| Work Detail |
Between January 2024 and January 2025, a study will map Gabons water resources. It will be carried out as part of the Integrated Program for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation in Libreville (Piaepal), launched in March 2021.
To meet the challenges of managing and preserving water resources in Gabon, the government is banking on a new approach. On January 23, 2024, Paterne Ndjambou, Director of Cabinet for the Gabonese Minister of Energy and Hydraulic Resources, kicked off the “study to map water resources and establish a geographic information system (GIS)” in the Central African country. It will be carried out over a 12-month period by teams of Gabonese experts.
The survey of Gabon’s water resources should enable the collection of field data to complement existing data, as well as data on the topography and meteorology of water points. In Gabon’s nine provinces, experts will also define GIS parameters and select technologies for data processing, hydrological modeling and GIS development.
AfDB funding
In addition to the sustainable management and preservation of available water resources in Gabon, the aim is to put an end to the wasteful and unequal distribution of the precious liquid through the planning of uses. As a reminder, the country has considerable potential water resources, estimated at 170 billion m3 per year (the Nyanga and the Ogooué are the country’s two largest rivers, editor’s note). Gabon also has one of the highest levels of annual water resources per capita, at around 127,825 m3 per year. However, it suffers from a major shortfall in the infrastructure needed to mobilize these resources to meet all the essential needs of its 2.3 million inhabitants.
In fact, less than 55% of Gabonese have access to drinking water in urban areas. In the country’s rural areas, the rate of access to this basic service is even lower, at less than 40% of the population, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB). The pan-African institution is co-financing the resource survey with the African Guarantee and Technical Cooperation Fund (AGTF) and the Gabonese government to the tune of 1.23 billion CFA francs, just under 1.9 million euros.
Sustainable water management in Gabon will also benefit the agricultural sector, which consumes 41% of available resources, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
“The study to map water resources and establish a Geographic Information System (GIS)” is part of the Integrated Program for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation of Libreville (Piaepal) launched since March 2021 in Gabon. The initiative aims to improve Gabonese people’s access to drinking water and sanitation by 2025. |
