Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink

Credit: AMB / Mahama Savadogo

"Every year, Ouagadougou receives more rainfall than London."

Surprisingly, the above statement is true. Ouagadougou receives some 700mm rainfall per year on average whereas the figure for London is 585mm.

Yet due to local conditions, water scarcity is prevalent across Burkina Faso, as the hydro-geological conditions and flat topography lead to much of this rainfall becoming unavailable.

This scarcity is magnified in WaterAid Burkina Faso's intervention areas. Total demand exceeds availability of water resources by between 10 percent and 22 percent depending on the rainfall received that year.

The Burkina Faso Government began to implement an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) strategy in 1998. As a result, WaterAid has incorporated an IWRM component into its projects.

WaterAid has become involved in the pilot phase of a rainwater harvesting project in which concrete rainwater harvesting tanks with a capacity of 10 cubic meters are built in communities and institutions, usually schools. The water stored in these tanks can supply a household of six to eight people for two to three months.

WaterAid worked in partnership with AMB, a non governmental organization working in Boulkiemdé, Sanguié and Passoré provinces, to construct two small dams in Madyr and Pouni-Gonré.

The presence of a dam slows down the rain water running off and allows for better seepage and has brought about permanent availability of water in wells.

In Madyr, before the small dam was constructed, the village wells used to dry up in February. Now, they retain water until April.

Testimony from Madyr:
"The breakdown of the earth-made breakwater caused our gardening wells to dry up. But after it got rehabilitated using concrete, the well water level has increased so that we can meet our cattle and domestic needs."

Following the success of this project, WaterAid will look further into the impact of dams and for further opportunities to take learning from the projects forward.

To read a more in depth report on the Madyr and Pouni-Gonré projects, download Water resource management in Burkina Faso case study ( PDF 153Kb).