National Groundwater Survey of Sierra Leone
Using our digital technology and exploration experience to quantify and predict water
- Location: Sierra Leone
- Date: 2016 – 2017
- Client: African Development Bank, SALWACO
- Project Type: Groundwater mapping and assessment
Shaping a new understanding of groundwater with advanced surveying and data management
Following the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic, Sierra Leone needed to rebuild national water supplies and improve access to clean water and sanitation. Rivers and streams had become unreliable sources of water, and the nation was turning to groundwater as a better source, although little was known about the water hidden underground across the country, hampering efforts to develop new drinking water supplies. Developing and protecting the nation’s groundwater would require new tools and insights. In 2016, the African Development Bank commissioned Hydro Nova to survey and assess the groundwater of Sierra Leone and develop a suite of data management tools to help the government tap into the resource.
Our geology and water technology team carried out an extensive exploration campaign and analysis to prepare baseline information and a national-scale groundwater map, along with a package of new groundwater data management tools. Today, the ability to understand where water exists is a valuable tool for Sierra Leonean water managers to prioritize projects and monitor the resource over time.
Services Provided
Exploration technologies
We used machine learning, advanced modeling and multi-geophysical surveying to predict and map water-bearing rock and water quality, unravelling the hidden nature of groundwater in a data-scarce environment.
Groundwater atlas
Important scientific breakthroughs were made, publishing Sierra Leone’s first national groundwater atlas, conducting the nation’s seminal assessment of hydrogeology, and assembling a network of Sierra Leonean hydrogeologists and groundwater researchers.
Groundwater data services
Our team completed the picture of underground water resources, consolidating the nation’s wealth of groundwater information into the country’s first national hydrogeological archive, inventory of boreholes and national groundwater monitoring network.
Data management platform
We engineered and created SALGRID, Sierra Leone’s new cloud-based groundwater data management platform for collecting, viewing and analyzing groundwater related information. The portal contains current and historical data from both groundwater quantity and quality, lithology and borehole construction.
Groundwater management team
We built and trained a team of Sierra Leonean technicians and experts who manage national groundwater resources and plan water supply projects.
Disaster management capabilities
Hydro Nova delivered important capabilities that help the government and humanitarian actors improve access to clean water as the nation rebuilds after the Ebola epidemic.
