Leveloggers Help Assess Groundwater Levels In Uganda

Hope 2 One Life is a non-profit organization that works in Uganda to help provide medical and water supplies to those recovering from the LRA civil war.

Thanks to sponsors and donors, Hope 2 One Life has installed eight drinking water wells equipped with reliable hand pumps throughout Uganda, and has plans to install a ninth with assistance from HydroSolutions.

Each of the installed wells is inspected annually and is tested for bacteria. During these visits, it can be seen how heavily the wells are being used for drinking water, as well as for raising livestock.

The wells do not contain any water measurement instruments, so they have not been able to track just how much water is being used on a daily basis, or over the course of a year. With more wells being drilled in the area, there is concern with groundwater overuse.

Recently, Solinst donated two Leveloggers to help track the groundwater fluctuations in two of the wells. In November 2015, the first Levelogger was installed in a well at a FEM Farm in central Uganda. Those living on the farm, as well as the surrounding communities, rely heavily on this well.

Levelogger Edge Water Level Datalogger

Solinst Levelogger Edge Ready to be Deployed

The second Levelogger was installed in a well in northern Uganda, in a town near Opit. Here, there is a partnership with a local order of nuns to raise goats as an income-generating project to support their charitable causes in the area.

Levelogger Edge Being Deployed in Well Near Opit, Uganda

Levelogger Edge Being Deployed in Well Near Opit, Uganda

The Leveloggers are programmed to record water levels and temperature every 15 minutes. This will help monitor daily consumption and provide long-term and seasonal trends in water levels. By calibrating the outflow from each well when pumped, they are hoping to use the water level data to help estimate the volume of water pumped.

This data will help Hope 2 One Life and HydroSolutions evaluate sustainable groundwater yields in the area, and provide critical information for planning future well installations.

Solinst thanks Hope 2 One Life’s Tom Osborne, President and Principle Hydrologist with HydroSolutions, for providing the details of these projects.