Eha-Amufu, Nigeria

Overview

The Eha-Amufu College of Education is in Eha-Amufu, a town in Enugu state, Southeastern Nigeria. Its location has led to significant urbanization within the local area as the staff and students have attracted several businesses, religious centers, primary and secondary schools and hospitals. This growing population’s potable drinking water sources are about 70 km (43.5 miles) away due to the absence of a reliable source nearby. This has made water costly, therefore the community members, who are unable to afford it, resort to using surface waters and shallow hand-dug wells for consumption and domestic use. Availability of public and private boreholes through this project will significantly reduce the quality drinking water’s cost, which was previously incurred due to the need of transporting it from a long distance.

Approach

Using literature review, basemap generation and preparation for Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) and Audio-Magnetotelluric (AMT) profile paths, contact with the community, relevant government agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and educational institutions the team will work towards locating productive aquifers for drilling boreholes for long-term water security of the community.

Impact

5 new wells drilled for 5 targeted communities.

8 communities, 320 families, and 33,200 people achieved water security

5,000-liter capacity storage tanks/community and 5,000-liter rainwater harvesting systems for each of the five households.

24,000 m² of irrigation systems

Food security by consumption of 1,701 m³ of groundwater through production of 663 kg (1461.66 lbs) of food