Globally, some 2.5 billion people depend solely on groundwater to satisfy their daily drinking water needs. The reliance on this resource and its centrality to realize the human right to ‘safe’ drinking water has increased manifold, but this is yet to be fully acknowledged globally or by governments and political leaders at the national level. This paper analyses the interface of international human rights law, as corresponding to the obligations and responsibilities of different actors, regarding groundwater resources planning, management and protection. Drawing on the literature, we discuss the State’s duties to respect, protect and fulfil this right especially in relation to the freedom of end-users to self-supply from groundwater sources; the training and regulation of non-State service providers including drillers and private vendors; and health and safety concerns. Interpreting the State’s duty to ‘fulfil’ through direct water service provision ‘as a last resort’, this paper suggests that self-provision is the original norm for enjoying the right to water. This has significant implications for the State’s role in raising awareness concerning point source protection and aquifer recharge for water resources management and in decisions concerning water allocation. By ignoring self-provision, which is primarily from groundwater, the State is not only missing a tremendous opportunity but is jeopardizing the water security of future generations.

A common assertion is that the cost of water well drilling in sub-Saharan Africa is too high and that construction quality is regularly compromised. Over the last 20 years, several studies regarding this have been undertaken, covering more than ten countries in the region. Although drilling costs in sub-Saharan Africa are generally higher than in India, there are valid reasons for this. However, changes to borehole designs, procurement and contract management practices, well clustering for economies of scale, siting and supervision practices as well as support to and professionalization of the private sector can all serve to bring drilling costs down, and improve construction quality. This paper provides an overview of how drilling costs can be calculated. It pulls together the key issues that affect drilling costs and prices into a conceptual framework. The framework is subsequently used to compare policies and practices for the countries where information is readily available. The paper thus intends to raise awareness and improve the analytical capacity of implementers and decision-makers regarding measures that could be adopted to improve the cost-effectiveness of borehole drilling in their particular context.

Poor access to water and sanitation is a major poverty issue affecting a large part of the developing world. In their urgency to meet internationally agreed water and sanitation targets, Governments and International Agencies seek new ways and means, including increased use of the private sector. Commercial participation in the water sector is not without vociferous critics, as well as strong proponents. Even accepting the international water and sanitation targets for service coverage-and these authors question their feasibility-it seems clear that no single player in the partnership between public sector, private sector and communities can be responsible for achieving them. Each player has individual roles and requirements, and the strengths of each are needed. Dogmatic promotion or rejection of 'privatization' is unhelpful. We appeal to the politically naïve to try to understand privatization's opponents, and for those who protest against the 'commodification' of water to shelve their dogmas as they join the common pursuit of permanently improved services for the poor.

Kerstin Danert is a water and sanitation specialist, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa, working with governments, NGOs and private enterprises. She currently works for Skat, Switzerland, primarily under the umbrella of the Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN).

Self-supply of groundwater for domestic use in urban sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is common, but the extent to which it is practiced is unknown. We developed an open data based GIS method for continental Africa (without islands) using groundwater storage, depth to groundwater, aquifer productivity, and population density data. Furthermore, we developed proxies for public supply network coverage and socio-economic status, incorporating restriction measures for groundwater use. Our results indicate that in 2015 about 369 million urban inhabitants (∼79% of the total urban population) of continental Africa could potentially supply themselves with groundwater. However, the likely number of urban inhabitants using groundwater obtained via self-supply was less: about 150 million (∼32% of the total urban population). With the novel GIS based methodology presented here, the urban population using self-supply groundwater for domestic use can be determined, which is essential to inform policy and practice, and to influence public investment.