Borehole Drilling Supervision Capacity in Zimbabwe

by Joseph T Njanike

Photo: Supervised Borehole Drilling Project: Collection of Water Samples for Water Quality Analysis at a completed Borehole during the Final Certification Process

As one of the few remaining qualified, experienced, and active drilling supervisors in Zimbabwe, I would like to share experiences on the status of borehole drilling supervision in my country, Zimbabwe.

Drilling Supervision: A Technical Perspective

Rural areas, where the majority of Zimbabweans reside, are mainly serviced through groundwater sources for their water supply needs. The life span for a significant number of boreholes that have invariably become the technology of choice in Zimbabwe has in most cases proved to be short. This has mainly been due to shortcomings bedeviling the drilling and construction process thereby making the professionalisation of the borehole drilling imperative. Borehole drilling supervision, among other factors, is an integral component of the borehole drilling professionalisation process. This requires the hiring of professionals with relevant qualifications and experience to provide adequate supervision of drilling and related operations for the purposes of controlling the quality of work and securing compliance with the design and technical specifications stipulated for the drilling works as well as generating information for making key decisions in terms of on-site design modifications and the final borehole depth. In this context, questions about whether there is sufficient capacity to supervise borehole drilling in Zimbabwe would need some answers.

Professionals have left the country

Most of the qualified hydrogeologists or professionals with a geological background and relevant experience in drilling supervision have migrated to other countries in the Southern Africa region and beyond. This has largely been due to the fact that job opportunities in the groundwater development field in Zimbabwe are scarce.

Less than ten of us remain

The result is that there are very few well-qualified and experienced professionals for drilling supervision in the country. I estimate that the number of well-qualified and experienced professionals for drilling supervision probably does not exceed ten. Please set that figure alongside Zimbabwe’s population of over 16 million, with an estimated 27% of the population lacking access to a basic drinking water supply facility (see JMP Data collated by WHO and UNICEF). Additionally, only four or five of these professionals hold post-graduate degrees in hydrogeology. The others are generally experts in groundwater development based on their possession of a background in geology, or geophysics as well as relevant experience.

Even fewer are active

To aggravate the situation, some of these professionals hold managerial positions in the government departments and offices of the implementing agencies, resulting in very few actually participating in drilling supervision on borehole provision projects. It is worrisome to recognise that the few groundwater development experts that are available have rarely been engaged to supervise drilling and associated operations on community borehole provision projects.

Incentives are lacking

Very few professionals, especially young geologists, are motivated to pursue knowledge and formal training in drilling supervision, as there is no demand for drilling supervision consultancy services in the country. This is primarily because most of those who implement borehole provision projects do not seem to appreciate the importance of effective supervision in borehole drilling and construction for quality control purposes and sustainability. In most cases, drilling supervision is viewed as an activity that is largely unnecessary as it attracts additional and unwanted costs for borehole drilling.

Training and on-job learning opportunities are lacking

Given that over a period in excess of two decades, opportunities for borehole drilling supervision consultancy have been few in the country, including on major borehole provision projects, opportunities for young geologists or engineers to acquire knowledge on drilling supervision through formal training courses or to gain relevant experience by way of on the job training have been very limited.

The importance of drilling supervision is not appreciated

Most directors, managers, and project planners for the implementing agencies (the key decision makers on the community water supply projects) lack an understanding of the need for professional drilling supervision. For them, as long as it becomes possible to abstract water from a borehole at the end of the drilling process, the objective has been achieved. This does not take into consideration other important factors such as the quality of workmanship or construction, or the technical sustainability of the facility. I argue strongly that these can only be achieved through professional, on-site supervision of borehole drilling. Generally, borehole drilling supervision is only undertaken when it is a requirement by the funding agency

A vicious circle

Given the foregoing scenario, we find ourselves in a vicious circle in Zimbabwe, with no meaningful programmes for developing or enhancing the capacity for borehole drilling supervision initiated, a lack of on-the-job training programmes and/or training courses for staff with relevant qualifications and who are regularly involved on the water supply projects.

A total lack of investment in professionalism

Even the government, which is the ultimate custodian of the community boreholes, has not made professional drilling supervision a requirement in the borehole drilling industry. To most implementing agencies, the cost of hiring a professional for effective supervision of borehole drilling is considered an unnecessary additional cost on community borehole provision projects in Zimbabwe. With meagre or no budgetary allocation to fund the services of professional drilling supervisors, borehole drilling supervision has been reduced to merely monitoring or observing the drilling processes, which of course is easily handled at very little or no extra cost by the readily available unqualified in-house technicians or government extension workers.

Unqualified oversight of borehole drilling

This has resulted in a situation where unqualified personnel are given the responsibility to oversee drilling operations in cases where this becomes a requirement.

What do I ask of you?

For those of you reading this blog, and who may pick an interest in this situation, I ask you to share with me, from experience in your countries, how to:

• Make the investment in drilling supervision on rural water supply projects a worthwhile issue to implementing agencies that include the government, bilateral organisations, local and International NGOs, and UN Organisations for long-term cost-effectiveness as well as longevity and sustainability of the water supply facilities; 
• Conscientise the government on the need to develop a regulatory framework for professionalising groundwater development, which also incorporates guidelines for borehole siting and professional drilling supervision for quality assurance purposes.

About the Author:

Mr Joseph Njanike is a qualified hydrogeologist with over 35 years of experience in groundwater exploration, evaluation and development.  He has been heavily involved in the implementation and management of borehole provision projects and rural water supply projects in Zimbabwe. Between 1995 and 1999, Joseph was involved in training and mentoring more than 10 junior geologists in groundwater exploration and borehole drilling supervision for the District Development Fund (DDF), under a training programme funded by UNICEF. In addition to a BSc Degree in Geology and Chemistry obtained at the University of Zimbabwe, he also holds an MSc Degree in Geohydrology from Rhodes University, South Africa.