Groundwater early warning system for the south of Madagascar
The GEWS will allow adaptation practices such as water trucking to be triggered at district level
Highlights
The south of Madagascar has the country’s lowest water supply coverage and is strongly impacted by the effects of climate change such as the increase in frequency/intensity of droughts and a chronic lack of water. This situation results in severe food insecurity and malnutrition crises which mostly affect children.
Currently, there is no national monitoring system in Madagascar to estimate risks of groundwater depletion and provide information to water and humanitarian actors for a better planning of water resources exploitation.
Measuring groundwater levels is critically important for identifying longterm trends including declining water levels and saltwater intrusion, seasonal variations, aquifer recharge and level status of drinking water. The groundwater early warning system (GEWS) implemented by UNICEF will allow adaptation practices such as water trucking to be triggered at district level.
The GEWS is funded by EU/ECHO HIP under the proposal “Disaster Risk Reduction, Preparedness and Resilience Building in Madagascar”.
