Surface Water Analysis

SITUATION ANALYSIS OF GROUNDWATER SUPPLES IN RURAL SIERRA LEONE

Introduction

Water is one of the most vital natural resources for life on our planet. The availability and quality of water always have been key determinants of not only where people can live, but also their quality of life. Even though there always has been plenty of freshwater on Earth, it has not always been available when and where it is needed, nor is it always of suitable quality for all uses.

In Africa, there is inadequate availability of potable water. This is echoed by Mason (1996) who stated that about half of the inhabitants of developing countries do not have access to safe drinking water and 75% have no sanitation, with some of their wastes eventually contaminating

Though rural populations may have access to protected water sources, many continue to rely on unprotected wells, rivers, streams and swamps for cooking, washing and bathing to meet their needs (Cross et al, 2009).

In rural Sierra Leone, wells constitute a significant source of potable water. One of the advantages of using groundwater over surface water as a water source is that being subsurface, groundwater is potentially protected from pollution and in some cases pollutants are filtered in the soil or degrade between their entry into an aquifer and recovery in a well. Groundwater is playing an ever important role for drinking water supplies, particularly in rural areas. In many countries, there has been a switch from using unprotected surface water to protected

Groundwater scarcity and pollution are becoming a major concern in some places. There are regions where groundwater quality is not fit for human consumption due to a high level of arsenic, fluoride, iron or nitrates and there is need for professionalism and vigilance to ensure that infrastructure is built to last, and that borehole provision is cost-effective. Basically, without proper drilling supervision, and quality pumps, universal access to a safe drinking water supply will never be