Project Report on Visit to Zambia to Rapidly Assess Groundwater Development Issues in the Sia Vonga Region (October 1999)
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British Geological Survey DFID Overseas Geology Series PROJECT REPORT ON VISIT TO ZAMBIA TO RAPIDLY ASSESS GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT ISSUES IN THE SIA VONGA REGION (OCTOBER 1999) J Davies and B 6 Dochanaigh Briti sh Geological Survey, Hydrogeology Group InlemalionaI Di" i'i<m Rritish Geologl<al Sw".y K.}'wooh Nouingh.m UnilCd Kingd<lm NGI! 5GG DFID Bri tish Geological Survey Overseas Geology Series PROJECT REPORT ON VISIT TO ZAMBIA TO RAPIDLY ASSESS GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT ISSUES IN THE SIA VONGA REGION (OCTOBER 1999) J Davi es and B 6 Dochanaigh Thi s document is an output from a project funded by the Department for International D<:vclopment (DAD) for the benefit of developing countries The views e ~ pressed are not necessarily those of the OFlD. Df'1n cI""lfv:atw"_ Subsecto<: Pmj«! Title; Grwnd"'''<r from 10'" porm<>bility rock< in Af~" ProJ<d ",f<reDC<: RJ3~3 IJ.b!w8'"f'1t;c ~J''''''-'' .. Dui.., J ~ Dd lJocb . rtai~b . R () 1'199. PmJ<d "'po<! on ",H to ZarM,. to 'If'LdJ y .,,,,,,, groundW2lOr de><iop"""' ' ..LIeS In .he S, ..' ""!!. R<J!,ion © NERC 1999 Keywonh, Nottingham. British GeQlogical Survey. 1999 Contents I. Introduction 2. Summary 3 Background Information on Siavonga Distrid 3 4. Groundwater Availability 13 5. Current Practice - Methods and Approaches " 6. Available Information alld Data Collection 18 7. I'roject Actions IS •• Funher (non-project) !J;,ues References 20 Acknowlcdgcmems 20 Annex A Introduction 10 the project 21 Anne~ B Iti nerary 23 Annex C People met and OI!Jt:r contacts Annex D Simplified ground water development map and summary table for the OjulObi area, Nigeria Annex E Maps and report collected during visit 29 Anne~ F Geology maps and memoirs he ld al 8GS library. Keywonh 30 List of Figur... Figure I Siavonga Dimicl Localion Map Figure 2 Geomorphological Map of the Siavonga District Figure 3 Geological map of the Siavonga District U st ofTa!>l "" Table I Tonga Farm Annual Calendar (from Reynolds and Cousins, 1991) Table 2 Tonga Calendar of Droughts (from Rcynolds and Cousins, 1991) Tahle 3 The StJaligra phic Sequence in Sia,'onga Distri ct List of Plates Platc I Highly folded Arche:tn schistic gneiss exposed north of Siavonga Plate 2 Well-bedded and jointed Precambrian IJJeta-sandstone exposed north of Siavonga l'late 3 Compact dune bedded fine -grained sandstone within lhe Lower Karoo Madumabisa Formation south CaSt of the main escarpment Plate 4 Bimodal conglomerale with a gritty coarse sand matrix within the E",arpment Grit Formation, at the main ""''''l'ment along the Chirundu - Kafue road, Platc 5 Large pieces of fossilised wood at the junction of the Escarpment Grit and the Red (Forest) Sandstone Formations at the Chirundu - Siavonga road junction. Plate 6 Fine grained aeolian sands of the Red Sandstone Formation exposed in the bank of the Lusitu R i,'er, Lusitu Platc 7 Thin basalt layers of the Batoka Basall Formation capping hi lls nonh of Chirundu Plalc 8 The ephemeral Lusitu sand river at Lus itu. The sands contain substantial quantities of water that is abSII1lCled via small depressions excavated inlO the sand surface. Plale 9 Near vertical quartz dyke inlruded inlo ?recambrian mela-S<!dinJents, north of Sia,'onga Plale JO Deeply w~ al bercd Prccambrian rnela-sedirnents along a faull 7.onc within a road culling ~~cavated along the fault. north of Siavonga Plalc II Li"CSIOC ~ being watered at borehole 2. Lusitu. A poI ~ ntial source of contamination Plate 12 Borehole 12 equipped with an India M ~ lJ hand pump. Note the broken sanit.ary slab and remna nt S of the fence. Livesloc ~ are encouraged to d ri n~ water at the wel l head forming a source of groundwatercontamination, ii List of /\ bbre\';alioDS BGS British Geological Survey DHD Depanment for International Deyelopment D·WASHE District Water Supply. Sanitation and Health Education EU European Union GIS Geographic information system GI'S Ground positioning system HeA Japanese International Co-ofl"'ralion Agency K,R Knowledge and R=arch NGO Non Go"emlOOmai Organisation ODA O,'crscas Development Administration WHO World Health Organisation '" Technical glossary Aquifer - A rock formation that contains sum,ient groundwater to he useful for water supply Borehole- A cylindrical hole, usuall)' greater than 20 m deep and 100 mm in diamctcr constructed by a drilling rig to allow groundwater to he abstracted from an aquifer_ NO(e: American use of the term 'wcll' to mean boil, borcholes and shallow wells_ Geophysia _ Tcdmiques which measure tru, physical propenies of rocks without tilt: expense of drilling boreholes_ In cemin circumstances ",suits from geophysics surveys can be used to infer the presence of groundwater. Po rmiry _ The rat io of void space in rock to the total rock vol ume - expressed as a percentage, Rocks with high porosity can store greater vol ume, of groundwater. Pameabiliry _ Rate of groundwater flow through a cros, section of aquifer, Permeability is higher wben there are interconnected fractures. T'umpinx test _ A test that is conducted to detennine the aquifer or borchole charactcristics, SmuislOm - A rock that is made from cemented ..,,,d grains - usually has a high pOIe "tial for groundw.te, Shallow wdl- A large diameter(usually greater than I-m) hole, dug to less than 20-m depth to access groundw~ter SilmoMl and mutislO"el - Fine-grained roch made of mud andlor very fine grained panicles, Usually have a low pOIential for groundwater_ SuCctS$ rIlle (borehole drilling) _ Imprecise term. normally taken as the number of successful borehole, divided by the total number of borehol~, drilled - expressed as a percentage. Different organisations have di fferent measures for denoting a successful borehole Weathered zone - A layer of rock beneath the soil ZOne that has been altercd by physical breakdown or chemical decomJXY.;ition , Yield - 1lIe volume of water discharged from a well or borehole. measured in m'ld 0, lis. L INTRODllCl' ION During October 1999 WaterAid invited a t<:am from the Brilish Gt:ological Survey (BGS) to Iravd 10 Zambia 10 assess groundwalCr development problems faced in the Siavong~ Dim;cl of Soulhern Zambia (Figure I). Wilhin the Siavonga Dislrict. WaterAid and their partncrs realise Ihat aC('"eSS to potable surface water sourceS is limited while groundwater developrnoent is constrained by difficult geological conditions. This report detail.' the key fmding~ of the vi~it. and provides a =ord of mformation galhered and people mel. This asseSSment forms part of a two-year proj<Xt aimed al producing groundwaler dc,'elopment tools to increase the success of water supply projeCIS in geologically difficult areas of sul>-Saharan Africa. The project is funded by the Department for International Development (DflD) under the Knowk-dgc and Resean;h (KaR) programme. Groundwater de"elopment problems facing four WaterAid programmes in Ghana. Ethiopia. Tanzania and Zambia are being examined. Techniques evolved during the projCCt will be used to produce groundwatcr dC"c!opment maps for two areas wt>ere the <iting of sustainable gmundwaler supplies has proved difficult. A brief introduction to the projecl is provided in Annex A. Two BGS staff. kffrcy Davies (Hydrogeologist) and Brighid 6 Dochartaigh (Hydrogeologist). "isited Zambia from 2 to 9 October 1'199. WaterAid facilitated the visit. An itinerary for the visil is gi,'en in Annex B. Tenns of reference were as follows; (i) to assess problems faced by WaterAid and their partners when developing groundwaler reSOurceS in till: Siavcmga area; (ii) to ascertain the current expertise. 1001, and equipment available 10 WaterAid and tlll:ir partners for the siting of boreholcs arod wells: (iii) to coll<xt and evaluate data and information relevant to groundw31er resource development within the Sia>'onga District; (iv) to recommend follow-up work, 2. SUMMARY Water supply is a major problem within the Siavonga area, Surface water OCCurrence in the area is usually limited to Ihe NovcmbcrlDccember and February rainy seasoos. Apart from the Kafue and Zambezi. livers in the districl are ephemeral. The seasonal rains are unrel iable and prolonged periods of drought occur, Locating ~uslainable groundwatcr reSOUKes to supply a growing POpUI~lion is therefore vital. Howeyer. development is constrained by uncertainty of geological conlrols On groundwaler availability, In the districl limiled quantilies of groundwaler occur wilhin the mostly low permeability Karroo age sediment in the Zambezi Rifl valley; near surface weathered zones and along fractures wilhin the I'recambrian cryslalline basement rocks of the peripheral highlands; and wilhin sand deposits lhat fill the lower reaches of ephemeral rivers. These resources need to be de>'eloped using properly constructed boreholes and hand-dug wells. Borehole sites are localed using information derived from geophysical surveys. geological observations and aerial photogr~ph inlcrpretution. The main aim is 10 minimise the dislance travelled by women and ~hildren collecting water, Therefore surveys are designed to locate borehole-drilling siles dose 10 village~. The district has nOl been geologically sUTveyed in detail. Geological information is obtained from the national I I COO COO scale geological map and 1,100 COO scale maps. and accompanying geological memoirs. for areas adjacent 10 Siavonga district. • 6 > •< ~ i , ..: Q:l , -::; i ..: , N , ... • 0 , =-..: . ! 1 III . ::; • • 1 The Department of Water Affairs is (he national depository for h)'drogeological data and the main :;ourcc of hydrogcologi~al expc:;rti~ within Zambia. Rocent drilling programmes have ~en funded by tile Japanese Imernational Co-operation Agency (IICA) and the European Union (EU). Hydrogeological data colluted during tlle<;e drilling programmes have been pas<;ed to the Department of Water Affairs district office in Monu. DflD funded the WaterAid inputs into these proje<.1S.