mission. As an organization, we therefore endeavor to embrace and promote responsible stewardship of these critical, life-sustaining water resources. Notably, such stewardship requires the collection, analysis, sharing, and use of timely and accurate hydrological and meteorological (or "hydro-met") data. Let's visit the Horn of Africa to learn how World Vision Somalia is supporting real-time monitoring of the hidden treasure of groundwater.

Operating in Somalia since 1992, World Vision currently works in all the regions of the country to help vulnerable children, families, and communities overcome poverty and injustice, promoting development and resilience. Our approach cuts across multiple sectors, including food security and livelihoods, health and nutrition, and WASH. Importantly, the protection of vulnerable communities requires the protection of the vulnerable resources on which those communities depend. Thus, new wells and water reservoirs are only part of the resilience story—access to better hydro-met data is also required to help safeguard these infrastructure investments. Obtaining an in-depth understanding of the status of Somalia's groundwater resources has been made all the more urgent as  the Horn of Africa continues to suffer from sustained drought  following three successive seasons of failed rains.

In partnership with  Grand Challenges Canada , the  Response Innovation Lab , and  World Vision Canada , the World Vision Somalia WASH Team recently launched the Integrated Water Point Monitoring Systems for Vulnerable Populations in Somalia Project. Recognizing the heightened need for timely hydro-met data accompanied by the steep cost of manual data collection in remote areas, the World Vision Team began deployment a network of groundwater sensors and weather stations that, through 3G mobile network transmission, provide real-time data on the groundwater resources on which so many Somalis depend. Specifically, the sensors collect five key types of water data: groundwater level, water temperature, electrical conductivity, salinity, and total dissolved solids. Taken together, the sensor data provides a robust picture of both groundwater quantity and quality.

The following map introduces the locations of the nine groundwater sensors installed by World Vision Somalia to date while also providing a brief overview of the hydrological context of Somalia.

The above quote from Engineer Mohamed Abdirahman Ahmed—the Director of the Water Department at the Puntland Water Development Agency—summarizes the urgency of the water crisis in northern Somalia. Eng. Ahmed's statement also captures why an in-depth understanding of the quantity and quality of groundwater resources in the drought-prone regions of Somalia is so vital. Water is life, and the dangerous combination of plummeting groundwater levels and rising salinity puts the well-being of the Somali people of Puntland at risk. To hear more from Eng. Ahmed and the experts from World Vision Somalia and the Response Innovation Lab, click on the video below highlighting the water challenges faced in Somalia and how real-time monitoring efforts play a fundamental role in overcoming these challenges.

Building on the success of the nine-sensor pilot, World Vision Somalia is now partnering with  World Vision US  to expand the network of sensors, setting up a comprehensive system of hydro-met stations to support integrated water resources management efforts in four of the seven states of Somalia. This network will include 18 additional hydro-met stations, which will be positioned to gather data from all known aquifers within each state, thus helping to monitor localized aquifer hydrological responses to the increasingly erratic rains as well as the related impacts on larger, regional groundwater systems.

Throughout the next phase, World Vision will continue to work closely with the Somali Government to ensure that the resulting data is both used and useful for decision-makers—specifically the state governments of Somaliland, Puntland, Jubaland and South West accompanied by the Federal Ministry of Energy and Water Resources—as they seek to better manage groundwater resources in the face of persistent periods of drought (such as those pictured above and at right). World Vision is also coordinating with the  Somalia Water and Land Information Management (SWALIM)  to maximize the availability and application of the data generated by the expanding network of groundwater sensors. Only through the collective action of all stakeholders—communities, government, and international organizations—can we both protect and sustain the hidden treasure that is our groundwater resources.