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• Introduction to BGS and our groundwater work • BGS work in India • Groundwater in the IGB • Long-term changes in groundwater in the north-western IGB aquifer • Quantifying the relative influence of recharge sources in the north-western IGB aquifer

Northern India and Pakistan face some of the world’s most challenging surface water and groundwater management issues over the coming decades. High groundwater abstraction, widespread canal irrigation, increases in glacier melt and changes to rainfall all impact on the dynamics of surface water/groundwater interactions in the Indus Basin and Upper Ganges. Studies using newly available data from long term hydrographs, high frequency stable isotope sampling and campaign sampling for groundwater residence time indicators are shedding light on the complex interactions between groundwater, surface water and rainfall. Interactions vary spatially: (1) with distance down catchment, related to the prevailing rainfall gradient; and (2) with position in the canal command, both distance from barrage and distance from feeder canals. Interactions are also observed to vary with time due to: (1) the historical evolution of the canal network; (2) patterns in precipitation over the past 120 years; (3) changes in river flow due to glacial melting; and (4) increased pumping, which has also led to increased capture of surface water. Only by understanding and quantifying the different processes affecting groundwater / surface water coupling in the Indus and Upper Ganges is it possibly to forecast future groundwater storage changes.

This study explores whether incorporating a more sophisticated representation of groundwater, and human-groundwater interactions, improves predictive capability in a large-scale water resource model. The Global Water Availability Assessment model (GWAVA) is developed to include a simple layered aquifer and associated fluxes (GWAVA-GW), and applied to the Cauvery river basin in India, a large, human-impacted basin with a high dependence on groundwater. GWAVA-GW shows good predictive skill for streamflow upstream of the Mettur dam: Kling-Gupta Efficiency ≥ 0.3 for 91% of subcatchments, and improved model skill for streamflow prediction compared to GWAVA over the majority of the basin. GWAVA-GW shows some level of predictive skill for groundwater levels over seasonal and long-term time scales, with a tendency to overestimate depth to groundwater in areas with high levels of groundwater pumping. Overall, GWAVA-GW is a useful tool when assessing water resources at a basin scale, especially in areas that rely on groundwater.

Mine water geothermal energy could provide sustainable heating, cooling and storage to assist in the decarbonisation of heat and achieving Net Zero carbon emissions. However, mined environments are highly complex and we currently lack the understanding to confidently enable a widespread, cost-effective deployment of the technology. Extensive and repeated use of the mined subsurface as a thermal source/store and the optimisation of operational infrastructure encompasses a range of scientific and technical challenges that require broad partnerships to address. We present emerging results of a pioneering multidisciplinary collaboration formed around an at-scale mine water geothermal research infrastructure in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Focused on a mined, urban environment, a range of approaches have been applied to both characterise the environmental change before geothermal activities to generate “time zero” datasets, and to develop novel monitoring tools for cost-effective and environmentally-sound geothermal operations. Time zero soil chemistry, ground gas, surface water and groundwater characterisation, together with ground motion and seismic monitoring, document ongoing seasonal and temporal variability that can be considered typical of a post-industrial, urban environment underlain by abandoned, flooded coal mine workings. In addition, over 550 water, rock and gas samples collected during borehole drilling and testing underwent diverse geochemical, isotopic and microbiological analysis. Initial results indicate a connected subsurface with modern groundwater, and resolve distinctive chemical, organic carbon and stable isotope signatures from different horizons that offer promise as a basis for monitoring methods. Biogeochemical interactions of sulphur, carbon and iron, plus indications of microbially-mediated mineral oxidation/reduction reactions require further investigation for long term operation. Integration of the wide array of time zero observations and under

Northwest India and central Pakistan are vital for food production in South Asia. The region has a long history of major surface and, more recently, groundwater development for irrigation and have become global hotspots of groundwater exploitation. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, launched in 2002, provide evidence of the scale of groundwater depletion. More recently studies have shown that groundwater depletion is regionally heterogenous and is influenced by a combination of human and climatic factors, including changes in monsoon precipitation and recharge from the regions vast canal network. The areas of most concern for the long-term sustainability of the transboundary aquifer are within the states of Punjab and Haryana in India and Punjab Province in Pakistan. Recent depletion is set within a much longer history of groundwater level variation spanning the last 150 years. Using a unique long-term dataset, we investigated groundwater level change throughout the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st. The dataset contains time-series from 4028 observation wells and includes 110 years of groundwater level data from 1900 to 2010. Our aim was to: 1) examine changes in post-monsoon groundwater levels during the 20th century and; 2) unravel the influence of canal construction, tubewell development and precipitation on long-term groundwater storage in northwest India and central Pakistan. We found that for the majority of the 20th century groundwater levels were rising and estimated net groundwater accumulation of c.350 km3 (150-450 km3). Large scale irrigation development via canal construction played a defining role in groundwater accumulation during the early twentieth century. The groundwater depletion that occurred in the first decade of the 21st century, and which we estimate at c.75 km3(estimated range: 25-100 km3), was driven by the superimposed effects of low rainfall and large-scale tubewell development. However, between 1

In sub-Saharan Africa as many as 184 million people rely on hand-pumps. Thus, hand-pumps are, and will remain, a crucial water source in a changing climate, although as many as one in three are non-functional at any time. Drawing on the results of three studies we demonstrate that hand-pumps are resilient and safe, and we examine the physical factors that determine hand-pump functionality. In the first study we analysed the performance of 5196 water points (hand-pumps, motorized boreholes, springs, open-sources) and the success of a proactive maintenance programme during the 2015-16 drought in Ethiopia. Water sources were visited every week for 12 weeks to gather data on access and functionality. The second study, again in Ethiopia, involved monitoring 51 groundwater points (hand-pumps, springs, hand-dug wells) over an 18-month period in 2016. Water sources were equipped with water level loggers and were tested monthly for thermo-tolerant coliforms. All sources were put under considerable strain during the drought. Most demand was placed on motorised boreholes in lowland areas. However, increases in functionality of motorised boreholes, as a result of the maintenance programme, lagged behind those of hand-pumps. Functionality was low for both sources at the on-set of the drought (65% and 75% respectively). Motorised boreholes had longer downtimes due to a lack of appropriate and/or accessible maintenance skills. Water level monitoring showed that hand-pumped boreholes recovered most quickly from daily abstractions. All sources were contaminated with thermo-tolerant coliforms during the rains marking drought cessation but hand-pumped boreholes were least affected. Our results show that hand-pumped boreholes are resilient and less prone to contamination than springs and hand-dug wells. However, like the other sources we studied, hand-pumps had low levels of functionality at the onset of the drought. To better understand the factors affecting functionality we systemati

In sub-Saharan Africa, shallow aquifer systems are relied on as the main safe and secure water resource available to rural communities. Information on the sustainability and vulnerability of groundwater abstraction is becoming increasingly important as groundwater development increases. As part of the UpGro Consortium Project- Hidden Crisis, 150 hand pumped boreholes (HPBs), ranging between 15 and 101 m depth were investigated to examine the resilience of aquifer systems in the Ethiopian Highlands, and the crystalline basement rocks of Uganda and Malawi. Environmental tracers (chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), SF6, chloride and the stable isotopes of water), water quality indicators (nitrate and E. coli), and groundwater-level time series data were used to estimate groundwater residence time and recharge at a regional scale (100–10,000 km2) and investigate the risks to water quality and water supply over different timeframes, and geological and climatic environments. Average estimated recharge rates using three different techniques (CFCs, chloride mass balance, water table fluctuation method) were between 30 and 330, 27–110 and 30–170 mm y−1, for sites in Ethiopia, Uganda and Malawi, respectively. These estimates of recharge suggests abstraction from dispersed low-yielding HPBs is sustainable. Comparison of stable isotopes in rainfall and groundwater indicates that there is little evaporation prior to recharge, and recharge events are biased to months with greater rainfall and more intense rainfall events There was a weak correlation between nitrate and CFCs within all three countries, and no correlation between E. coli and CFCs within Ethiopia or Malawi. The presence of E. coli at a large proportion of the sites (Ethiopia = 38%, Uganda = 65% and Malawi = 47%) suggests rapid transit of contaminated surface water into the borehole and its presence in groundwater that has CFC-12 concentrations less than 75 pg kg−1 indicates mixing of very young water with water >40 years ol

During the El Nino drought in Ethiopia in 2015-16 significant efforts were made to monitor the performance of rural water points. Using data from 5196 water points we demonstrate that with adequate monitoring and maintenance, groundwater sources deliver reliable water supply during drought. Our results have implications for resilient water supply across rural sub Saharan Africa.

Manipulating and visualising large datasets using tidyverse: a demonstration, using an example from the Ethiopian drought in 2015-16, of the power of Tidyverse, to clean and manipulate data, and produce striking, clear, reproducible and high impact visualisations using the dplyr and ggplot2 packages.

As a result of climate change, sub-Saharan Africa, is expected to experience more frequent and extreme droughts, contributing to greater water insecurity. Droughts affect the reliability, quantity and quality of water available, potentially undermining recent gains in drinking water access and making it difficult to extend services. Ethiopia, in particular, is highly vulnerable to drought. Since 1965, Ethiopia has experienced 15 severe droughts affecting more than 65 million people and causing serious economic damage. Most recently, in 2015 and 2016, Ethiopia suffered a harsh drought, linked to El Nino, which forced more than 10 million people to rely on emergency aid due to crop and water supply failures. During the 2015-16 drought significant effort was made to monitor and understand the performance and use of rural water points. Drawing on two recently published studies we demonstrate that with adequate monitoring and maintenance rural groundwater points can deliver a consistent and safe water supply during drought. The first study monitored a total of 5196 water points (hand-pumps, motorized boreholes, springs, open-sources) and the success of a maintenance programme, every week for 12 weeks in early 2016. Enumerators used questionnaires on mobile phones to gather quantitative and qualitative data from those responsible for water points. The second study involved monitoring 51 groundwater points (hand-pumps, springs, hand-dug wells) over an 18 month period. Water sources were equipped with water level loggers and water was tested monthly for Thermo-tolerant Coliforms (TTCs). All sources were put under considerable strain during drought. Most demand was placed on motorised boreholes in lowland areas. Increases in functionality for motorised boreholes, as a result of the maintenance programme, lagged behind those of hand-pumped boreholes. More complex technologies have longer downtimes due to a lack of appropriate and/or accessible maintenance skills. Real time-mo

Poor performance of water supply has been a persistent problem in rural Africa. The UPGro Hidden Crisis project (2015 – 2020) has brought together an interdisciplinary research team to investigate and identify different factors affecting the functionality status of boreholes equipped with hand pumps (HPs). A three-tiered survey approach to define and measure functionality was applied to 600 hand pumped boreholes across Ethiopia, Uganda and Malawi. The results, in agreement with national surveys, show that c.80% of hand pumped boreholes produce some water. However, <50% can deliver HP design yield reliably for more than 11 months of the year and far fewer provide water that meet WHO guidelines on chemical parameters and total thermo-tolerant coliforms (TTC). To determine the major contributing factors to functionality outcomes, detailed hydrogeological and engineering investigations, combined with social, institutional and economic factors, were conducted on a subset of 150 HPBs. Within this second survey a full range of HPB functionality outcomes (e.g. aquifer properties, borehole construction and the condition of HP components) were generated. In all three countries water level, aquifer yield, borehole construction and materials, and pump cylinder placement interact to produce conditions that are sub-optimal for HPs to meet design capacity (pumping head and yield). In many instances, the apparent groundwater age from the shallow HPs was at odds with the measured positive counts of e-coli, suggesting a mixture of different age waters and/or contamination issues related to well construction and completion. Improving our knowledge and understanding of handpump borehole functionality in rural Africa will provide the necessary hydrogeological and social frameworks (e.g. functionality monitoring and asset mapping and assessment) that are necessary in evaluating groundwater as a safe and secure water supply to meet the local demands and regional development pressures with

Observed groundwater level decline in parts of Northern India and Pakistan have raised questions about the sustainability of current irrigation practices in the Indo Gangetic Plain. Recent studies using insitu groundwater level measurements and geochemical methods show a complex pattern of impacts from abstraction and recharge with a high degree of spatial variability. The areas of most concern for the aquifer are within the states of Punjab and Haryana in India and Punjab Province in Pakistan. Here groundwater levels can be 20 – 50 m below ground level and are falling at rates of 0.5 – 1 ma-1. However, the recent depletion is set within a much longer history of groundwater level variations spanning the last 150 years. Here we have brought together approximately 50 long term hydrographs from northern India and Pakistan which give an unparalleled account of the accumulation of groundwater within the basin due to the widespread construction of canal systems in the Indus and Ganges in the 19th and early 20th centuries; the subsequent stabilization of groundwater levels attributed to state sponsored drilling and pumping to mitigate water-logging and salinization; and then the rise of private boreholes for irrigation in the 1980s and 90s. During the 1990s groundwater abstraction began to locally exceed surface water use for irrigation, and water levels began to fall rapidly is some areas. Currently, leakage from the irrigation canals is a vital source of recharge and any plans to improve efficiency of surface water irrigation will impact further on groundwater. Taking the long view of the patterns of past groundwater accumulation and depletion can therefore help to unravel the current complex pattern of groundwater level variation and water quality.

Within rural Africa, communal boreholes fitted with handpumps (HPBs) are likely to remain the main source of improved water supplies for decades to come. Understanding how the performance of these supplies can be improved will be central to achieving improved water security. The functionality of community HPBs relies on a range of elements which include not only groundwater resource availability, correct siting and construction of the borehole and handpump mechanism, but also equitable and enabling management arrangements. Since the 1980s – the first UN ‘Water Decade’ – Community Based Management (CBM) has been the policy prescription par excellence for operationalising participatory development in the rural water supply sector. The cornerstone of the CBM model is the creation of a local water point committee or similar community organisation, which is charged with the operation and maintenance of the borehole. Despite its popularity and endurance, there is a relative lack of evidence on how the management capacity of communities relates to the functionality of their boreholes, and a growing recognition among development practitioners and academics that CBM of rural water supply has struggled to deliver on many of its promises. Here we present the findings from a survey of six hundred communities across rural Ethiopia, Uganda and Malawi to examine the extent to which community water management capacity is related to borehole functionality. The capacity of water management arrangements (WMA) was assessed according to four dimensions: finance system; affordable maintenance and repair; decision making, rules, and leadership; and external support. HPB performance was assessed using on a nuanced definition of borehole functionality, which captures different tiers of functionality from a simple binary ‘yes/no’ working, to capturing the level of functionality performance and reliability. The findings reveal that whilst over two thirds of WMA are of medium to high capacity

This study examines the performance of the policy of community management for rural groundwater supply in Africa. Across the continent, policies that promote community management have dominated the rural water supply sector for decades. As a result, hundreds of thousands of village-level committees have been formed to manage community boreholes equipped with handpumps. With a significant proportion of these handpumps non-functional at any one time, increasing effort is targeted toward understanding the interacting social and physical determinants of this 'hidden crisis'. We conducted a survey of community management arrangements across six hundred sites in rural Ethiopia, Malawi, and Uganda, examining the extent to which management capacity is related to borehole functionality whilst accounting for a range of contextual variables. The capacity of water management arrangements (WMAs) was assessed according to four dimensions: finance system; affordable maintenance and repair; decision making, rules, and leadership; and external support. The survey reveals that 73.3% of WMAs have medium or high capacity. However, we found no strong relationship between the capacity of the WMA and the functionality of the borehole. Of the four management dimensions, affordable maintenance and repair was the best predictor of borehole functionality. However, the capacity of this dimension was seen to be the lowest overall, with 61.9% of sites weak or non-existent. Our results provide very limited support for the policy of community management, and we suggest that evidence alone has not accounted for its persistence over decades. After a short historical analysis, we conclude that explanation for the endurance of this model can be found in the nexus between evidence, ideology, and policy. We argue that it is this same nexus that will likely ensure the popularity of community management for some time to come, despite new ideas and evidence to the contrary.

Significant need exists in the developing world to transition from occasional groundwater-quality surveys to routinely sampled groundwater-quality network monitoring programmes that provide better safeguard of resources. Such networks contribute to the sustainable management of water resources, are integral to Water Safety Plans, and underpin delivery of Sustainable Development Goal 6. A framework for groundwater-quality monitoring network design is developed that is pragmatic for developing-world needs and its application is demonstrated using data from the Chikwawa District � Shire Valley aquifer system in Malawi. The step-wise framework is based upon a hydrogeological�hydrochemical process-based system conceptual model. The Chikwawa model developed is built upon our interpreted 2012 and archive 2008�9 major-ion survey data; major-ion data often constitute the most easily available datasets in many areas of the developing world. A versatile, semi-quantitative, approach is adopted which sets bespoke-system �Monitoring Objectives�, which are weighted on a scale of 1�5 and then rated against bespoke criteria using a scale of 0�10. This permits development of aggregate �Monitoring Potential� scores at candidate network-point localities. Ideally the process is facilitated by the use of a GIS, although its use is not essential. Monitoring objectives are flexible and typically relate to various perceived risks to groundwater quality; including increasing salinity, anthropogenic activity, etc. The framework, as demonstrated for Chikwawa, allows an incremental build of a prioritised network of points, including a relative estimate of their potential to address the individual monitoring objectives set. The framework methodology is easy to use and adaptable to developing, and developed, world monitoring needs alike. The proposed network for Chikwawa could help pilot transition to a higher resolution national groundwater quality network across Malawi than cu

Hand-pumped borehole (HPB) supplies are the main type of rural water supply in Africa, but high rates of failure, and poor performance has been a persistent problem over recent decades. The first survey of the Hidden Crisis project assessed 600 HPBs in three African countries (Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda). The HPBs were selected using a two stage randomised stratified sampling approach and functionality was assessed using a new tiered definition. The results indicate that at any one time around 70 to 80% of HPBs provide some water, but only one third reliably provide sufficient water of good quality year-round. The reasons for these poor statistics are multifaceted, and relate not simply to poor construction or a changing climate, but are the result of a wide set of inter-related issues. Phase two of the project examined in detail a subset of 150 of the original 600 HPBs. The investigations included dismantling each HPB in order to conduct a rigorous assessments of the underlying causes of poor functionality. At each HPB detailed engineering inspections of pump components, pumping tests, water quality and residence time sampling and downhole CCTV inspections were conducted. Communities were asked detailed questions about their experience of the pump and sanitary and geological surveys were conducted. This presentation will provide an overview of the methods used in the field and analysis. The project aims to understand the underlying causual factors relating to borehole functionality, and both statistical approaches and systems thinking has been applied to investigate the relationship and influence of both the physical and social factors underlying poor borehole functionality.

The groundwater systems of northwest India and central Pakistan are amongst the most heavily exploited in the world. Groundwater has been monitored in the region for more than a century resulting in a unique long-term record of groundwater level change. The BGS has compiled groundwater level data from northwest India (Haryana and Punjab) and Pakistan (Punjab) between 1884 and 2020. The dataset, was compiled from various sources between 2018 and 2020. The excel file consists of two tabs both containing groundwater level data (in metres below ground level) and location information. In the first tab (Full_dataset), which contains the full dataset, there are 68783 rows of observed groundwater level data from 4028 individual sites. In the second tab (LTS) there are 7547 rows of groundwater level observations from 130 individual sites, which have water level data available for a period of more than 40 years and from which at least two thirds of the annual observations are available.

Poor functionality of rural water points continues to be a problem which plagues the sector. In this webinar we discuss some of the main results from the second phase of the UPGRO Hidden Crisis Project which has been examining the issue in Ethiopia, Uganda and Malawi. After a brief overview of the project we report the results of 18 months of detailed fieldwork undertaking a forensic analysis of 150 failing waterpoints across the 3 countries sharing lessons from what we found of the physical factors contributing to poor performance and lessons about community management.

This dataset provides a detailed physical science dataset to the groundwater resource and engineering properties of 150 handpumped borehole supplies (HPBs) across Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, surveyed in 2017 as part of the UPGro Hidden Crisis project. The dataset includes measurements of aquifer resource potential, groundwater quality, downhole construction and condition of handpump components, and borehole construction. Detailed social science data were also collected as part of the second survey phases of the Hidden Crisis project. However, these data are reported as a separate (associated) dataset to the physical science Survey 2 dataset – and are available from Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) UK Data Service (UKDS). The UPGro Hidden Crisis project (2015-20) was an international research project aimed at developing a robust evidence base and understanding of the complex and multi-faceted causes which underlie the current high failure rates of many new groundwater supplies in Africa. The project was jointly funded by: DFID, NERC and ESRC as part of the UPGro programme (Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor). The project carried out the research work in three countries - Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda – to examine functionality and performance of groundwater supplies in a range of hydrogeological, climatic and social, institutional and governance environments in East Africa. The work focused specifically on examining the functionality of HPBs – these being the main form of improved community water supply across rural Africa. The Survey 2 dataset, is major dataset developed by the project. This data set is available under Open Government Licence, subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying any reproduced materials: "Contains data supplied by permission of the Natural Environment Research Council [YEAR]".

This dataset provides the field data collected in 2016 to assess: the functionality and performance of 600 handpumped borehole supplies (HPBs) across the three countries, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, and also the capacity of the community water management arrangements. The individual HPBs surveyed in the dataset were selected by a two or three stage randomised sampling approach. The UPGro Hidden Crisis project (2015-20) was an international research project aimed at developing a robust evidence base and understanding of the complex and multi-faceted causes which underlie the current high failure rates of many new groundwater supplies in Africa. The project was jointly funded by: DFID, NERC and ESRC as part of the UPGro programme (Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor). The project carried out the research work in three countries - Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda – to examine functionality and performance of groundwater supplies in a range of hydrogeological, climatic and social, institutional and governance environments in East Africa. The work focused specifically on examining the functionality of HPBs – these being the main form of improved community water supply across rural Africa. The Survey 1 dataset, is major dataset developed by the project. This data set is available under Open Government Licence, subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying any reproduced materials: "Contains data supplied by permission of the Natural Environment Research Council [YEAR]".

This dataset comprises 655 borehole records and previously unanalysed pumping tests from across Uganda that were compiled from historical borehole records held within 9 district water offices. The dataset is a compilation of historical borehole records held within nine district water offices across Uganda. These data originated from numerous drilling campaigns undertaken by private contractors in each district to site and construct hand-pump borehole community water supplies between 2000 to 2018. In total over 1000 paper borehole records were initially collated and reviewed. This work was carried out over several months visiting the district water offices. Following a quality assurance procedure 655 records were transcribed to create a digital dataset. Each borehole record in the dataset contains a series of metadata alongside the pumping test data (e.g. pump depth, static water level, pumping rate and duration) including locational information (e.g. coordinates, water strike, borehole depth, borehole lithologies). The dataset is delivered as a series georeferenced site information within an MS Excel spreadsheet file. This data set is available under Open Government Licence, subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying any reproduced materials: "Contains data supplied by permission of the Natural Environment Research Council [YEAR]".

This dataset provides the field data collected in 2016 to assess: the functionality and performance of 600 handpumped borehole supplies (HPBs) across the three countries, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, and also the capacity of the community water management arrangements. The individual HPBs surveyed in the dataset were selected by a two or three stage randomised sampling approach. The UPGro Hidden Crisis project (2015-20) was an international research project aimed at developing a robust evidence base and understanding of the complex and multi-faceted causes which underlie the current high failure rates of many new groundwater supplies in Africa. The project was jointly funded by: DFID, NERC and ESRC as part of the UPGro programme (Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor). The project carried out the research work in three countries - Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda – to examine functionality and performance of groundwater supplies in a range of hydrogeological, climatic and social, institutional and governance environments in East Africa. The work focused specifically on examining the functionality of HPBs – these being the main form of improved community water supply across rural Africa. The Survey 1 dataset, is major dataset developed by the project. This data set is available under Open Government Licence, subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying any reproduced materials: "Contains data supplied by permission of the Natural Environment Research Council [YEAR]".

This dataset provides a detailed physical science dataset to the groundwater resource and engineering properties of 150 handpumped borehole supplies (HPBs) across Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, surveyed in 2017 as part of the UPGro Hidden Crisis project. The dataset includes measurements of aquifer resource potential, groundwater quality, downhole construction and condition of handpump components, and borehole construction. Detailed social science data were also collected as part of the second survey phases of the Hidden Crisis project. However, these data are reported as a separate (associated) dataset to the physical science Survey 2 dataset – and are available from Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) UK Data Service (UKDS). The UPGro Hidden Crisis project (2015-20) was an international research project aimed at developing a robust evidence base and understanding of the complex and multi-faceted causes which underlie the current high failure rates of many new groundwater supplies in Africa. The project was jointly funded by: DFID, NERC and ESRC as part of the UPGro programme (Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor). The project carried out the research work in three countries - Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda – to examine functionality and performance of groundwater supplies in a range of hydrogeological, climatic and social, institutional and governance environments in East Africa. The work focused specifically on examining the functionality of HPBs – these being the main form of improved community water supply across rural Africa. The Survey 2 dataset, is major dataset developed by the project. This data set is available under Open Government Licence, subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying any reproduced materials: "Contains data supplied by permission of the Natural Environment Research Council [YEAR]".

This dataset comprises 655 borehole records and previously unanalysed pumping tests from across Uganda that were compiled from historical borehole records held within 9 district water offices. The dataset is a compilation of historical borehole records held within nine district water offices across Uganda. These data originated from numerous drilling campaigns undertaken by private contractors in each district to site and construct hand-pump borehole community water supplies between 2000 to 2018. In total over 1000 paper borehole records were initially collated and reviewed. This work was carried out over several months visiting the district water offices. Following a quality assurance procedure 655 records were transcribed to create a digital dataset. Each borehole record in the dataset contains a series of metadata alongside the pumping test data (e.g. pump depth, static water level, pumping rate and duration) including locational information (e.g. coordinates, water strike, borehole depth, borehole lithologies). The dataset is delivered as a series georeferenced site information within an MS Excel spreadsheet file. This data set is available under Open Government Licence, subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying any reproduced materials: "Contains data supplied by permission of the Natural Environment Research Council [YEAR]".

The groundwater systems of northwest India and central Pakistan are amongst the most heavily exploited in the world. Groundwater has been monitored in the region for more than a century resulting in a unique long-term record of groundwater level change. The BGS has compiled groundwater level data from northwest India (Haryana and Punjab) and Pakistan (Punjab) between 1884 and 2020. The dataset, was compiled from various sources between 2018 and 2020. The excel file consists of two tabs both containing groundwater level data (in metres below ground level) and location information. In the first tab (Full_dataset), which contains the full dataset, there are 68783 rows of observed groundwater level data from 4028 individual sites. In the second tab (LTS) there are 7547 rows of groundwater level observations from 130 individual sites, which have water level data available for a period of more than 40 years and from which at least two thirds of the annual observations are available.

Poor functionality of rural water points continues to be a problem which plagues the sector. In this webinar we discuss some of the main results from the second phase of the UPGRO Hidden Crisis Project which has been examining the issue in Ethiopia, Uganda and Malawi. After a brief overview of the project we report the results of 18 months of detailed fieldwork undertaking a forensic analysis of 150 failing waterpoints across the 3 countries sharing lessons from what we found of the physical factors contributing to poor performance and lessons about community management.