Throughout the developing world, countries face a number of issues regarding the health and welfare of their populations. One issue that stands out with critical and growing importance is the availability-and accessibility-of water. Across the Sahel, access to potable water for domestic use, as well as contaminant-free water for agricultural and animal husbandry purposes is of growing concern. This study evaluates Government of Senegal efforts at improving rural water access through public-private operation contracts to manage deep groundwater resources.
In West Africa, Senegal currently counts itself among the few Sahelian countries having sufficient freshwater supplies to support its populations growing domestic and industrial needs, though this is threatened by global climate change, and the Sahels natural ecological variability. Surface water supplies the majority of urban areas in the country, while rural regions commonly draw water from groundwater systems. From 2002-2009, the Senegalese government, in cooperation with external partners, launched the Projet dOrganisation et de Gestion Villageoise (Village Organization and Management Project) which aimed to reduce poverty and improve quality-of-life at the village level. In 2007, the village of Tawa Fall received the technology necessary to access deep groundwater resources through this project. In a unique public-private system, the government of Senegal engaged Associations dUsagers de Forages (Drilling User Associations, ASUFOR) to manage operation and maintenance contracts for these boreholes. Proceeds from the sale of water is managed by ASUFOR associations, and used both for borehole maintenance and to further village development.
This study explores the effectiveness of deep borehole wells at reducing womens workload, evaluating the wells effects on communities from the perspective of women as primary domestic water drawers and users. The study also examines the efficiency of the ASUFOR system at maintaining decentralized management of natural resources. It examines how Tawa Falls ASUFOR committee has used proceeds from the sale of groundwater to bring electricity to the village, and also explores how village women manage their household water needs through a combination of purchased, and well-drawn water. The data collection methods utilized include spot observation, site visits, semi-structured and unstructured interviews with key informants, and a survey of female heads of household to determine domestic water use patterns. The results suggest that, while deep borehole wells provide a fairly reliable source of water for villagers and reduce womens labor burden, the cost of water is often prohibitive, and the majority of residents continue to regularly use open wells in addition to public taps. This suggests that Senegals management of rural water systems is still at an emerging stage, and would benefit from increased financial investment to maintain continuous access and expand the existing rural water provision network.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-05172013-191550 |
| Date | 23 May 2013 |
| Creators | Snow, Tenly Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Stephen Siebert, Jeffrey Gritzner, Sarah Halvorson |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-05172013-191550/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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