Regional hydrogeological maps of Africa

Africa Groundwater Atlas >> Resource pages >> Groundwater and Hydrogeological Maps of Africa >> List of Regional Scale Groundwater Maps in Africa

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This list includes the most widely known regional hydrogeological or groundwater maps of Africa - maps that cover more than one country, and in most cases cover large regions of Africa. Most are traditional hydrogeological or groundwater resource maps. One or two focus on particular themes related to groundwater.

They are listed here in reverse order of age.

This is not a comprehensive list. If you know of maps that aren't on this list but should be, please let us know! Email us: AfricaGWAtlas@bgs.ac.uk

Maps by date of publication

Map coverage	Map Title	Date	Scale	Publishing Organisation	Format	Where to find	More information
West Africa	Groundwater in fast growing cities in Western Africa	2021		IGRAC	Pdf map with marginalia	Download pdf from IGRAC	Published as part of WHYMAP
Parts of southern Africa	Ramotswa Aquifer	2018?		Ramotswa project consortium	Created as shapefiles. Available to view in online portal.	Ramotswa Information Management System (RIMS)	Online portal with maps of the Ramotswa aquifer (Botswana + South Africa). Multiple map layers including aquifer boundary, location of springs, groundwater levels and quality parameters, recharge.
SADC	Groundwater drought risk maps	2013		IWMI	GIS	Available to view in SADC online portal	Developed as part of the spatial analysis tool GRiMMS (Groundwater Drought Risk Mapping and Management System). Described in Villholth, Tøttrup, Stendel & Maherry. 2013. Integrated mapping of groundwater drought risk in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Hydrogeology Journal (2013) 21: 863–885. DOI 10.1007/s10040-013-0968-1
SADC	SADC Hydrogeological map	2010	1:2.5 million	Sweco International (Sweden); Council for Geoscience (South Africa); Water Geosciences Consulting (South Africa) and Water Resources Consultants (Botswana).	Created as GIS shapefiles.	SADC online portal	Hydrogeological map shows aquifer lithology, flow type and groundwater potential
Egypt	Middle East Hydrogeology / Vorderer Orient Hydrogeologie	1990	1: 8 million	Universität Tübingen, Germany		View scanned image in WHYMIS portal
North Africa, parts of west and northeast Africa	Hydrogeological Map of the Arab Region and Adjacent Areas	1988	1:5 million	Regional Office for Science & Technology in the Arab States, ACSAD; WRD & UNESCO		View scanned image in WHYMIS portal	Covers Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, (CAR?), Algeria, Morocco, WS, Mauritania, parts of Mali, Niger & Chad
West and Central Africa	Map of groundwater resource potentiality of West and Central Africa	1986	1: 5 million		BRGM Paris	View scanned image atWHYMIS	Combines type of reservoir, mainly based on lithology and potentiality grades, based on number of wells/sources inventoried.
Algeria and Tunisia	North Africa – Tunesia, Algeria	1983	1: 1 million	German Research Society, Berlin		View scanned image in WHYMIS portal
Gabon, Republic of Congo	Carte de Planification des Ressources en Eau du Gabon et du Congo	1982	1: 1 million	Comité Interafricain d’Etudes Hydrauliques, Ouagadougou & BRGM, Orléans		View scanned image at WHYMIS	Represents ‘renewable resource of aquifers as fraction of mean effective precipitation. Also shows exploitable reserves, main geological formations, rivers, main wells
Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin	Carte de Planification des ressources en eau du Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, du Togo et due Benin	1978	Comite Interafricain d’Etudes Hydrauliques, Ougadougou / BRGM		View scanned image at WHYMIS
Sahel	Carte de planification pour l’exploitation des eaux souterraines de l’Afrique soudano-sahelienne	1976	1:1.5 million	BRGM with Bureau Central d’Etudes pour les equipments Outre-Mer (Mali) & Comite Inter-africain d’Etudes Hydrauliques (Niger)
North and West Africa	Groundwater in North and West Africa	1975	1:4 million			View scanned image at WHYMIS
Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi	Carte hydrogeologique du Congo Belge et du Ruanda Urundi	1957	1:5 million	Service Geologique du Congo Belge		View scanned image at WHYMIS

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