Basement and alluvial aquifers of Malawi: An overview of groundwater quality and policies

Mapoma, Harold Wilson Tumwitike; Xie, Xianjun

doi:10.5897/ajest2013.1639

Cited by 33 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Groundwater forms Malawi's main potable water resource with sole reliance in most rural areas where 90% of its population resides (Mapoma and Xie, 2014;Upton et al, 2018). The alluvial aquifer forms the main groundwater resource in TA Ngabu.…”

Section: Study Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responding to salinity in a rural African alluvial valley aquifer system: To boldly go beyond the world of hand-pumped groundwater supply?

Rivett

Budimir

Mannix

et al. 2019

Science of The Total Environment

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Highlights  Effective response to developing-world groundwater salinity to safeguard water supply  Salinity problem defined via conceptual model -salinity survey -water-point mapping  Groundwater salinity response capacity constrained in Malawi by multiple factors  Need to evaluate options beyond model-supply paradigm of hand-pumped borehole supply  Feasibility study of larger groundwater or surface-water supply alternatives to boldly go beyond Responding to groundwater salinity in rural African alluvial valley aquifer systems the world of hand-pumped groundwater supply?

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Section: Study Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responding to salinity in a rural African alluvial valley aquifer system: To boldly go beyond the world of hand-pumped groundwater supply?

Rivett

Budimir

Mannix

et al. 2019

Science of The Total Environment

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“…Te average concentrations of Mg 2+ , Na + , Ca 2+ , and Fe + were all below the permissible limits, however, variations were observed across the sampling locations. In general, the levels observed could be attributed to the geology of the area mainly derived from minerals such as limestone, igneous rocks, and lithological calcareous constituents [21]. Levels of toxic metals (Pb and As) were all below the detection limit, posing no health risk to the inhabitants.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Groundwater Quality Assessment in Urban Areas of Malawi: A Case of Area 25 in Lilongwe

Mussa

Kamoto

2023

Journal of Environmental and Public Health

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Groundwater sources provide an important supply of alternative drinking water in most urban areas in Malawi. This study was conducted to assess the quality of groundwater in Area 25, a typical urban residential area in Malawi. Samples were collected from wells and analyzed for physicochemical and bacteriological parameters following standard methods. Results were compared to Malawi Standards (MS) and World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water quality guidelines. The overall water quality index was computed to ascertain the general quality of the water. Levels of pH, phosphate, sulfate, arsenic, lead, and potassium were below the guideline limits while, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, chloride, fluoride, nitrate, total hardness, calcium, and magnesium were observed above permissible limits, posing a health risk to the residents. The quality index ranged from 22 (excellent quality) to 64 (Poor quality) with an average of 41 (good quality). Fecal coliforms were present in 70% of the sampled locations with an average of 7.9 cfu/100 ml. The presence of these bacteria presents a serious risk for waterborne disease outbreaks. This study, therefore, recommends the provision of basic treatment techniques to improve the quality of water in the area before consumption, regular monitoring of groundwater resources, and proper design and setting of septic systems.

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“…Due to the lack of adequate sanitation in Malawi, human urine and faecal materials continuously contaminate the shoreline facilitating the transmission of schistosomiasis, amongst other water-borne pathogens [10]. In Mangochi District, representing the southern part of Lake Malawi, the eastern side of the lake is mountainous with high elevation (1000-1500m), whereas the western side is at and with lower elevation (< 500m) [11], [12]. Lower temperatures and higher winds are reported on the eastern side [13], with low-lying areas such as the upper Shire River margins vulnerable to ooding [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A geospatial analysis of local intermediate snail host distributions provides insight into schistosomiasis risk within under-sampled areas of southern Lake Malawi

Reed,

Al-Harbi,

Makaulai

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Background: Along the southern shoreline of Lake Malawi, the incidence of schistosomiasis is increasing with snails of the genera Bulinus and Biomphalaria transmitting urogenital and intestinal schistosomiasis, respectively. Since the underlying distribution of snails is partially known, often being focal, developing pragmatic spatial models that interpolate snail information across under-sampled regions is required to understand and assess current and future risk of schistosomiasis. Methods: A secondary geospatial analysis of recently collected malacological and environmental survey data was undertaken. Using a Bayesian Poisson latent Gaussian process model abundance data were fitted for Bulinus and Biomphalaria. Interpolating the abundance of snails along the shoreline (given their relative distance along the shoreline ∼x km) was achieved by smoothing, using extracted environmental rainfall, land surface temperature (LST), evapotranspiration, normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) and soil type covariate data for all predicted locations. Our adopted model used a combination of two-dimensional (2D) and one dimensional (1D) mapping. Results: A significant association between normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) and abundance of Bulinus spp. was detected [log risk ratio -0.83, 95% CI: -1.57, -0.09]. A qualitatively similar association was found between NDVI and Biomphalaria spp. but was not statistically significant [log risk ratio -1.42, 95% CI:-3.09, 0.10]. All other environmental data considered were non-significant. Conclusions: The spatial range in which interpolation of snail distributions is possible appears less than y km, owing to fine-scale biotic and abiotic heterogeneities. The forthcoming challenge is to refine geospatial sampling frameworks with future opportunities to map schistosomiasis within actual or predicted snail distributions which might better reveal the environmental transmission possibilities.

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Basement and alluvial aquifers of Malawi: An overview of groundwater quality and policies

Cited by 33 publications

References 35 publications

Responding to salinity in a rural African alluvial valley aquifer system: To boldly go beyond the world of hand-pumped groundwater supply?

Responding to salinity in a rural African alluvial valley aquifer system: To boldly go beyond the world of hand-pumped groundwater supply?

Groundwater Quality Assessment in Urban Areas of Malawi: A Case of Area 25 in Lilongwe

A geospatial analysis of local intermediate snail host distributions provides insight into schistosomiasis risk within under-sampled areas of southern Lake Malawi

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