APPLIED HYDROLOGY IN THE VIRUNGA VOLCANOES REGION, CENTRAL AFRICA

In building on a well established history of partnering to protect forest, soil, and water resources in critically important African landscapes, the Forest Service was asked to provide technical assistance to the African Wildlife Foundation and the International Gorilla Conservation Programme. A scoping mission to the National Parks in the Virunga Heartland trans-boundary region of Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda was completed during March 2005. The USFS team provided a preliminary assessment of the geology and water resources of the region and formulated a conceptual hydrogeologic model with a particular focus on the identification of water supplies for local communities. The montane rain forests in the parks facilitate the collection, infiltration, and storage of large amounts of water. The highly porous volcanic rocks of the area favor storage of water in the subsurface rather than in streams. Most of the water supply sources observed during the mission are located at ground water discharge points (i.e. springs and wetlands) forcing people to walk long distances to collect water. Many opt to illegally enter the parks for water and while there set snares, collect fire wood, and disrupt wildlife. Water resource management and evaluation efforts in Africa suffer from many of the same frustrations we encounter on National Forest lands in the U.S. including human development pressures on forest boundaries, administrative frustrations, sparse inventory and mapping of aquifers or ground-water dependent ecosystems, and a paucity of monitoring data for establishing quality and quantity of ground-water resources.