Safe and reliable water supplies sustain growth and development in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region where most rural communities and many small towns and irrigation schemes depend on groundwater from wells, boreholes and springs.

A range of mainly unpublished "grey data" reports, papers, manuals and maps describing hydrogeological work undertaken within countries in the SADC region during the 20th Century are available to download free of charge. These reports can inform wealth creation in the SADC region by providing valuable and much needed information on groundwater development and investigation.

The Keyworth documents provide insight into the importance of groundwater to the economic development of the former British colonial territories. At that time, the exploration and development of groundwater held within weathered and fractured basement complex rocks that underlie much of these countries was undertaken primarily by geological survey departments for departments of water, irrigation and public works. The Wallingford documents provide information on groundwater exploration, research and development in the SADC region countries especially where BGS hydrogeologists were seconded to support activities within geological surveys. Major projects were undertaken in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Botswana where studies were made of groundwater occurrence in weathering profiles and fractures in Basement Complex aquifers. Assessment of reports from other SADC countries indicate that similar studies were undertaken at that time by Scandinavian consultants in Tanzania, by Portuguese hydrogeologists in Mozambique and French workers in Madagascar and elsewhere.

Please access the SADC Groundwater Grey Data Archiv at http://www.sadcgwarchive.net/

Project Documents

• SADC Groundwater Data and Information Archive, Knowledge Sharing and Co-operation Project: Final Report