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Continuing the Dialogue on Groundwater, and a Link to Sanitation

The issues of using groundwater 

There is much uncertainty behind groundwater use and questions of how sustainable the resource is. Taylor et al (2009) mention that there is a large range in the fraction of renewable freshwater resources in Africa that occur as groundwater, from 15% to 51%. Furthermore, the recharge of groundwater mentioned in the previous blog post is dependent upon uncertain events. It is hard to predict the behaviour of ENSO and associated teleconnections (Taylor et al, 2013). Modelling finds the ENSO response to global warming differs strongly from model to model, thus is highly uncertain. Some models simulate an increase in ENSO amplitude, others show a decrease and others virtually no change (Latif & Keenlyside, 2008). Such uncertainty shows the unsuitability of the use of groundwater to tackle food insecurity as this requires consistency and reliability.   

The case of Cotonou in Benin, west Africa

Another issue facing the use of groundwater is contamination. The use of shallow groundwater from the Coastal Quaternary aquifer in Cotonou poses huge issues as users depend on this water for drinking and domestic purposes. In 2013, statistics presented that there were an estimated 166,433 households in Cotonou and 679,012 inhabitants Houéménou et al (2020). This number is likely to be higher eight years later, as Cotonou is a city that faces increasing urbanisation. This will spur the rise of informal settlements and the location of these settlements makes groundwater vulnerable to contamination. 13.5% of the households in Cotonou reported using unsafe and unhygienic practises. Latrine waste contaminates groundwater through increased nitrate concentrations, alongside the chlorine from the untreated coastal groundwater. This groundwater is then used domestically. This shows that even though groundwater is available for communities to use, it is often unsafe, untreated, and unregulated. 

Linking water, food, and sanitation 

Upon reading course materials, I was interested in water and sanitation but did not see how this could fit in with the focus of my blog: water and food. The TED talk by Lindsay Stradley, co-founder of Sanergy, inspired me to explore the relations between water, sanitation, and food. Jewitt’s (2011) article was also hugely interesting and showed that there is very much a relation between these topics. 

It is no surprise that there is a taboo surrounding human excreta. Some of the ‘faecophobic’ Akan in Ghana and Ivory Coast are so afraid of shit that they even refuse to think about it. But why does this have to be the case? Cultural attitudes towards shit are, of course, not static over time and space and a positive example of attitudes towards shit changing is how shit can be used as fertiliser. 

Flush and discharge systems that are often used are unsustainable for many communities in the global South due to their high maintenance costs as well as the stress that it places on water. Using human excreta as fertiliser can increase soil fertility, thus increasing crop yield and food security as well as reduce water stress as it does not consume water intensely as other systems do. Furthermore, it will reduce the contamination of water supplies by diverting waste away from water systems in a managed way. 

Sanergy takes this system-based approach. It builds a dense network of low cost and high-quality toilets in communities. The waste is collected and converted to valuable products, such as agricultural fertiliser. Ecosan systems that contain urine diversion take advantage of the fact that 400-500 litres/year of urine produced by an average adult produces enough plant nutrients to grow 250kg of grain which is enough to feed one person for one year (Jewitt, 2011). 

Ecosan systems are exciting, but they should not be considered as a panacea. There are dangers to imposing solutions that may be inappropriate in different sociocultural settings. For some, defecation practises other than those used in the industrialised North can be considered as inappropriate and humiliating. 




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