Needs assessment to support Groundwater Resources ...splash-era.net/downloads/groundwater/4_NBI_final_report.pdf · Groundwater Network (AGW-Net), BGR, ... The survey has attempted

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Needs assessment to support Groundwater Resources Management in the Lake and River Basin Organizations of Africa- a Case for the Nile Basin

By Dr. Callist Tindimugaya

Nile-IWRM Net

February 2012

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1. Background

Considering the importance of groundwater and recognizing its role for the well being of millions of people, the SPLASH project is supporting the promotion of integrated and sustainable management of groundwater in Africa. It is widely accepted that the hydro(geo)logically defined basins are the optimum units for sustainable management of water resources. As a result, lake and river basin organisations have been formed to represent the decentralised model recommended to achieve IWRM. Transboundary groundwater (GW) management, however, has not been adequately addressed within IWRM and during the establishment or reforms of lake and river basin organisations in Africa. Thus, it was agreed by the African Groundwater Network (AGW-Net), BGR, SPLASH partners and funders in the Strategic Management Board and representatives of the African Groundwater Commission (AGWC) and L/RBOs to support the process of bringing GW on the political agenda and to enhance the integration of GW management into the core mandate of L/RBOs. This implies recognizing the importance of transboundary GW management as a nucleus for cooperation between neighbouring states. The emerging consensus on supporting L/RBOs in considering GW in the framework of transboundary water resources management has now led to the idea of assessing how far GW is considered by the L/RBOs and what appropriate actions are needed for integrating GW in the activities of L/RBOs.

2. Objectives

The immediate objective of the needs assessment is to assess the present framework, experiences, and capacity for GW management in selected L/RBOs in Africa and identify shortcomings for integrated groundwater management as part of integrated and transboundary water resources management (I&TWRM). Furthermore, the objective is to develop targeted and prioritized recommendations for enhancing the capacity of L/RBOs for integrated GW management in the basins, based on consultations with the L/RBOs. One of the basin where this study is being carried out is the Nile Basin which is the subject of this report.

3. Beneficiaries and partners

The beneficiaries of the needs assessment include the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) and the national water authorities of the member states as the primary recipient. In addition, the needs assessment may inform donors and capacity building organizations in an effort to take the recommendations forward in collaboration with the NBI and other stakeholders.

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4. Methodology

a. Process

The work was carried out as a combined desktop study (basin profiles) and a survey, involving interviews of the management of the NBI and the Nile Equatorial Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP), representatives of the Nile Basin riparian countries and senior groundwater professionals in the NBI member states. The results of the survey have been consolidated in this report.

b. Survey

Three questionnaires were completed by four organizational levels in the NBI, namely: NBI secretariat, Nile Equatorial Subsidiary Action Program Coordination Unit ) NELSAP – CU), representatives of the riparain states on the Nile-TAC, and hydrogeologists from the repiarian counties. The survey has attempted to support SWOT analysis of groundwater management in NBI based on the questionnaire feedbacks. A total of eleven people from the above 4 levels were interviewed and provided responses to three types of questionnaires.

5. Basin profile

a. Geographical, physical, hydrogeological context The Nile is one of the great rivers of the world, feeding millions and giving birth to entire civilizations. It is the world’s longest river traversing more than 6700 kilometers and extending for more than 3 million square kilometers. From its major source, Lake Victoria in east central Africa, the White Nile flows generally north through Uganda and into Sudan where it meets the Blue Nile at Khartoum, which rises in the Ethiopian highlands. From the confluence of the White and Blue Nile, the river continues to flow northwards into Egypt and on to the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile River Basin includes eleven African countries namely Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzanian and Uganda.

Nile Basin is characterised by serious environmental degradation, such as soil erosion and water pollution, which are growing problems throughout the region. Land degradation leads to loss of agricultural fertility affecting livelihoods of rural communities as well as increased sedimentation of reservoirs and canal systems. More and more of the Nile’s waters are becoming unsafe for use and this deteriorating water quality is resulting in increased prevalence of water borne disease.

Compared to many other large transboundary river basins, the Nile Basin is a water scarce region. Most of the water is generated from less than one-third of the total geographic area. While water availability is already scarce it must be further noted that possible climate change impact may increase the variability of supply and possibly even reduce it.

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National development activities in the Nile basin are often planned in isolation from other countries’ plans risking sub-optimal use of resources, negative social and environmental impacts and delays in implementation resulting from clear measures and agreement on transboundary implications.

Given the finite availability of water and the increasing demand for it, the need for a coordinated development and management of the water resources of the basin has become a necessity rather than a choice. Coordination is required not only nationally between water dependent sectors such as agriculture and power but also among the countries that share these transboundary water resources.

Managing the water resources of the Nile is a major challenge The Nile is shared by eleven countries, each having important but varying needs and demands upon the shared water resources. There are significant development needs across the basin and these often have impacts beyond the borders of any individual country.

Each of the governments of the Nile riparian countries makes great efforts year by year to deal with the above development challenges through country programming. Each country targets to develop and utilize the common Nile water resources for agricultural food production, aquaculture production, drinking water supply, flood and drought management, hydropower generation, navigation, tourism, and as recipient of waste water, among other uses. Over time, it became apparent that a situation where each country acts unilaterally to meet its development objectives was untenable and leads to sub-optimal water resources development, incompatible development agenda of riparian countries, inequitable sharing of benefits, and escalation of tension in the region. Therefore, cooperative action on the Nile was not only desirable, but the best way forward for sustainable management and development of the common Nile water resources. Cooperation on the Nile can increase the range and magnitude of direct benefits to riparian states, and serve as a catalyst for greater regional integration, both economic and political, with potential benefits far exceeding those derived from the river itself.

The regional hydrogeological framework for the Nile Basin is well-defined as a result of several decades of effort resulting in the development of hydrogeological maps at the continent scale. Within the Nile Basin and continent as a whole, there are four generalized types of hydrogeological environment, namely crystalline/metamorphic basement rocks, volcanic rocks, unconsolidated sediments and consolidated sedimentary rocks (Foster, 1984; MacDonald and Calow, 2008). Basement rocks comprise crystalline igneous and metamorphic rocks of Precambrian age and are present mainly in the upper half of the basin. The parent rock is essentially impermeable and productive aquifers occur where weathered overburden and extensive fracturing is present. Consolidated sedimentary rocks are highly variable and can comprise low permeability mudstone and shale as well as more permeable sandstones and limestones. They tend to be present in the lower parts of the basin, forming some of the most extensive and productive aquifers. In the more arid regions large sandstone aquifers have extensive storage, but much of the groundwater can be non-renewable,

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having originated in wetter, past climates. Unconsolidated sedimentary aquifers, are present in many river valleys. Volcanic rocks occupy uplands where they form highly variable, but usually highly important productive aquifers.

b. Transboundary GW basins, uses/users, conflicts

The groundwater systems of the Nile, like the river itself, do not conform to national and other political boundaries requiring governments and related agencies to work together to achieve sustainable utilization of this shared resource of the Nile Basin. While existence of transboundary aquifers in the Nile Basin has been reported a great lack of knowledge on transboundary aquifers still exists. For example, the number of identified aquifers varies according to the source. The International Network of Water-Environment Centre for the Balkans (INWEB) database presents 15 transboundary aquifer systems in the South Mediterranean region while the ISARM-IGRAC database shows only 8. Disparity in the database and lack of knowledge on the aquifer boundaries shows that the identification and the understanding of the transboudary aquifers still need improvement. The overall type and distribution of the primary aquifers in the region has been quite well known since the mid-20th century. However quantitative information on aquifer characteristics such as recharge, yield and chemical quality, is less known and depends largely on specific surveys generated by investigations within a particular area. The same can be said for knowledge on the groundwater resource at a national level: groundwater is extensively utilized within the Nile Basin and therefore there is an abundance of data at a local and national level. The challenge however is how to compile such information to best manage the resource as a whole. At the present time, groundwater/surface water interactions are known to be a major factor in the Nile basin, but are not explicitly included in basin planning efforts and management strategies. In part this is so because this interaction is not well understood. In particular, the importance of groundwater in maintaining the ecosystems of the various swamps is unknown and needs to be determined if proper management strategies are to be instituted;

Various studies carried out in the Nile Basin (IAEA, 2004) have noted that the groundwater has not been considered as part of the overall water budget of the basin by most national and regional water planning and management organizations. Although NBI generally acknowledges that groundwater is an important issue in managing the basin, groundwater has not been formally included in various projects and programs.

This is exemplified by the fact that the Nile Basin has an extensive network of hydrological stations but groundwater monitoring in the basin is limited with only a few countries starting it up. While identification of areas where groundwater is important in sustaining surface water flow is important it is noted that there are large areas of the basin where data is lacking and instituting a groundwater monitoring program would

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help bridge this gap. Development of a successful model could also help focus the monitoring and predict changes brought about by changes in management practices To address the limited groundwater knowledge in the basin, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) funded a project from 2003 to 2006 to understand groundwater and surface water interactions within Lake Victoria basin. The project served as “proof of concept” that groundwater plays a key role in sustaining surface water flows , but many issues remained unresolved. It was noted that more work needed to be carried out in the Nile basin to understand groundwater-surface water interactions and the role groundwater plays in water balance and sustainable development of the basin.

Noting the need for a continuing study of various areas in the basin, using both hydrologic and hydrogeological methods, as well as modelling techniques, IAEA in collaboration with UNDP/GEF initiated a follow up study to further understand groundwater-surface water interactions, carryout our water balance modelling of the basin and to promote knowledge of the importance of groundwater in the Nile Basin to the various stakeholders. Specifically more information will be generated on the impact of groundwater/surface water interactions in the lakes and wetlands and its implications for the ecosystem. In addition, the extent of groundwater input into the Nile river systems and the contribution of groundwater to the water balance of the Nile system will be further understood. The results of this study will make it possible to demonstrate to Nile Basin countries how groundwater should be included in current activities and in policy and management decisions in Nile Basin Management. This will also facilitate incorporation of groundwater element into the current structure of Nile Basin management.

Large parts of the Nile Basin are prone to high rainfall variability and seasonal and periodic droughts. Further, climate change predictions indicate that this situation may worsen. It is broadly accepted that groundwater can provide some degree of buffering to this threat, supplementing surface water supplies, reducing risk and strengthening resilience, and reducing the vulnerability of the poor to water shortage. In fact, adequate, reliable water supplies are essential to economic development at all levels. It is increasingly acknowledged that wise management of groundwater resources can provide this security. In addition, increasing water stored in this reserve during times of high rainfall by actively diverting surface water to groundwater recharge can support sustainable groundwater use. Groundwater has always been essential for human survival throughout Africa, and this is also the case in the Nile Basin (UNEP, 2010). Traditionally groundwater was accessed first at naturally occurring springs and seepage areas by humans and animals, then later as human capacity has increased, via hand-dug wells advancing to hand-pumps and to boreholes and mechanized pumps. Throughout the Nile Basin all of these forms of groundwater access can be seen in use today. With increasing technological development, so to the ability to develop and use technologies the accessibility and scale of groundwater abstraction has increased, and so has human demand on groundwater resources. Masiyandima and Giordano (2007) provide a good overview of the exploitation of groundwater in Africa generally. The ever expanding

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demands on groundwater in the Nile Basin include domestic water supply (for drinking, other household uses and small commercial activities) in rural and urban settings; industrial use and development of tourism; agricultural use for irrigation and livestock production from subsistence through to commercial scales; and large scale industrial activities such as mineral exploitation. All of these activities and uses can be found at a range of scales throughout the Nile Basin. As statistics on utilization and development plans are normally based on national boundaries and given the wide range in the type and form of data available, current groundwater use, potential, monitoring and regulation are normally presented on a country basis rather than on basinwide scale.

c. Water governance framework, human resources

The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is an inter-governmental organization dedicated to equitable and sustainable management and development of the shared water resources of the Nile Basin. NBI Member States include Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Eritrea is as an observer while South Sudan has just applied for membership. The NBI was established on February 22, 1999 in Dar es Salaam, by Ministers responsible for Water Affairs of each of the nine Member States. The Nile Council of Ministers (Nile-COM) agreed on a Shared Vision which states: ‘to achieve sustainable socio-economic development thro ugh the equitable utilization of and benefit from the common Nile Bas in water resources’ .

NBI has its Secretariat (Nile-SEC) in Entebbe, Uganda with a responsibility of continuing the process of building cooperation among Member States and building capacity to conduct basin-wide water resources management. In 1999, Nile-COM agreed upon a ‘Strategic Action Program’ (SAP) comprising of two complementary programs the ‘Shared Vision Program’ (SVP) and the ‘Subsidiary Action Program’ (SAP) to guide Nile cooperation. The NBI is managed by the Nile-COM, which is the governing body and supreme policy and decision making organ of the NBI. Member States provide technical guidance to NBI, through their representation on the board, the Nile Technical Advisory Committee (Nile-TAC). The latter comprises of senior water officials (two per Member State). The Nile-TAC also that provides technical advice to their respective water Ministers and the Nile-COM in general; it acts as an interface between the Nile-COM and NBI on one hand as well as Development Partners on the other. To facilitate in-country coordination of NBI’s activities, each of the Member States established a National NBI Focal Point institution, referred to as the NBI Office. Among other things, the NBI office provides a forum for in-country coordination of NBI’s projects and activities; assists with promoting coordination and integration with other relevant national activities and initiatives as well as with logistical arrangements for incoming NBI

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missions. The staff of the NBI office includes National Inter-agency and Inter-sectoral representatives, and others recruited on full time basis. The NBI lacks common policy frameworks and transboundary water policies all of which impact Nile countries’ ability to effectively cooperate on development programs.

d. Stakeholder involvement

The Nile Basin is currently home to over 160 million people and it is expected that the population will double in the next 25 years, increasing the demand on water use. The River Nile, its natural resources and environment are assets of immense value to all the riparian countries and long-lasting cooperation among the nine countries will continue to promote integrated management, sustainable development and equitable utilization of the water resources, for the benefit of present and future generation. The NBI assists its member countries to strengthen economic growth and to reduce poverty by identifying and preparing investment projects for the development of shared water resources. These projects have multi-country or transboundary implications, providing benefits to all the countries involved as well as sharing the costs. In addition to leading the preparation, the NBI facilitates agreements between countries for investment financing and for future management through the national agencies. The NBI creates investment opportunities that cannot be created by countries acting on their own. Working regionally helps countries to identify and benefit from efficiencies and economies of scale in pursuit of common national objectives. A primary example is tackling the power deficit in the region. Through projects to build power interconnections, the NBI is working to join up markets and enable trade. The success of NBI to date is demonstrated by its ability to develop ‘bankable’ projects. These are projects which are able to attract investment financing due to the needs they address (such as electricity generation or flood mitigation), their professional design to international technical, social, and environmental standards, and their high economic and financial rates of return. To date, NBI has utilised preparation financing of US$76 million to gain US$784 million of investment financing, and this impressive 1:10 ratio is set to increase with a growing pipeline of projects. NBI is continuing to develop its capacity to mobilise resources, underpinned by the growing commitment to regional cooperation and integration of its member countries. NBI’s portfolio of projects can be categorised into three sectors; power, agriculture, and river basin management. This represents the priority needs of countries within the Nile Basin – for increased access to reliable and cheap electricity, for increased food security and productivity, and for increased protection and better management of the environment as a basis for livelihoods of many of the Basins people. Within these three sectors, projects range in size and scope covering irrigation and drainage, watershed management, flood early warning and protection, fisheries, power interconnectors and power generation.

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e. Technical capacity, data

The NBI works to foster cooperation in water resources of the Nile Basin through effective set of basin-wide activities and projects. These projects, which were targeted as catalysts for broader socio-economic development, address the major water-related sectors and cross-cutting themes deemed critical by the Nile riparians to ensure an integrated and comprehensive approach to water development and management. In 2003, the Nile-COM agreed that a shared vision could be legitimized by action on the ground, action that could benefit the peoples of the Nile Basin. The main activities proposed in the Basin as a strategic action program included the Shared Vision Program (SVP), and the Subsidiary Action Program (SAPs). The Shared Vision Program and the Subsidiary Action Program are two complementary programs supporting each other. The Shared Vision Program was the foundation building; while the Subsidiary Action Program takes care of investment. The SVP comprised of eight basin-wide projects, with a major focus on building trust, confidence and capacity in member countries as well as creating an enabling environment for trans-boundary investments. The Shared Vision Program was largely completed during 2009. The Shared Vision Program provided the first basin-wide forum in the Nile Basin for collaborative action on a range of water-related areas. Through SVPs. significant work has been carried out in strengthening the ability of both people and institutions within the basin in different water-related areas; broadening networks of stakeholders, as well as promoting stakeholder involvement, basin-wide dialogue and information exchange on issues of common concern and transboundary significance. The different Shared Vision Projects have generated a wealth of knowledge products, best practices, practical tools, strategic and analytical frameworks as well as policies and guidelines that promote an integrated and comprehensive approach to water and related resources management and development. All these serve as building blocks for the future permanent River Nile Basin Organization following the conclusion of negotiations on the Cooperative Framework Agreement. The SAP is the investment arm of NBI focusing on preparation of investment projects that are trans- boundary in nature. The overriding goal of the investment agenda is to contribute to poverty alleviation, reverse environmental degradation and promote socio-economic growth in the riparian countries. This program is managed by two sub-basin offices, one in the Eastern Nile region for the Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program (ENSAP) and the other in the Nile Equatorial Lakes region for the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP). The two offices are located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Kigali, Rwanda respectively. The Subsidiary Action Programs are in advanced stages of preparation of investment projects.

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The Subsidiary Action Program has made remarkable progress in building capacity for basin-wide water management and launching a significant investment portfolio to support water development. The implementation of the Shard Vision Program and the Subsidiary Action Program has laid a foundation for a regional cooperation among the Nile countries throughout the Nile Basin Initiative with support of Development Partners. The cooperation has created a climate of confidence within which an inclusive mechanism for working together has been established. However, some basin countries have limited technical capacity and financial resources to adequately address the challenges facing the basin. Thus, capacity building continues to be one of the focus areas of NBI.

6. SWOT analysis

a. GW governance in L/RBO

NBI has a shared vision ‘to achieve sustainable socioeconomic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources’. Although the NBI shared vision is general it does not highlight explicitly the use of the groundwater. Thus, NBI promotes awareness and capacity building for cooperation among the riparian states on issues related to transboundary water resources management and development with the main focus being on surface water resources.

NBI uses a number of water management instruments that include : basin-wide strategic action plan; transboundary planning of shared surface water resources, using planning tools such as Decision support system; applying strategic directives to maintain sustainable use of the shared water resources among the riparian states, and issuing bi-annual State of the basin Report stating the health of the water resources of the Nile Basin. Groundwater is therefore not considered in the water management structure of NBI and there are no specific actions, initiatives or programmes being used to foster groundwater management within the organisation. However, there is minimal involvement and participation in isotope based ground water assessment projects executed by IAEA. However, within the riparian states groundwater is managed together with surface water as part of the overall water resources management. Both are currently being handled following a basin or catchment. Thus, groundwater monitoring networks have been set up in some of the basin countries while groundwater assessment studies are part of water resources assessments.

Studies so far carried out in the basin indicate that there is a strong interaction between groundwater and surface water especially where there are sedimentary and alluvial aquifers. This is mainly in Sudan and Egypt along the Nile Valley and in the equatorial region along low lying areas covered by alluvial sediments. In such situations these

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interactions will have a big implication on the transboundary water balance and transboundary water quality. Groundwater is expected to play a very big role in the water balance of the basin. Linkage between groundwater with surface water flows, surface water quality and environment is considered when allocating groundwater at national levels but only when the groundwater abstractions are big. This is normally done as part of the environmental impact assessment. There is no transboundary consideration when allocating groundwater.

b. Collaboration with riparian states

NBI is a lean institution that works through coordination of networks of specialists and experts, from the riparian countries. Currently, the cooperation and collaboration between the NBI and riparian states is related to surface water and not groundwater. The NBI cooperates with national surface water and water quality authorities on monitoring activities. Groundwater has not been considered because NBI has traditional focused on surface water and it has not consider groundwater reportedly because of low awareness and understanding of the availability and potential of groundwater resources. A collaborative study between NBI and International Atomic Energy Agency is ongoing to assess the role of groundwater in the sustainable management of water resources of the Nile Basin. Through this project groundwater data is being collected from the riparian countries and is being compiled into a database for use in modelling. It is hoped that this project will raise the profile of groundwater in the NBI and will be a starting point for joint actions on groundwater issues.

While there is no sharing of groundwater between the NBI and the countries, under the joint project between NBI and IAEA, data is being provided freely and will be captured into a database at NBI and hopefully form part of the Nile Basin Decision Support System. After assessing the role of groundwater in the sustainable management of water resources of the Nile Basin and improving the water balance of the Nile Basin it is hoped that the NBI will coordinate and collaborate with the riparian states in this area. The NBI is currently responsible for promoting cooperation in the management and development of water resources and is not involved in water allocation. Thus, national groundwater as well as surface water allocation is done without any reference to the NBI. The same is also true for surface water. However, countries are required to notify each other when they are going to implement major water projects but these are usually surface water related projects. In most of the Nile Basin countries, groundwater departments are part of the water resources management directorates which deal with both surface water and groundwater quantity and quality. Thus, the country representatives to the NBI from

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most of the riparian countries are the two senior most officials of the water resources management directorates or ministries. They therefore represent the overall interests of the countries.

c. GW data management/sharing

Although a lot of hydrological data is collected within the member states of the Nile Basin, very little hydrological information and in particular time-series data has been shared by basin countries. Consequently, it is extremely difficult to accurately understand the behaviour of the river system. When studies are conducted on the system there has not been a platform through which technical experts from each basin country can access these publications or share analyses. Without this forum, it is very difficult for individual countries to obtain agreement from neighbouring countries that may be affected by the potential transboundary impacts.

There has never existed a basin-wide analytic system which countries could access to openly and transparently share information and aid the understanding of broader impacts. NBI has however recently developed a Decision Support Stsrem (DSS) database, but this is not yet fully populated as the interim procedures for data sharing were recently endorsed.

With the procedures for data sharing in place data sharing between NBI and the riparian states has started but is still minimal but is expected to gradually improve. There is however no specific guidelines and procedures for sharing groundwater data although groundwater data can also be shared.

Currently, the water resources data shared is related to NBI projects that are of benefit to the riparian countries. The data is shared free of charge but the respective project can contribute to data gathering and processing if the need arises.

The ongoing project to assess the role of groundwater in the sustainable management of water resources of the Nile Basin is expected to raise the profile of groundwater in the NBI. Thus, by the fact that the NBI governance structures approved this project it is an indication that NBI can consider groundwater in its programs and projects if more knowledge and information is made available.

d. Capacity building

Prioritisation of activities and projects under NBI is made based on the NBI’s Strategic Plan for the prevailing period. In the past the 1999 Strategic Action Plan had been concluded and currently the 2012 Strategic Plan is being finalised for approval and implementation soon. There is no specific capacity building on groundwater but in

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response to country needs these activities can be addressed although there is no specific financing available for them. According to the management of NBI, what is lacking in terms of capacity for groundwater management include; funding of activities in riparian states, human resources capacity, institutional capacities, dedicated institutions and professional networks.

e) Detailed SWOT analysis Strengths

The internal strengths of the NBI that can enhance the integration of GW into the mandate of the organisation include: 1. Clear governance structure that includes a policy organ (Council of Ministers) and

technical organ (Technical Advisory Committee) that regularly reviews the programs and projects of NBI to takes stock of new challenges and developments and takes decisions whether to include them in NBI or not. A decision to give special focus to groundwater can therefore be made by the Council of Ministers and be implemented immediately by NBI.

2. Existence of a Decision Support System that is all encompassing and has provision for inclusion of groundwater. Thus, groundwater as well as surface water can easily be handled together without any problem

3. Existence of a secretariat that looks at broad water resources issues and is not specific on surface water. It is therefore open to a new ideas and mandates

4. Existence of water resources management and development project that are not

specific on surface water but can address the demands and interest of the riparian states

5. Existence of groundwater related professionals among the Technical Advisory

Committee and staff of NBI who can provide technical guidance and direction on issues related to groundwater.

Weaknesses The major inherent deficiencies in the NBI in addressing appropriately groundwater in its mandate include: 6. Traditional focus on surface water without considering groundwater yet the mandate

of NBI looks at water resources of the Nile Basin in general.

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7. Limited information on the groundwater resources of the basin and the role of groundwater in the water balance of the Nile Basin

8. Limited understanding and capacity to integrate surface water and groundwater in

the management of the Nile Basin water resources 9. Lack of clarity in the NBI shared vision and Strategic Action Program on whether NBI

is focusing on both groundwater and surface water.

10. Designing of water resources management and development project that only deal with surface water resources

Opportunities Present opportunities or drivers to support the GW mandate of the NBI include: 11. Groundwater and surface water are handled together in most of the riparian states

and both are managed following a basin. The experience of the riparian states in this area can therefore be utilised in making a case for inclusion of groundwater and in formulating strategies for groundwater management in the NBI

12. The ongoing collaborative project between NBI and IAEA on assessing the

interactions between groundwater and surface water and the role of groundwater in the water balance of the Nile Basin provides a good starting point for considering groundwater in the NBI

13. Interest of some donors and development cooperation agencies such as IAEA in

supporting integration of groundwater in river basin organisations 14. Existence of the African Groundwater Commission under the AMCOW that can

provide strategic support and guidance in groundwater management related issues. This also provides an opportunity to get high level approval of groundwater management programs within the river basin organisations.

15. The worldwide move to develop strategies and procedures for integration of

groundwater in river basin organisations will be a driver for inclusion of groundwater mandate in NBI

Threats The major external threats that inhibit the NBI from taking upon it sustainable groundwater management include:

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16. Some riparian states may object to inclusion of groundwater in the Nile basin water resources management

17. Some traditional development partners may not be willing to fund groundwater

resources management programs 18. Absence of strategies and procedures for integration of groundwater in river basin

water resources management 19. Limited capacity in the basin for undertaking groundwater management activities 20. Limited information on the groundwater resources of the basin and the role of

groundwater in the water balance of the Nile Basin

7. Conclusions

Based on the interviews and the assessments so far carried out the following conclusions can be made:

• NBI provides a platform for co-operation on a wide range of water resources management issues and thus, the potential to consider groundwater in NBI is very high as it is always open to new ideas as guided and directed by its governance structures.

• There is a very big potential and interest to include groundwater management in

the NBI activities. However, the commitment of the riparian states to include groundwater on the political agenda is insufficient. This influences the functionality of NBI as far as groundwater resources management is concerned.

• Awareness raising among the NBI governance structures as well as within the riparian countries is needed to highlight the importance of considering groundwater in the management of the Nile Basin water resources

• The management of NBI suggests that if the riparian states commitment grows

with time; it will promote the spirit of co-operation on groundwater management which is the benchmark for NBI’s engagements.

• The ongoing project between NBI and IAEA on assessing the interactions between groundwater and surface water and the role of groundwater in the water balance of the Nile Basin provides a good starting point for highlighting the importance of considering groundwater in the NBI

• Transboundary groundwater aquifers in the basin have not been mapped and

this makes it difficult to manage them within the framework of the NBI. Their management and development as part of the river basin management requires

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that they are fairly well understood in terms of distribution, current use, development potential, recharge mechanisms, water quality and vulnerability to human and climatic factors

• Groundwater professionals interviewed express a need to develop strategies and procedures for integration of groundwater in river basin organisations to guide inclusion of groundwater in NBI projects and programs

• While capacity for groundwater management exists is some Nile Basin countries and can greatly inform what happens at the basin wide level it is still limited and needs to be improved.

8. Recommendations Based on the interviews and the assessments so far carried out there is a very big potential and interest to include groundwater management in the NBI activities. However, if groundwater management is to be included in the mandate of NBI the following is recommended:

• Information on the groundwater resources of the basin and the role of

groundwater in the water balance of the Nile Basin needs to be generated. This could start by gathering and analyzing all the available groundwater data and information in the riparian countries.

• Capacity to integrate surface water and groundwater in the management of the Nile Basin water resources needs to be improved

• Clarity should be provided in the NBI shared vision and Strategic Action Program

to indicate that NBI focuses on both groundwater and surface water. This will give mandate to NBI to handle also groundwater since its vision looks at water resources of the Nile Basin in general

• The ongoing collaborative project between NBI and IAEA on assessing the

interactions between groundwater and surface water and the role of groundwater in the water balance of the Nile Basin should be used as starting point for considering groundwater in the NBI

• There is need to interest donors and development cooperation agencies such as

IAEA to support integration of groundwater in river basin organisations

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• African Groundwater Commission under the AMCOW and related groundwater agencies and networks should provide strategic support, guidance and capacity building in groundwater management related issues to river basin organisations

• Strategies and procedures for integration of groundwater in river basin

organisations should be developed to guide inclusion of groundwater in NBI projects and programs.

• Awareness raising programs on the importance of considering groundwater in

the management of the Nile Basin water resources should be provided to NBI riparian states so that they can support the inclusion of groundwater in the Nile basin water resources management

• There is need to build capacity in the basin(within NBI and in the riparian states)

for undertaking groundwater management activities

9. References

1. Foster, S.S.D. (1984) African groundwater development – the challenges for hydrogeological science. In: Challenges in African Hydrology and Water Resources, Proceedings of the Harare Symposium, July 1984, IAHS Publication No. 144, pp.3-12.

2. IAEA (2006). Adding the groundwater dimension to Nile River Basin Management. Project proposal to the Global Environment Facility.

3. IWMI (in press). Groundwater in the Nile River Basin. Book chapter with contributions by Charlotte Macalister, Paul Pavelic, Callist Tindimugaya, Tenalem Ayenew, Mohamed Elhassan Ibrahim, and Mohamed Abdelmegudi

4. MacDonald, AM. and Calow, R.C. (2008) Developing groundwater for secure rural water supplies in Africa. In: Water and sanitation in international development and disaster relief, Edinburgh, UK, 28-30 May 2008, University of Edinburgh, 11p.

5. Nile Basin Initiative website: www.nilebasin.org

6. Nile Basin Initiative, 2011, Institutional Design Study (IDS) Phase1 Component 5, August 2011.

7. UNEP, (2010) Africa Water Atlas. ISBN: 978-92-807-3110-1, 326p.

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Appendix 1: Personnel interviewed Name Position Organisation Location Questionnaire

Type 1. Dr. Wael Khairy Executive Director Nile Basin Initaive Entebbe, Uganda

[email protected] A

2. Eng. Emmanuel Olet Programme Officer, Water Resources Development

Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action program (NELSAP)

Kigali, Rwanda Email: [email protected]

A

3. Mr. Fred Mwango NBI TAC –Technical Advisory Committee member/representative of Kenya to NBI Also former Head of Groundwater Department in Kenya

Ministry of Water and Irrigation Nairobi, Kenya Email: [email protected]

B&C

4. Mr Odilo Mukiza NBI TAC –Technical Advisory Committee member/representative of Rwanda to NBI Also Head of Groundwater Section in Rwanda

Ministry of Natural Resources/ Rwanda Natural Resources Authority

Kigali, Rwanda Email: [email protected]

B &C

5. Ms Rinelde Ndayishimiye

NBI TAC –Technical Advisory Committee member/representative of Rwanda to NBI Also Director General, Geographic Institute of Burundi (IGEBU)

Geographic Institute of Burundi (IGEBU)

Bujumbura, Burundi Email: [email protected]

B

6. Mr. Lister Kongola NBI TAC –Technical Advisory Committee member/representative of Tanzania to NBI Also Head of Groundwater Section in Tanzania

Ministry of Water Resources Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania Email: [email protected]

B&C

7. Ms Rose Mukankole NBI TAC –Technical Advisory Committee member/representative of DR Congo to NBI

Ministry of Environment and Nature Conservation

Kinshasa, DR Congo Email: [email protected]

B&C

19

8. Mr. Aloys Ndugaritse Coordinator of project on Adding Groundwater Dimesnion in Nile Basin water resources

Ministry of Energy and Water Bujumbura, Burundi [email protected]

C

9. Dr Callist Tindimugaya

NBI TAC –Technical Advisory Committee member/representative of Uganda to NBI

Ministry of Water and Environment, Uganda

Entebbe, Uganda Email: [email protected]

B&C

10.Mr Johnson Pule Senior Hydrogeologist Ministry of Water and Environment, Uganda

Entebbe, Uganda Email: [email protected]

C

11. Ms Deborah Mwesigwa

Principal Hydrogeologist Ministry of Water and Environment, Uganda

Entebbe, Uganda Email: [email protected]

C

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Appendix 2: Baseline data, Nile Basin

River Basin Nile Basin Major tributaries White Nile and Blue Nile Riparian states 1. Burundi 2. DR Congo 3. Egypt 4. Eritrea 5. Ethiopia 6. Kenya

7. Rwanda 8. Sudan 9. Tanzania 10. Uganda Upstream riparian states

Burundi, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda

Downstream riparian states

Egypt and Sudan

Total basin area (km2)

3 112 369

Mean annual runoff (mill. M3/year)

83

Total population (mill.)

160 million people

Riparian state Share (%) of basin area

Share (%) of population

Mean annual runoff (million M3/year)

Average rainfall in riparian basin part (mm/yr)

Primary land uses/cover in basin part

Primary water uses in basin part

Major cities in basin part (Mill. pop.)

Protected areas, national parks in basin part

Major water transfer schemes between states

Transboundary conflicts over rivers

1. Burundi, 0.4

1 110

Domestic Gitega

2. DR Congo,

0.7

1 245

Domestic

3. Egypt

10.5

15

Irrigation Cairo Yes

21

4. Eritrea

0.8

520

Domestic

5. Ethiopia

11.7

1 125

Domestic Adis Ababa

6. Kenya

1.5

1 260

Domestic Kisumu

7. Rwanda

0.6

1 105

Domestic Kigali

8.Sudan

63.6

500 Irrigation Khartoum Yes

9. Tanzania

2.7

1 015 Domestic Mwanza

10. Uganda

7.4 1 140 Domestic Kampala

Year of formal recognition of Lake/Basin Org.

Established in 1999 as a transitional institution

Primary mandate of Lake/Basin Org.

Sustainable management and development of the water resources of the Nile Basin

Type of Lake/River Org.? (see /2/)

Lake/River Basin Commission (transitional river basin organisation)

Technical Committee

River Basin Authority

Name of treaties or legally recognized agreements governing water mgt. in the basin

1. Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement

Between (states): signed by 6 out of 9 states. Its ratification is on-going.

22

GROUNDWATER NEED ASSESSMENT

Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO)

BY

Dr. Muna Mirghani

WATERTRAC

Feb. 2012

I

Table of Content

Table of Content ________________________________________________________________ I

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS _________________________________________________ II

1. Introduction/ Background _____________________________________________________ 1

Nile Basin Initiative ________________________________________________________________ 1

Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Programme _____________________________________________ 2

2. Objectives __________________________________________________________________ 4

3. Beneficiaries and partners _____________________________________________________ 4

4. Methodology ________________________________________________________________ 4

a. Process ________________________________________________________________________ 4

b. Survey _________________________________________________________________________ 5

5. Basin Profile _________________________________________________________________ 6

a. Geographical, physical, hydrogeological context _______________________________________ 7

b. Eastern Nile groundwater basins, uses/users, conflicts __________________________________ 8

c. Socio-economic and environmental conditions _______________________________________ 10

d. Water governance framework, human resources _____________________________________ 11

e. Stakeholder involvement ________________________________________________________ 13

f. Technical capacity, data __________________________________________________________ 15

6. Summary of Interview Responses ______________________________________________ 15

1. Governance: ___________________________________________________________________ 15

2. Society/collaboration/inclusion: ___________________________________________________ 16

3. Science/data/capacity building: ___________________________________________________ 18

SWOT Analysis of ENTRO _______________________________________________________ 19

Strength ________________________________________________________________________ 19

Weakness _______________________________________________________________________ 20

Opportunities ____________________________________________________________________ 21

Threats _________________________________________________________________________ 22

7. Conclusion _________________________________________________________________ 23

8. Recommendations __________________________________________________________ 24

a. Monitoring, data and knowledge generation _________________________________________ 24

b. Institutional/organizational/legal aspects ___________________________________________ 25

c. Financial aspects ________________________________________________________________ 25

d. Capacity building aspects- ________________________________________________________ 25

8. References _________________________________________________________________ 26

9. Appendices ________________________________________________________________ 27

Appendix 1 Table of basic data for the NSAS ___________________________________________ 27

II

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AMCOW African Ministers Council on Water AGWC Africa Ground Water Commission AU African Union CBSI Confidence Building and Stakeholder Involvement CFA Cooperative Framework Agreement CRA Cooperative Regional Assessment DSS Decision Support System ENSAP Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program ENSAPT Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program Team. EN Eastern Nile ENTRO Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office GW Ground Water IDEN Integrated Development of the Eastern Nile ISP Institutional Strengthening Project JASD-NSAS Joint Authority for the Study & Development of the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer

System JMP Joint Multipurpose Project JMP1 Joint Multipurpose Project Phase 1 L/RBO Lake/ River Basin Organisation NBI Nile Basin Initiative NBTF Nile Basin Trust Fund NELSAP Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program NFP National Focal Point Nile-COM Nile Council Of Ministers Nile-SEC Nile Secretariat Nile-TAC Nile Technical Advisory Committee SAP Subsidiary Action Programmes SSEA Strategic Social and Environmental Assessment SVP Share Vision Projects TBA Trans Boundary Aquifer TAC Technical Advisory Committee WRPMP Water Resources Planning and Management Project

1

1. Introduction/ Background

Nile Basin Initiative “Nile Basin Initiative” or “NBI” means the transitional arrangement established by the Nile Basin States at the meeting of their Council of Ministers held in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, on 22nd February, 1999, to foster cooperation and sustainable development of the Nile River for the benefit of the inhabitants of those countries (NBI Act, 2002). According to the NBI Act (2002), The NBI shall have the capacity, within Uganda, of a body corporate with perpetual succession, and with power to acquire, hold, manage and dispose of movable and immovable corporate property, and to sue and be sued in its own name. The organs of the NBI include: the Council of Ministers of Water Affairs of the Nile Basin Countries (Nile-COM), which provides policy guidance and makes decisions on matters relating to the NM; the Technical Advisory Committee (Nile-TAC), which renders technical advice and assistance to the Nile-COM; and the Nile Basin Secretariat (Nile-SEC), which renders administrative services to the Nile-COM and Nile-TAC.

“To achieve sustainable socio-economic development through equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources” is the statement that defines the NBI shared vision. NBI is characterized by three distinct yet eventually complimentary and convergent tracks (Richard, 2012).

1. Negotiations amongst riparians to put in place a cooperative framework agreement on the Nile.

2. A set of ‘software’ activities aimed at building trust, confidence and capacity in member countries; laying a foundation for greater regional cooperation; and creating an enabling environment for transboundary investments and transboundary river basin management following IWRM principles

3. Preparatory activities for ‘hard’ or concrete investments on the ground to address poverty, environmental degradation and socio-economic development

The interventions under the last two made up the first strategic action plan for the Nile Basin, the so called “Shared Vision Program” (soft) and “Subsidiary Action Program” (hard).

The Shared Vision Programme includes eight projects established, implemented and closed between 2004 and 2011.

– The Applied Training Project (ATP) – Cairo – The Confidence Building and Stakeholder Involvement Project (CBSI) – Entebbe – The Social Economic Development and Benefit Sharing Project (SDBS)- Entebbe – The Regional Power Trade Project (RTP) – Dar Es Salaam – The Nile Transboundary Environmental Action Program (NTEAP) – Khartoum – The Efficient Water Use in Agriculture Project (EWUAP) – Nairobi – The Water Resources Planning and Management Project (WRPM) – Addis Ababa (will close in

March 2012) – The SVP Coordination Project – Entebbe

The above SVP projects are funded by development partners and countries through grants. Donor support for basin-wide programs, has been mainly operated through the Nile Basin Trust Fund (NBTF) managed by the World Bank on behalf of all donors.

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Achievements of the Shared Vision Programme were summarised by NBI as follows (Richard, 2012):

– Many best practice guides have been prepared in some projects’ focus areas vis-a-vis efficient water use for agriculture, transboundary environment management, transboundary water resources management, and benefit sharing.

– Review and identification of possible documentation of community micro-projects to demonstrate best practices in transboundary water and environmental management have been completed.

– Capacity of projects’ core staff has been built in diverse areas of integrated transboundary water resources management.

NBI have clear impacts on: – Increased dialogue and communication. – Increased visibility of the NBI. – Within each member country, citizens have become more aware of the shared nature of the

Nile resources, and shared responsibility by all the riparian communities to manage the scarce resource wisely.

The present scope emphasises the future of the Nile Basin collaboration and focuses on: – The Institutional Strengthening Project (ISP) that has succeeded the SVP to recommend

bridging function between NBI and a Nile basin Commission. – Preparing for the Commission

o Institutional design and configuration, human resource policies, financial sustainability models.

o Preparation of new Strategic Plan; projects proposals; resource mobilisation drive. o Continued capacity building: � Core staff in NBI. � Technical tools like DSS, monitoring strategy, state of basin report, environment

function.

Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Programme This survey focuses on the action-oriented cooperation of the Eastern Nile sub-Basin, Namely: The Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program (ENSAP).

ENSAP is an investment program by the Governments of, Ethiopia, the Sudan and Egypt under the umbrella of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). It is led by the Eastern Nile Council of Ministers (ENCOM), comprised of the Water Ministers in the three Eastern Nile countries, and an ENSAP Team (ENSAPT) formed of three technical country teams. The objective of ENSAP is to achieve joint action on the ground to contribute to poverty alleviation, economic growth and reversal of environmental degradation.

The Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) was established by an ENCOM decision in 2001, started operation in June 2002 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and was restructured in 2004/2005. ENTRO manages and coordinates the preparation of ENSAP projects, and provides secretariat support to ENCOM/ENSAPT.

ENSAP consists of two tracks of investment projects, Namely:

1- The fast-track projects are intended to demonstrate early benefits of cooperation. These projects implemented and closed (2004-2011) include:

3

– Eastern Nile Planning Model, – Flood Preparedness and Early Warning, – Ethiopia-Sudan Transmission Interconnection, – Eastern Nile Power Trade Program Study, – Irrigation and Drainage Project, – Watershed Management Project.

2- The Multi-purpose track programs and projects pursuing separate national agendas closed in November 2011. These are two, namely; 1. The Joint Multi-Purpose Program (JMP) and JMP1 on Blue-Main Nile sub-basin:

- Multipurpose dam and reservoir on the Blue Nile with associated hydropower facilities, a power transmission system, and catchment management associated with the reservoir and regional ‘hotspots’.

- Regional institutions associated with planning, financing, implementing and operating the anchor project and other regional projects of JMP1;

- Separate national programs on: (a) sustainable watershed management for improved livelihoods and sedimentation management in the upstream catchments; (b) irrigation modernization and (selected) development for water productivity improvement

2. Baro-Akobo-Sobat Multi-Purpose Water Resources Development Project.

The specific objective of ENSAP multipurpose track project is to initiate a regional, integrated, multi-purpose development program through a first set of investments which confer tangible, win-win gains and demonstrate joint action between the Eastern Nile countries (project website). To achieve ENSAP objectives, ENTRO have carried out feasibility studies and proposals for investment projects in the Eastern Nile, build the project staff capacity and made input to project design, formulation of guidelines, initiation of pilot and background studies and analysis.

According to the initial grants terms, the ENTRO project closes its operations on September 30, 2011; but has received one year grant from the World Bank to extend its activities to December 31, 2012. ENTRO requested the extension to enable revision to the JMP Project Development Objectives and the Results Framework, to modify the scope of the main SSEA study; and to enhance the quality of project outputs. Achievements of the Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Progoramme include (NBI, 2012):

– Extensive capacity development of NBI in areas such as project development and management, human resources, IWRM policy development, data and information systems, etc..

– Studies have been completed and recommendations for investment projects in agricultural irrigation, flood protection, power generation and transmission and watershed management have been prepared and are at various stages of seeking financing/implementation.

– Investment and pre-investment programs in the ENSAPs are mainly in form of consultancies/ studies in the areas of flood control, agricultural irrigation and drainage, agricultural trade, power infrastructure development, power trade, and integrated watershed management.

The investment portfolio of NBI projects studied under the SAPs has passed the US$ 2 billion mark (Richard, 2012). Financing of basin-wide programmes has largely been through grants from international development partners – both multilateral and bilateral – supported by counterpart financial and in-kind contributions from the Nile riparian countries.

4

The NBTF closes permanently at the end of 2012, making sustainable financing for NBI more urgent.

2. Objectives The immediate objective of the needs assessment is to assess the present framework, experiences, and capacity for groundwater management in ENTRO, and identify shortcomings in groundwater management as part of integrated and transboundary water resources management (I&TWRM). Furthermore, the objective is to develop targeted and prioritised recommendations for enhancing the capacity of ENTRO for integrated GW management in the Easter Nile Sub-basin, based on consultations with the ENTRO and the riparian states.

The work links to ongoing efforts by the riparian states and the international community to strengthen the ENTRO as main actors in transboundary Eastern Nile water resources management.

This study was setup to answer principal questions that determine the status of the groundwater in managing the Nile Basin water resources, and enable a SWOT analysis addressing: 1- The internal strengths of the Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) that can enhance the integration of GW into the mandate of the ENTRO. 2- The major inherent deficiencies in the ENTRO in addressing appropriately GW in its mandate. 3- Opportunities or drivers exist to support the GW mandate of the ENTRO? 4- The major external threats that inhibit the ENTRO from taking upon it sustainable GW management.

Due to the ENTRO/NBI policy favoring public disclosure of its project outputs, the desk study is based on captions, project presentations and summaries published on the ENTRO and the world bank websites, and the consultant own experience and analysis of the situation on the ground, consolidated by interview elaborated comments to the survey questionnaire.

3. Beneficiaries and partners

The beneficiaries of the needs assessment include ENTRO and the national (ground)water authorities of the member states as the primary recipient. In addition, the needs assessment may inform donors and capacity building organisations in an effort to take the recommendations forward in collaboration with the ENTRO and other stakeholders.

4. Methodology

a. Process The work will be carried out as a combined desktop study (basin profiles) and a survey, involving interviews among ENTRO during Oct.-Dec. 2011. ENTRO is selected together with nine L/RBOs in Africa on the basis of representing the variability and diversity of geographic/ environmental/ hydrogeologial settings and socio-political and institutional realities across Africa. Also, basins are chosen based on their preliminary motivation and need to include groundwater in their management structure. The results of the survey will be consolidated through a subsequent hearing process with

5

the ENTRO, including a regional workshop in first half of 2012, where the regional organisation will be invited to discuss outputs, recommendations and ways forward.

b. Survey Three questionnaires were completed by three organizational levels in the Eastern Nile sub-basin, namely: ENTRO, Countries TAC members, and Project staff at the country focal ministries

The survey has attempted to support SWOT analysis of groundwater management in ENTRO based on the questionnaire feedbacks, specifically those addressing the following issues:

– Governance – Society/collaboration/inclusion – Science/data/capacity building

A total of twelve people from the Eastern Nile were interviewed and responses to three types of questionnaires as shown in table1. Table1: Interviewed ENTRO regional & national affiliated staff & members of working groups Name Position Organisation Address Questionnair

e Type

1. Dr. Ahmed Khalid Eldaw

Executive Director

ENTRO Addis Ababa, Ethiopia +251 11 6461130 [email protected]

A

2. Mr. Michael Abebe JMP regional Project Coordinator

ENTRO Addis Ababa, Ethiopia +251 11 6461130 [email protected]

A

3. Mr. Yosif Ahmed Ibrahim

Senior Water Resources Planner

ENTRO Addis Ababa, Ethiopia +251 911 486047 [email protected]

A

4. Dr. Seifeldin Hamad Abdalla (Became the Minister a week after the interview)

Member, NBI TAC –Technical Advisory Committee, and NEL TAC

Ministry of Irrigation &Water Resources, Sudan, Hydraulic Research Station

Khartoum, Sudan +249 912152563 [email protected]

B

5. Mr. Ibrahim Salih Adam

Member, NBI TAC –Technical Advisory Committee, and ENSAPT ; Chair, WRTO

Ministry of Irrigation &Water Resources, Sudan. WRTO – Water Resources Technical Organ

Khartoum, Sudan +249 9123 29760 [email protected]

B

6. Mr. Fekahmed Negash

Director, Basin Management Directorate

Ministry of Water & Energy, Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia +251 911 688696 [email protected]

B

7. Mr. Tesfaye Director, Ministry of Water Addis Ababa, Ethiopia A & C

6

Tadesse c/o TAC member

Groundwater & Energy, Ethiopia

+251 911 688696 [email protected]

8. Mr. Mostafa Abdel Rahim

Director Groundwater

Ministry of Irrigation &Water Resources, Sudan

Khartoum, Sudan +249 912 147907 [email protected]

C

9. Ms. Nadia Ibrahim Shakak

Member Working Group, NTEAP- Water Quality Project

Ministry of Irrigation &Water Resources, Sudan

Khartoum, Sudan +249 122 335413 [email protected]

B

10.Ms Widad Mutwakil Counterpart, WRPMP- DSS Project

Ministry of Irrigation & Water Resources, Sudan

Khartoum, Sudan +249 122 094605 [email protected]

B

11. Mr. Joel Nobert NBI-DSS working group member, Lecturer at the University DSM

University of Dar Es Salam

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania +255 752 546259 [email protected]

B

5. Basin Profile Technical cooperation is considered as a central pillar of shared international water resources and a core process in the long way between politics and institutional building. However, the cooperation continuum progresses from coordination, to collaboration to joint action before it reach an ultimate sate of integrated basin level management through a L/RBO.

ENSAP & NELSAP represent the NBI’s technical cooperation process, and a vehicle for institutional strengthening mechanism to establish the future River Nile Basin Organisation.. In that sense, ENTRO (Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office) currently a multilateral corporate organization, would ultimately transform into an RBO through the capacity building efforts took place from June 2002 to September 2011 (recently extended to December 2012).

In this study the description of the basin profile entirely relied on reports and web publications of the FAO. NBI/ENTRO adopts a strict policy to limit access to information and project products to staff and few government officials involved at specific assignments within the NBI structure. Extensive studies have been carried out under the NBI/ ENTRO/NELSAP umbrella, but are still undisclosed. One reason mentioned by some project staff and counterparts is that most of the project components were not finalized to the expected quality, and there is no final output yet apart from the project staff in place. A second important reason in my opinion is the absence of a system that regulate knowledge management in all of the NBI setup; contributing to professionals preoccupied with his own interests & withholding knowledge as a source of power of involved staff.

Key data on the EN sub-basins, ENTRO, and transboundary aquifers, to be collected as part of the desktop study and contributing to the EN profile description, are given in Appendix 1.

7

a. Geographical, physical, hydrogeological context Eastern Nile river system (EN) (figure 1) is composed of the following sub-basins: Surface water (figure 2):

1. Baro-Sobat-White Nile Sub-basin 2. A bbay-Blue Nile Sub-basin 3. Tekeze-Atbara Sub-basin 4. Main Nile Sub-basin

The catchment area and average annual discharge in the Eastern Nile sub-basins is provided in table 1. Table 1: Surface water resources in the Eastern Nil e (Figure 1)

EN Sub-basin Annual flow (km 3) Area (km 2)

Baro-Sobat-White Nile Sub-basin 13.687 468,215

A bbay-Blue Nile Sub-basin 51 311,548

Tekeze-Atbara Sub-basin 11.45 227,128

Main Nile Sub-basin 84 656,398

Figure 1: Relief and Drainage in EN. Source: ENTRO, 2008.

Figure 2: Eastern Nile Basin and Sub -basins. Source: ENTRO/ EDA, 2007.

8

b. Eastern Nile groundwater basins, uses/users, conflicts Groundwater basins (both transboundary and interior aquifers) in the Eastern Nile system include:

– Lake Tana basin (Ethiopia) – The Blue Nile basin aquifer (Ethiopia, Sudan) – The Nubian sandstone Basin (Sudan, Chad, Egypt & Libya), which could contribute to water

transfers from the Nile basin to other parts of the Nubian aquifer located in countries not within the Nile hydrological boundaries..

– the Gedarif basin (Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea) – Sudd wetlands Basin (Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya) – the Aswan high dam groundwater system

The EN basin groundwater systems identified above were not defined and have been ignored in all ENTRO project components. However, the regional assessment of the watershed management project has cited the geological formation (figure 2) in the eastern Nile, with no further consideration of groundwater occurrence or hydrologic interaction between surface/ ground water resources in any of the sub-basins.

Recharge to groundwater in the Eastern Nile is estimated under separate projects (e.g. British Geological Survey, IAEA, etc.) as part of groundwater balance studies. Some estimates are available from publication on Nile Water Balance Models using satellite derived daily estimates of precipitation and evapotranspiration in a GIS grid to model stream flow components in the basin.

Farther than ENTRO/NBI projects, water balance studies conducted in different parts of the Nile basin have indicated considerable amounts of groundwater recharge in different tributaries/ lakes/ wetlands not explicitly accounted for in the NBI planning model and DSS system.

A study by Bonsor et al. (2010) estimated the total annual recharge to the Nile Basin groundwater basins as 400km3/yr.

The estimated surface water resources in the three riparian countries as adopted by the state ministries of water are shown in table 3.

Figure 2: Geology of the EN. Source: ENTRO, 2008.

9

Table 3: Surface and Groundwater resources in EN Countries (figures obtained from presentation by the country representatives in the IGAD workshop, 2010).

Country Estimated Renewable groundwater (Km 3)

Surface Water (Km3)

Egypt 11.3 56

Ethiopia 10.0 122

Sudan 4.0 26.5 The volume of groundwater resources is however considered inaccurate due to the lack of adequate information on groundwater basins based on detailed hydrgeological studies. IGAD have started an initiative to assist some countries to establish proper assessment of groundwater resources.

Over the history, water use in the Nile ranged from rainfed agriculture in the upper Nile and Flood Plain agriculture in the downstream reaches. Currently irrigated agriculture both from surface and groundwater is spreading all over the Eastern Nile basin.

The bulk of water users are scattered smallholders, depends heavily on water for livelihoods and socio-economic development.

International investment in agriculture in the Nile countries has recently expanded in the Eastern Nile with high withdrawals both from surface and groundwater systems of the Eastern Nile Basin.

The current and planned use of the eastern Nile River water by the three riparian countries as well as future development scenarios is estimated by the ENSAP DSS project as shown in table 4. In the absence of EN allocation system or joint development plan, national use/ development level by the EN countries is still under negotiation with no agreed coordination mechanism.

Table 4: Current and planned Eastern Nile water use by the riparian countries. Source: Nile DSS project estimates (A. Said, 2011).

10

There are concerns on national water security versus transboundary cooperation, as water has, and will continue to play a central role in the political economy of the region; and agriculture and agricultural water development for economic growth and poverty eradication will remain of high importance.

Information on groundwater uses from the EN Basin is not available and has not been an issue of the EN cooperation process. Groundwater is regarded as too complex at the current state of knowledge on the EN subsurface system. There are also legitimate fears of bringing further conflicts to the Nile water debate due to lack of reliable information on the surface-ground water interaction and the overall hydrological cycle in the basin.

c. Socio-economic and environmental conditions About 100 Million people live in the Eastern Nile Basin unevenly distributed in three countries (figure 3) over an area of 1.7 Million square kilometers (ENTRO, 2008). The region is characterised by high poverty levels (figure 4) especially in rural setting, in areas of high population pressure and where impacts of disasters such as conflicts in south Sudan/ Ethiopia and drought strikes prevails.

The Eastern Nile countries are predominantly dependant on the Nile water for a big portion of their GDP. Agriculture is still a source of income for the majority of the population in Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. The social economy in the Nile can be interpreted based on the water use pattern in the riparian countries.

Figure 3: population density in EN.

Figure 4: Poverty Rates in EN. Source: ENTRO, 2008.

11

d. Water governance framework, human resources In this section, the Eastern Nile Sub-Basin governance is examined against the cooperative continuum towards successful implementation of joint action based on ENTRO proposed projects targets and one system interventions in the sub-basin.

The policy, legislation and institutional framework for cooperation is reviewed, capacity to support ground water management in the Eastern Nile is assessed. ENTRO Legal Status

The legal status of ENTRO is conferred upon it by the Eastern Nile Council of Ministers (ENCOM) and a Headquarters Agreement with the Government of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia. ENTRO has legal power to receive and administer grants funding its activities, to sue and be sued, to acquire or dispose movable and immovable properties and to enter into legally binding agreements. ENTRO is governed be the law of Ethiopia. (http://nilebasin.org/newentro/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86&Itemid=128&lang=en).

Current Legal Framework for Managing the Nile Basin NBI is a transitional institutional mechanism until agreed by the Nile riparian countries in 1998, recognizing that cooperative development held the best prospects of bringing mutual benefits to the region. Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, the Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, (except Eritrea) - jointly created an inclusive regional partnership, to facilitate the common pursuit of the sustainable development and management of Nile waters. NBI launched in 1999, is comprised of the Nile-COM, a Technical Advisory Committee (Nile-TAC), and a Secretariat (Nile-SEC) based in Kampala, Uganda.. Negotiations over a cooperative framework agreement (CFA) were concluded in April 2010. Seven of the nine countries (except Egypt, and Sudan ) that share the Nile Basin signed the CFA and agreed to form a permanent negotiating body to resolve questions of resource-sharing for the world's longest river. However, there are still disagreements among the states. Institutional Framework for Cooperation

Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Programme (ENSAP) The strategic goal of the Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program (ENSAP) "seeks to develop the water resources of the Eastern Nile Basin in a sustainable and equitable way to ensure prosperity, security and peace for all its peoples". It is managed by the Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The institutional framework for integrated land and water management in the Eastern Nile Basin has been established under the auspices of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). Any consideration of cooperative mechanisms must therefore start with the existing NBI institutional arrangements for cooperation.

The Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Programme (ENSAP) is an investment programme by the Governments of Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sudan under the umbrella of the Nile Basin Initiative – NBI (Figure 5). It is led by the Eastern Nile Council of Ministers (ENCOM). ENCOM comprises the Ministers representing key stakeholder ministries and the ENSAP Teams (ENSAPT) comprises

12

three technical country teams. The primary objective of ENSAP is to achieve joint action of the ground to promote poverty alleviation, economic growth and arresting environmental degradation. The Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO), which is a legal entity established by an ENCOM decision in 2002, manages and coordinates the preparation of ENSAP Projects. Figure 6 presents the setup of ENSAP.

Figure 5: Institutional Structure of the Nile Basi n Initiative – Richard, 2012

Figure 6: Institutional Structure of the Eastern N ile Subsidiary Action Programme NBI Institutional Capacity Institutional strengthening of the Nile River Basin Organization is one of the NBI projects including the Institutional Design Study (IDS), a situation analysis and diagnosis, followed by recommendations on strengthening the NBI in the near to intermediate future and, finally recommendations on institutional options for a new Nile River Basin Commission that will follow from the ratification of the CFA (NBI, 2011).

13

The current transitional operational structure (NBI) consists of the Nile Council of Ministers of Water Affairs (Nile-COM), a Technical Advisory Committee and a regional secretariat (figure 5). The Council of Ministers serves as the decision making organ and provides policy guidance with respect to Nile management. Nile-COM is supported by a Technical Advisory Committee (Nile-TAC), which consists of two representatives from the Ministries responsible for water resources management from each country. Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office

The currently role of Eastern Nile Technical Regional office (ENTRO) is to prepare, manage and coordinate projects within the Eastern Nile basin. Moreover, ENTRO coordinates the implementation of ENSAP, strengthens institutions and provides secretariat support to ENCOM/ENSAPT.

Restructured in 2003, ENTRO is led by the Executive Director and has three Units: (i) Projects Coordination Unit, (ii) Social Development Office and (iii) the Finance and Administration Unit (figure 3). The Projects Coordination Unit has a Senior Project Coordinator and Project Coordinators for each of the ENSAP Projects (Figure 3). The Social Development Office (SDO) supports all ENSAP Projects through capacity building in social development, input into project design, formulation of guidelines and the initiation of studies and analysis.

At the Country level ENSAP has National Focal Points (NFP) that undertakes overall coordination and liaison of National Coordinators and Working Groups (of specific projects) and the National Social Development Coordinators (NSDC's).

The current ENSAP programme started a set of sub-projects comprising the Integrated Development of the Eastern Nile (IDEN). IDEN projects represented the first phase and referred to as “Fast track projects”, which was composed of analytical studies to get more insight into the basin integrated development process. The second phase focused on Joint Multipurpose Program (JMP), and has recently extended to December 2012. JMP is a long-term program with a 25-30 year horizon that includes a coordinated set of investments to ensure the sustainable development and management of shared Eastern Nile waters, including the Abbay (Blue Nile), Tekeze (Setit)-Atbara, Baro-Akobo-Sobat, portions of the White Nile and the Main Nile (Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_Basin_Initiative#The_Eastern_Nile_Subsidiary_Action_Program). The project has two components: (i) JMP I ID studies; and (ii) Capacity Building and Implementation Support. JMP1 ID is currently having the objective, “to assist the three Eastern Nile (EN) countries in identification of the JMP 1 investment package, through a series of studies and consultative activities that take into account economic, social and environmental sustainability issues in an integrated manner. The delay in a study on Strategic Social and Environmental Assessment (SSEA) during phase 1 in 2010 prevented ENTRO from embarking on the other technical studies envisaged under the Phase 2 outputs of the project.

e. Stakeholder involvement According to NBI website, 2011, (http://www.nilebasin.org/newsite/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59%3Acompleted-svp-projects&catid=49%3Acompleted-projects&Itemid=90&lang=en) stakeholder has been addressed in the completed SVP on Confidence Building & Stakeholder Involvement (CBSI). CBSI

14

aimed at supporting both SVP and SAP by providing an avenue for participation of a wide variety of Stakeholders in NBI and by crafting communication programs at two levels; at the investment level and at the regional level to publicize the benefits of Regional Cooperation as they emerge from the investment programs. The CBSI also aimed at providing contemporary regional activities to build trust across country boarders in the possibility of such cooperation.

ENTRO (CRA, 2007) acknowledge the definition of a “Stakeholder” as any person, group, enterprise, organisation or institution that has an interest in any ongoing or proposed watershed management activity or intervention that may affect their welfare in any way. However, it has emphasised that the stakeholder analysis must be restricted in the project, being of a strategic regional scale.

ENTRO identified two types of stakeholder of direct and practical relevance to the project. The first involves those stakeholders who are able to contribute information, technical and policy advice and recommendations during the formulation of the Project. These generally comprise government ministries and organizations and relevant Research and Academic Organizations. The most relevant of these are represented on the “National Coordinating Group”.

The second type of stakeholders are the resource user groups. These would include the main users of the sub-basins natural resources including but not limited to: smallholder farmers, agro-pastoralists, pastoralists, commercial farmers (rainfed and irrigated). Again ENTRO considers the analysis and consultation with resources users at regional level as not possible, given the size and scale of the Eastern Nile Basin. Allocation of resource to analysis and consultation with these stakeholder is found to be relevant only to studies and research that includes social aspects of natural resource use and management.

Stakeholders participation was lately recognised by the NBI project, and introduced in 2009 as a new component under the Institutional Strengthening Project (ISP). According to the strategy for addressing environmental and social safeguards under the NBI institutional strengthening project (ISP, 2009) public consultation is considered as a cornerstone of the NBI; therefore, all environmental and social studies prepared by ENTRO or NELSAP-CU will be subject to consultation among affected stakeholders (including communities). Furthermore, all such documents will be available to the public through the NBI regional, sub-regional, and national offices. To facilitate this process, Public Consultation Frameworks for the two SAPs, were supposed to be developed through the SVP – CBSI project ended in 2010. SAPs will operationalise these frameworks. In reality, these frameworks have not been developed/ implemented till the end of the SAPs in September 2011.

Forms of stakeholders’ participation envisaged by ENTRO are “Wide consultations, with specially formed multi-sectoral Regional Working Group, a Regional Parliamentary Committee, and national reference groups..

ENTRO JMP is planning a consultation and communication strategy. After the ongoing JMP Identification Studies (component 1), the future component 2 of the ENTRO JMP Project is to identify, in more refined and concrete ways, key stakeholders; develop consultation strategies, information sharing mechanisms and instruments; and will incorporate consultative activities and information-sharing into the implementation program. The main output for this sub-component is a Stakeholder Involvement and Communication Strategy with clear objectives, target audiences, timelines, organizational arrangements and activities that will be satisfactorily implemented.

15

currently, the approved form of participation includes one NGO that has been registered as a network of Nile basin NGOs and assumed to represent all EN community organizations through membership in that NGOs network. This form of participation has not been effective as it lacks the mandate for the assumed representation.

f. Technical capacity, data There is no public document on the status of technical capacity and data of the Eastern Nile organization. However, the consultant tried to interpret the progress based on the overall development in the project activities and strategies.

ENTRO was established in 2001 to develop the technical capacity of the regional organization as a major output of the NBI project. At the end of the project in September 2011, ENTRO revised its original objectives regarding the EN basin integrated development process.

For its planned long term programme, ENTRO had the original Project Development Objective, “to assist the three Eastern Nile countries in identification of the JMP 1 investment package, through a series of studies and consultative activities that take into account economic, social and environmental sustainability issues in an integrated manner, which is no longer relevant (world bank, September 2011). The proposed new ENTRO Development Objective is “to assist the three Eastern Nile countries in examining joint water resources development possibilities on the Abbay/Blue and Main-stem Nile, taking economic, social and environmental sustainability issues into account in an integrated manner.

Generally, regional data used for various ENTRO projects were compiled from national databases/ archives, in addition to online published data of disputed accuracy.

6. Summary of Interview Responses

1. Governance: – ENTRO has a staffed permanent secretariat that is legally registered in Addis Ababa under

the Ethiopian law.

– The constitution establishing the Eastern Nile regional organisation, has not addressed groundwater and groundwater issues in any form.

– According to the survey responses, no any principal legal role of ENTRO in groundwater is established in the eastern Nile basin. Some ENSAP projects such as the watershed management have referred to Basin Geology as part of the physical system description. However, there is no enough capacity at ENTRO to deal with groundwater, and it remains outside the scope of project activities ending by December 2012.

– Generally, ENTRO has not yet put in place any regional or basin-level management systems (e.g. monitoring, information, planning, etc.). At this stage, the regional project has rather emphasised only technical analysis for understanding of Eastern Nile River system & development potential/ impact. None of ENTRO projects (e.g. fast track analytical studies or identification & preparation of long term multipurpose investment plans for capacity building and Joint development) have considered groundwater. In some projects such as the planning

16

model and the Nile DSS, seepage to groundwater is accounted as a loss term in the Nile water balance to enable river model calibration.

– Groundwater is not considered in ENTRO water management structure, and no any actions/project was identified to foster groundwater management within the Eastern Nile sub-Basin. The main reason is that member states groundwater departments/ professional were never involved in any of the function or national groups/ committees that address groundwater issues in the basin.

– Interviewed staffs at the national groundwater departments have indicated absence of linkage and involvement in the ENSAP activities. ENTRO lead staff believes that though not yet part of the institution’ mandate, however, groundwater has been recognised in a latest project study on SSEA (Strategic Social and Environmental Assessment) in the Blue Nile/Main Nile sub-basin. The study, though not yet disclosed, has identified the issue of groundwater assessment and mapping, however, this remains a very early stage as has not been reflected in the ENTRO current or long-term action plans.

– responses by some ENTRO staff has reflected big capacity gap in groundwater, as well as absence of formal collaboration with organisations/programmes/institutes/projects that have a groundwater component, such as African networks, policy decision makers (e.g. AU, AMCOW, AGWC, IGAD, JASD-NSAS, etc.) and international donors. State ministries have engaged in some other national and regional projects addressing groundwater surface water interaction projects.

– Few interviewed ENTRO staff and groundwater professional from member states are aware of the UN resolution on transboundary aquifers, and almost none of the interviewed is aware of the AMCOW work plan on groundwater.

– Groundwater remains as a weak component in the EN regional project, although some staff highlighted the need to consider groundwater in the identification and preparation of EN water resources development and management projects/programs. ENTRO needs awareness of the AMCOW work plan on groundwater and activities involved; as well as “institutionalised" knowledge about the UN resolution on transboundary aquifers. This would necessarily require that the member states expand ENTRO mandate to include water groundwater.

2. Society/collaboration/inclusion: – Groundwater in the Nile basin is an important resource for domestic water supply and

livelihood particularly in rural settings representing about 70 % of the Basin population. A recently expanding groundwater use is large scale irrigated agriculture.

– The main challenge in the Eastern Nile is lack of adequate institutions addressing groundwater in the regional organisation, as well as lack of capacity both of ENTRO recruited staff and of national staff involved in the NBI project in hydrogeological science and groundwater resources development. The review of ENTRO staff background and project experience, indicated limited understanding of groundwater, vis-à-vis occurrences, recharge, flow mechanism and interaction with Nile surface water resources . There is a need to allocate a number of ENTRO posts to hydrogeologists and engage national groundwater units in the project activities/ platforms vis-à-vis national committees, working groups, etc..

17

– Survey respondents identified the need to assess Nile groundwater management (quantity/ quality/ monitoring/ technology); pollution risk, and level of groundwater use. Recognition of groundwater by ENTRO with equal focus as on the surface water is considered as a key element of the effort to ensure integrated approach to water resources development and management in the EN.

– Training on integrated groundwater management in River Basins comes out as a kry capacity gap in the Eastern Nile.

– Desk study as well as the questionnaire feedback indicated great disparities between the groundwater conditions and challenges in the riparian states. Storage capacity/ volume, recharge conditions, resource development, pollution in large urban centres (Addis/ Cairo/ Khartoum), and the salinity issues and sea water intrusion in the lower parts of the basin were examples of disparities in conditions of the Easter Nile groundwater. Some countries have already advanced national groundwater information system which is web-based and GIS supported. Also some riparian countries have enjoyed better donor support and implemented projects for surface groundwater interaction and water balance studies. Accordingly, the level of groundwater knowledge development and management also vary considerably between the three riparian countries.

– No formalized mechanism for the exchange of knowledge and cooperation with riparian states. The riparian states own national systems for the knowledge/ data, which are shared to facilitate the work of the ENTRO to meet its mandate of projects/ programs identification and preparation.

– Currently, the regional institution/ ENTRO helps create conducive environment for knowledge/ information sharing, contributes to better understanding and enhance cooperation by transferring analysed data and produced information to national institutions.

– Eastern Nile countries agreed to commission a no boarder dada inventory system as part of future plans of the JMP1 “one-system” inventory, However groundwater is not foreseen.

– There is no evident of sufficient commitment of the riparian states to include GW on the ENCOM political agenda. However, being members of AMCOW and other groundwater international initiatives, there is a scope to capitalise on these memberships to facilitate decisions and commitment to include GW in the mandate of the ENTRO. This would require further supreme political deliberations and endorsement.

– A key concern with regard to transboundary groundwater issues in the Nile Basin is that

augmentation to groundwater from the Nile Water is not measured in all NBI countries, and there is no willingness by the Nile Basin countries to share information in this regard, even if it is available, since this type of information is considered as highly classified information. Skeptic raised by respondents at the TAC level on the fears of including groundwater component in the Nile Basin negotiation, as it may further complicate already blocked surface water agreement.

– Under its current mandate, ENTRO sees no influence of GW policy status in the riparian states in the functionality of the regional project. This shows the level of capacity, and consequences regarding the importance given to the Nile groundwater.

18

– Responses of ENTRO confirmed preliminary efforts/ plans to strengthen the participation of the riparian states. At the project level, a technical committee and steering committee were established from the three riparian states. Other structures identified by the regional project to involve stakeholders include networking, commissioning research and studies in groundwater major issues, working with EN universities to address groundwater at pilot scale. Though considered together with consultation and quality as the scope of ENTRO’s working groups, mechanisms for feedback, outreach and dissemination of outputs remained unfulfilled.

The issue of information sharing remains ENTRO/NBI dilemma. It has been extremely difficult to get access to ENTRO/ NBI staff for the purpose of this survey through normal communication channels. ENTRO has established social and communication unit to strengthen stakeholder involvement and build capacity. It was however out of the question to share specific document (such as communication strategies developed for it major programs/ projects) referred to by some respondents to the questionnaire. Options studied/ identified by ENTRO/ NBI consultants for the future institutional design of a permanent river basin organisation is not yet disclosed.

– According to responses, ENTRO exchanges knowledge, experience with other L/RBOs, namely: (1) OMVS/ Senegal River Basin Commission; (2) LHWP/ Lesotho Highland Water project; (3) Niger River Basin Commission. However, there was no exchange with overlapping groundwater organizations such as the Joint Authority for the Study & Development of the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (JASD-NSAS).

3. Science/data/capacity building: – There is no understanding as to which extent groundwater-surface water interaction

determines water balance and water quality in the river basin and across riparian territories. Only surface water is focus of the institutional mandate of ENTRO, with better developed data/ information/ knowledge/ understanding. ENTRO staffs consider that Groundwater should receive more attention regionally, particularly on monitoring of quantity, quality and use; as well as assessment, mapping, appropriate technology, research and studies.

– to better understand the interaction between ground-surface water in the EN, suggestions during the survey included:

Extend existing models to simulate groundwater at pilot scale, and build capacity by exchanging knowledge and joint research on groundwater with national universities and modeling experts with locally relevant knowledge. The example of piloting groundwater cases in the Eastern Nile planning model project was highlighted. The cases include working with Cairo University to address issues of salinity and sea water intrusion in the Nile Delta; working with the University of Khartoum on groundwater recharge at the Gezira area; and working with Addis Ababa University on groundwater recharge in Lake Tana area. In some cases, the results were not up to the quality as local universities lack the capacity on basin application, and are not necessarily the right expertise in the subject as has been mentioned earlier. Local expert consulting bureaus proved to be better for such studies.

– A process of managing the Nile TBAs (table 2) vis-à-vis identification, delineation, diagnosis, conceptual/numerical model, strategic planning, and implementation of joint projects is completely absent. No any data related to groundwater in the Nile basin has been collected.

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Nevertheless, almost all respondents are of the opinion that groundwater is very important to establish the Nile hydrological cycle and quality, and should be considered as a major component in ENTRO analytical studies and future capacity building and investment plans. Nationally, groundwater surface water interaction is considered highly valuable in planning and management of the water budget, and influence conflicts as part of the amount of water allocated to each riparian country according to the principle of no harm.

– There is no regional information and communication system for the Eastern Nile; and has thus poor outreach plans. ENTRO is currently aiming to exchange knowledge with selected EN universities and research centers to pilot outreach activities. However, the system is not yet in place until a disclosure is envisaged for the project outputs.

– Riparian states’ national groundwater departments are not directly involved in ENSAP, and accordingly there is no exchange of groundwater data between countries or within NBI/ENSAP projects. At this stage there is no mechanism for groundwater data sharing at ENTRO. However, the planning lead of ENTRO sees the scope for sharing within the JMP1 “one-system” inventory, where EN countries agreed to commission a no border data inventory system where both surface and groundwater data are collected. The JMP lead specialist highlighted the ongoing data collection on groundwater use along the Blue Nile/ Main Nile river system as an example.

– There is no permanent post in ENTRO for hydrogeologist, however as part of EN studies (e.g. power trade & JMP1) consultants with background in hydrogeology were recruited.

– The present capacity (in terms of human and financial resources) is not sufficient to address groundwater management appropriately. However, resource mobilization function of ENTRO is relatively strong. ENTRO confirmed ability to mobilize required resources if groundwater is institutioned, asked, tasked and mandated.

– The ongoing or planned capacity building on groundwater has been described as weak.

– Respondents stressed the need to expand the mandate of ENTRO to address both surface and groundwater resources, and develop the capacity of ENTRO and the Eastern Nile related institutions in all areas of groundwater management. If mandated, ENTRO has to institutionalise the function within its units, then appoint lead specialists in related areas.

– National respondents found it difficult to separate surface and groundwater balance and quality in a river basin context, however highlighted the lack of detailed knowledge about groundwater occurrence and aquifer systems in the Nile basin as an obstacle.

SWOT Analysis of ENTRO

Strength GW governance in ENTRO (Institutional/organizational/legal/ financial aspects)

Collaboration with riparian states

GW data management/sharing (Monitoring, data and knowledge generation)

Capacity building aspects

Resource mobilization ENTRO conducive Consensus by ENTRO ENTRO

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function of ENTRO is relatively strong. If institutioned, asked, tasked and mandated, ENTRO will be able to mobilize required resources.

environment for knowledge/ information sharing contributes to better understanding and enhance cooperation by transferring analyzed data and produced information to national institutions.

staffs and national partners that Groundwater should receive more attention, particularly on monitoring of quantity, quality and use, assessment (quality, quantity), mapping, appropriate technology, research and studies; to better understand the interaction between ground-surface water.

acknowledgement of the need to extend the mandate of the regional organization.

Evolving strategies and restructuring as a result of ENTRO developed capacity

Weakness GW governance in ENTRO (Institutional/organizational/legal/ financial aspects)

Collaboration with riparian states

GW data management / sharing (Monitoring, data and knowledge generation)

Capacity building aspects

The Nile Basin Initiative is not an RBO. The project operations will cease in December 2012, allowing limited time for addressing groundwater management.

none of the base analytical and consultative activities carried by ENTRO considered groundwater management in the Eastern Nile.

No formalized mechanism for the exchange of knowledge and cooperation with riparian states.

lack of adequate capacity both of the regional organisation (ENTRO) recruited staff and of national staff involved in the projects to address groundwater management appropriately.

Groundwater is not yet part of the institution’ mandate of ENTRO.

no legal role of ENTRO in groundwater is established in the eastern Nile basin.

Legal framework to protect groundwater is not yet in place.

National groundwater departments/ professional in member states were never involved in any of the function of the regional organization.

Lack of infrastructure for regional / basin information management system.

no basin monitoring system in place yet.

lack of institutional capacity and project staff knowledge on groundwater component.

lack of awareness on Africa wide plans (e.g. AMCOW) and international legal development in groundwater management (e.g.

21

UN resolution).

Efforts/ plans to strengthen stakeholders’ participation/ platforms is still at preliminary level.

the long term Joint cooperative development has not included any groundwater activities neither at regional nor at the national level.

there is no exchange of groundwater data between countries or within ENSAP projects.

information sharing is not yet achieved as it should be in realizing the transboundary River Nile management..

no efforts has been taken by ENTRO or by the NBI/WRPMP on groundwater, to aid in understanding hydrologic interactions with surface water in the Nile River System.

Project policy requires restricted stakeholder analysis in the project, being of a strategic regional scale. (CRA, 2007).

Lack of understanding to which extent groundwater-surface water interaction determines water balance and water quality in the Nile basin and across riparian territories.

The NBTF closes permanently at the end of 2012, making sustainable financing for NBI more urgent.

no permanent post in ENTRO for hydrogeologist

Opportunities GW governance in ENTRO (Institutional/organizational/legal/ financial aspects)

Collaboration with riparian states

GW data management/sharing (Monitoring, data and knowledge generation)

Capacity building aspects

The ongoing Institutional Strengthening Project (ISP) implemented by NBI, which is expected to provide options for a fully functioning, effective and efficient river basin institution that successfully execute programs and projects in line with the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) vision.

Multipurpose joint (JMP1) development of the Eastern Nile was strategically proposed to demonstrate benefits of cooperation and ensure good practice.

Concerns about depletion of the GW reserves and pollution threats.

some riparian countries enjoys better donor support and is implementing projects on surface groundwater interaction and water balance studies.

being members of Importance of GW JMP1 one system Existing efforts of

22

AMCOW and other groundwater international initiatives, there is scope that Nile riparian organisation could capitalise on these memberships to facilitate decisions and commitment to include GW in the mandate of the institution.

resources for socio-economic development in the EN countries.

inventory, Eastern Nile countries agreed to commission a no boarder dada inventory system, However groundwater is not foreseen.

working with Universities in member states to address GW issues of some cases.

The results were not up-to the quality due to lack of capacity on basin application, and need for partnership between academia & government.

the ongoing data collection on groundwater use along the Blue Nile/ Main Nile river system.

Collaboration with existing projects on a number of the Nile groundwater sub-basins, such as the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer projects by the Joint authority for the study and development; etc..

Threats GW governance in ENTRO (Institutional/organizational/ legal/ financial aspects)

Collaboration with riparian states

GW data management/sharing (Monitoring, data and knowledge generation)

Capacity building aspects

Supreme political deliberations and endorsement are required.

Groundwater recharge issues may complicate negotiations.

A key concern with regard to transboundary groundwater issues in the Nile Basin is that augmentation to groundwater from the Nile Water is not measured in all NBI countries, and there is no willingness by the Nile Basin countries to share information in

ENTRO disallow/ exclude open data policy, which is a key instrument in capacity building.

23

this regard.

Possible inter-basin transfer

Disparities in the status of national groundwater management, particularly GW information systems in the EN countries.

there is general disparity donor interest in the EN countries creating varying conditions in the management/ development of GW.

There is no evident of sufficient commitment of the riparian states to include GW on the ENCOM political agenda.

unification/ compatibility of data between countries, data sharing, basin database and monitoring network.

National respondents highlighted the lack of detailed knowledge about groundwater occurrence and aquifer systems in the Nile basin;

The regional project relies on online inaccurate estimates on the Nile water resources, as some countries failed to share required data for NBI studies.

7. Conclusion

The study has led to a number of conclusions on the current situation, and needs to enhance groundwater management within the Eastern Nile sub-basin.

Key internal strength that can enhance the integration of GW into the mandate of ENTRO is:

– The level of consensus by ENTRO staffs that Groundwater should receive more attention to better understand the interaction between ground-surface water. Responses particularly addressthe need for regional monitoring of quantity, quality and use, assessment, mapping, appropriate technology use, and research capacities;.

– Strong resource mobilization function of ENTRO, that enable the regional organization to mobilize required resources if groundwater is mandated,

– Extension of JMP and ISP projects is a great opportunities to restructure the Nile basin management strategies and future action to include groundwater management.

Major weakness/deficiencies of ENTRO in addressing appropriately GW in its mandate include:

– lack of the mandate and legal capacity to include groundwater in the regional project activities, as well as in the future long-term cooperative plans of the permanent river basin commission process.

– lack of adequate capacity to address groundwater management appropriately, both of the regional organisation (ENTRO) recruited staff and of national staff involved in the projects.

24

– lack of involvement of national groundwater offices in ENTRO activities and stakeholder consultative process.

– Lack of understanding to which extent groundwater-surface water interaction determines water balance and water quality in the Nile basin and across riparian territories.

Ample opportunities are available within Africa wide economic communities, international development initiatives, and RECs projects on groundwater management. Present opportunities or drivers to support the GW mandate of the Eastern Nile include: – existing groundwater knowledge outside ENTRO. – High relevance of the planned JMP 1 to groundwater integration in the EN basin as an important

part of IWRM principles adopted as primary objective for institutions reform of the EN regional organization.

– International legal development on the law of transboundary aquifers. – AMCOW plan to promote the institutionalisation of groundwater management by river basin

organisations.

Major threats that could inhibit ENTRO from taking groundwater management are: – National skeptic on further complicating negotiation on cooperative framework agreement; hence

no sufficient interest/ commitment to manage groundwater within the Nile Basin. – Lack of political will due to lack of awareness in groundwater issues in the Nile Basin. – In all EN countries, interaction of surface and groundwater in the Nile basin has only recently

become a subject of studies, and the Basin countries are not yet ready to share information in this regard.

– No unification of groundwater data between countries, due to lack of data sharing agreements, basin database or regional monitoring network.

8. Recommendations Recommendations are clustered into four aspects according to the subtitles below.

a. Monitoring, data and knowledge generation – Establish regional data sharing protocol that include groundwater. – focus on packaging information on groundwater issues to assist the basin cooperation and

policy dialogue, through increasing visibility of benefits (to politicians and public) of managing groundwater in river basin organisations.

– invest on ENTRO supporting system/functions to really support decentralized monitoring and information systems based on IWRM principles.

– Coordinate regional observation networks of all aspects of water cycle (portals, strategies, data quality, etc.).

– harmonise capacities and knowledge in groundwater in the riparian countries to ensure equitable benefit from regional projects.

– seize Africa wide opportunities to access satellite data having no political boundaries to convince governments to share in-situ data.

– upgrade the Nile Basin modeling framework to integrate groundwater in the Nile sub-surface aquifer systems

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b. Institutional/organizational/legal aspects – Extend the mandate of the NBI to include groundwater management within the role of the

regional/ basin organization and the future commission. – restructure the ongoing ISP and JMP to mainstream groundwater in the future institutional

and strategic investments plans of the Nile basin cooperation. – Link the Nile basin projects to current environmental and national security issues (e.g. water/

food security, climate change risks, ect.) to highlight the role of groundwater in the Nile water resources management agenda.

– Institutionalise national groundwater departments as key constituent of the EN institutional structure.

– Instituinalise stakeholders participation through open membership public platforms to disseminate information and generated knowledge

– Leverage open-data government initiatives within the Nile Basin. – Establish regional level groundwater policies across governments.

c. Financial aspects – Need resources to build capacities (technological and human) to do basin wide groundwater

inventories and assessments. – Partner with existing initiatives/ plans by AMCOW, IGAD, GEO, UNESCO-IHP, etc. as well

as bilateral programmes in the member countries supporting groundwater management with L/RBOs.

d. Capacity building aspects- – Awareness raising on the importance groundwater surface water interaction in planning and

management of the basin water budget; as well as in influencing conflicts considering the principle of no harm.

– awareness in international legal development on the law of transboundary aquifers. – ensure that capacity building programmes equally focus on member-states institutions and

not limited to the regional organisation, to enable national environment and hence improve the level of transboundary cooperation..

– establish knowledge centre to support managing groundwater within the Nile River Basin. – Support University curricula development in Groundwater in L/RBOs in the Nile basin,

particularly addressing legal and institutional concepts and transboundary cooperation. – contributes to the national/ regional strategic decisions on integrating GW in the Nile Basin

by building capacity in result oriented approaches/ thinking away from the sole technical focus of the regional project hardly enough to effect change on the ground.

– Strengthen mechanisms for developing local research on Nile surface-groundwater interaction in local universities

– Taylor capacity building according to what each country needs (data, financing, technology transfer, human resources, institutions, etc..)

– twining with international RBOs to transfer knowledge on groundwater management in L/RBOs.

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8. References

– British Geological Survey, 2009, Open Report OP/09/018. Developing a preliminary recharge model of the Nile Basin to help Interpret GRACE data.

– Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, August 2008. Watershed Management in the Eastern Nile Basin, Challenges and Opportunities.

– ENTRO, 2008, Watershed Management in the Eastern Nile Basin: Challenges and Opportunities.

– ENTRO/ EDA, May, 2007. Cooperative Regional Assessment– CRA– for Watershed Management.

– H. C. Bonsor et al., July 2010, Interpretation of GRACE data of the Nile Basin using a groundwater recharge model. Journal of Hydrology & Earth Systems. Sci.

– NBI, 2012, Overview on the Nile Basin Initiative, a presentation for the GEO-UNESCO Workshop, Presentation by Richard Serugoti Nyanzi, January 2012, Nairobi Kenya

– Nile Basin Initiative, 2011, Institutional Design Study (IDS) Phase1 Component 5, August 2011.

– The Nile Basin Initiative Act, 2002. file:///F|/kck/nbiact.htm.

– Richard Serugoti Nyanzi, 2012, Overview on the Nile Basin Initiative, a presentation for the GEO-UNESCO Workshop, January 2012, Nairobi Kenya.

– Said A., 2011, overview of the Nile DSS, IHE Refresher Seminar, Addis Ababa, November 2011.

– UNEP, 2010, Stock Taking of Adaptation Activities in the Nile River Basin.

– Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_Basin_Initiative#The_Eastern_Nile_Subsidiary_Action_Program

– World Bank, September 2011. website:

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9. Appendices

Appendix 1 Table of basic data for the Nile Basin

River Basin

Nile Basin

Major tributaries

White Nile and Blue Nile

Riparian states 1. ___Burundi_______________ 2. _DR Congo________________ 3. Egypt__________________ 4. ____Eritrea_______________ 5. __Ethiopia_________________ 6. Kenya__________________ 7. ____Rwanda______________ 8. ___Sudan______________ 9. Tanzania__________________ 10. ___Uganda____________ 11. __________________________ 12. _________________________

Upstream riparian states

Burundi, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda

Downstream riparian states

Egypt and Sudan

Total basin area (km2)

3 112 369

Mean annual runoff (mill. M3/year)

83

Total population (mill.)

160 million people

Riparian state Share (%) of basin area

Share (%) of population

Mean annual runoff (million M3/year)

Average rainfall in riparian basin part (mm/yr)

Primary land uses/cover in basin part

Primary water uses in basin part

Major cities in basin part (Mill. pop.)

Protected areas, national parks in basin part

Major water transfer schemes between states

Transboundary conflicts over rivers

1. Burundi, 0.4 1 110 Domestic Gitega

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2. DR Congo,

0.7

1 245

Domestic

3. Egypt

10.5

15

Irrigation Cairo Yes

4. Eritrea

0.8

520

Domestic

5. Ethiopia

11.7

1 125

Domestic Adis Ababa

6. Kenya

1.5

1 260

Domestic Kisumu

7. Rwanda

0.6

1 105

Domestic Kigali

8.Sudan

63.6

500

Irrigation Khartoum Yes

9. Tanzania

2.7

1 015

Domestic Mwanza

10. Uganda

7.4

1 140

Domestic Kampala

Year of formal recognition of Lake/Basin Org.

Established in 1999 as a transitional institution

Primary mandate of Lake/Basin Org.

Sustainable management and development of the water resources of the Nile Basin

Type of � Lake/River Basin Commission (transitional river basin organisation)

29

Lake/River Org.? (see /2/)

Technical Committee

Lake/River Basin Authority

Name of treaties or legally recognized agreements governing water mgt. in the basin

1. Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement Between (states): signed by 6 out of 9 states. Its ratification is ongoing_______________________________________________ 2. _________________________ Between (states): ________________________________

3. _________________________ Between (states): ________________________________ 4. _________________________ Between (states): ________________________________

5. _________________________ Between (states): ________________________________

6. _________________________ Between (states): ________________________________

7. _________________________ Between (states): ________________________________

8. _________________________ Between (states): ________________________________