Environmental assessment and risk screening for rural water supply: Guidance note developed for the SWIFT Consortium
Guidance on a tool to support environmental assessment and risk screening for rural water supplies in low-income and fragile contexts.
Abstract
This guidance was developed for the Consortium for Sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Fragile Contexts (SWIFT). It addresses the following questions about shallow groundwater sources such as springs and wells:
- is there enough water of suitable quality to meet demand across seasons for the long term?
- what are the main environmental risks to ensuring a sustainable supply of safe water?
- how can these risks be mitigated?
The tool proposes 4 main steps to do this:
- understand how much water is available by tapping local knowledge
- determine how much groundwater is needed to meet demand, and how big the catchment (recharge) area of a well will need to be to provide this water
- protect the sites and sources by identifying environmental hazards of site degradation and water supply contamination
- maintain records of the assessment, design and implementation of groundwater projects to inform future projects
Citation
Ludi, E.; Calow, R.; Greaves, F. Environmental assessment and risk screening for rural water supply: Guidance note developed for the SWIFT Consortium. Consortium for Sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Fragile Contexts, Oxford, UK (2015) 56p
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