Huge underground water supply discovered in drought-stricken Kenya

[Judi Lynn]

Source: The Star

Huge underground water supply discovered in drought-stricken Kenya

Aquifer brings hope and the promise of prosperity to tens of millions without adequate water, Kenyan environment minister says.

By: Lesley Ciarula Taylor News reporter, Published on Wed Sep 11 2013

The high-tech discovery of a 70-year water supply under the arid plains of drought-stricken northern Kenya brings hope and the promise of prosperity to tens of millions without adequate water, the Kenyan environment minister says.

Judi Wakhungu announced the discovery ‏of the 207-cubic-kilometre Lotikipi Basin Aquifer at a water security meeting in Nairobi with the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization, which sponsored the exploration.

“Kenya water discovery brings hope for drought relief in rural north,” Wakhungu announced via Twitter.

A smaller aquifer, a reserve of underground water, has also been identified using advanced satellite technology supplied by the French company Radar Technologies International, it was announced Wednesday.


Read more: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/09/11/huge_underground_water_supply_discovered_in_droughtstricken_kenya.html

[olddad56]

1. ok, let the war over the water rights begin. In the end the citizens of Kenya will be the losers

once US corporate money gets involved, it will get ugly.

[RC]

2. Great, now they can plant corn or rice or some other high water usage crop and pump the aquifer dry

in 10 to 15 years. And don't forget the man-made recreational lake.

Just install wells and let the people living there use the water for their needs. Keep the agribusiness profiteers out of it, if such a thing is possible.

[valerief]

20. Never happen. Pigs always muscle their way into the trough. nt

[Myrina]

38. Nah, they'll just start fracking.

I mean, why not?

[PrestonLocke]

12. weird, that was my first reaction too...

[Maedhros]

13. Don't worry...

...America will make it secure for our interests:

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/05/up_next_the_administration_pivots_to_africa_partner/

(posted here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023603681)

[jwirr]

15. That is what I think also. Kenya will not be getting any of this water at a reasonable price.

Corporations rule the world.

[dbackjon]

18. Why specifiy US money?

It is more likely to be Chinese, British, etc.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

3. I hope they don't discover natural gas there.

[madamesilverspurs]

5. You beat me to it.

Where I live the farmers have been told to cut back on their planting, but frackers get every drop of water they demand.

[Peacetrain]

4. Oh that is wonderful news..

hopefully they will get relief.. and knowledge on how to stretch that aquifer as long as possible..

[Auggie]

8. Thanks for the positive response ...

nice to see once in a while

[Peacetrain]

9. They have been in my thoughts and prayers

Just such a wonderful piece of news for a part of the world that has so suffered. It just made my day.. I am almost in tears (of joy) to read this..

[Jesus Malverde]

6. Has Nestle claimed dibs on it yet?

[catchnrelease]

25. ^^^This^^^

First thing that came to my mind=Nestle.

[Kennah]

28. Bechtel claims it's part of the water they lost in Bolivia.

[robinlynne]

29. You are funny!!!!

[catchnrelease]

31. You're right

How could I have forgotten about Bechtel? Maybe Nestle and Bechtel can duke it out over who will hold people's lives in their hands for a big profit.

According to Peter Brabeck, CEO of Nestle, Water is not a human right and should be privatized. I bet he's got people on their way to Kenya already.


[link:

|

[Kennah]

39. I can SO get behind a war between Bechtel and Nestle

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. Orly Taitz wants to see the long form water survey.

[mountain grammy]

10. The government of Kenya must claim this find immediately for the good of the citizens of Kenya.

[Nihil]

33. Huh ...

It wouldn't be long before the government decided that the best thing for the citizens
of Kenya would be to sell the rights to a foreign entrepreneur ...

[progree]

34. I'm afraid you might be right - a PBS documentary POV on Kenya and 2 foreign aid projects that

Last edited Thu Sep 12, 2013, 02:23 PM - Edit history (1)

sounded well-intentioned but did little to help ordinary people. And government ineptitude and corruption and was a big part of the problem.

Titled: Good Fortune -- http://www.pbs.org/pov/goodfortune/

One can watch the trailer, but unfortunately the full length program can no longer be streamed nor downloaded free.

[russspeakeasy]

11. Monsanto is already packed and ready to pollute.

[HumansAndResources]

26. And they Have Help from The Adminstration On That

Speaking before a crowd Sunday at the University of Cape Town, President Obama touted a "new alliance of governments and the private sector" and the billions spent on agricultural research that "grows more crops"—words frequently used as doublespeak for Big Agriculture's genetically modified organism (GMO) technology.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/01-7

[Maedhros]

14. On a related note...

We need to support this kind of project:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2390597/Now-thats-advertise-Drought-hit-Peru-invents-billboard-makes-gallons-drinking-water-AIR.html

[AtheistCrusader]

16. Use it wisely.

We're not using ours wisely, and someday we're going to pay for it. Best guess, 25-30 years and the breadbasket turns off...

[dbackjon]

19. My thoughts as well

70-year supply is nothing. Well, better than nothing, but how is the 70-year supply measured? At current consumption rates? We know consumption rates will skyrocket if water is made easily and cheaply available - human nature.


Hopefully, they use it well

[robinlynne]

30. For people in the midst of a drought, 70 years is fantastic!

[In_The_Wind]

17. That's wonderful news.

[KamaAina]

21. This technology should be deployed worldwide ASAP

There just might be more water out there than we thought. Which would be bad news for the BFEE, Nestle and whoever else is trying to corner the market.

[Politicub]

22. Yay for science!

And good for the people of Kenya.

[toby jo]

23. Coming to a Nairobi near you - Dubai !

Seriously though - get some community organizers over there and go tribal on the pigs when they get there for their 'take'.

[Marrah_G]

24. I hope Kenya makes the water a national resource and keeps out corporations

[HumansAndResources]

27. Maybe Bolivia Can Help Them Learn How to Keep That Water

Otherwise, they will have to "pay for permission" from some Western Transnational for the resources under their feet - like every other nation not on the Corporate Globalist-Powers "To Bomb" list.

[progree]

32. Good, because in 78 years there will be 8 Kenyas to feed and water at current popn growth rates

Last edited Fri Sep 13, 2013, 12:30 AM - Edit history (2)

Google: Kenya population growth

The population growth RATE has been stable since about 1998 at about 2.7%/year. At that rate, it doubles every 26.02 years

1.027^26.02 = 2 ("^" is exponentiation)

If that population growth rate continues for the next 78 years, there will be 3 doublings (78/26 = 3)

That's an 8-fold population increase (2^3 = 8) in 78 years, which is one lifetime and more than the "70" of the supposed 70 year supply.

Year Population
2012 43 M
2090 344 M (78 years later)

And they will reasonably want to raise their living standards -- more meat for example, which consumes a lot more water than plant food. And use it for industrial purposes and so on to support a higher living standard.

If a higher living standard resulted in only a doubling of per-capita water consumption, that would mean there will be 16 Kenyas in 78 years in terms of water consumption.

[font color = red]On Edit 9/12 1128 pm Central[/font]: That 207 cubic km volume of water they found in Kenya = about 9 months of U.S. water consumption -- see post 40 for the source and calculations.

=========================================================================

The dramatic dot video of population growth. A world map beginning in 1 A.D. with 1 dot = 1 million people
http://www.populationconnection.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issues_main

It is about 6 1/2 minutes long but you can skip the first 2 minutes -- the actual dot stuff begins at 2:00 and ends at 5:42. At 5:00 have reached about 1600 A.D. while the population is still quite modest outside of India and China. (So if you are in a time bind, you can start at 5:00 and watch just the last 42 seconds) "As the film neared present day and the dots started flying onto the screen, there were audible gasps, wide staring eyes, and mumblings of "no way" and "I knew we were growing but not THAT much."

[jsr]

36. Damn.

[progree]

40. That 207 cubic km volume of water = about 9 months of U.S. consumption

Last edited Fri Sep 13, 2013, 10:45 AM - Edit history (1)

The article says that big body of underground water found in Kenya is 207 cubic kilometers (cubic km). In 2005, the U.S. used 289 cubic kilometers (the amount withdrawn from surface and ground water), excluding water used for thermal-electric plants which is mostly "flow through" (its returned to the lake or river or whatever after used for cooling).

207 / 289 = 0.72 years or a little less than 9 months

Source and calculations (ugly, but if you trust me, you don't have to read this) :

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/wateruse-total.html (accessed 9/12/13)

If withdrawals for thermoelectric power (which is generally a "flow-though process&quot in 2005 are excluded, about 209,000 Mgal/d was withdrawn, of which 129,000 Mgal/d (62 percent) was supplied by surface water and 80,700 Mgal/d (38 percent) was supplied by groundwater. (Mgal/day is million gallons per day)

My calculations:

So 209,000 Mgal/day * 365 days = 76,300,000 Mgal/year = 76.3 * 10^6 * 10^6 = 76.3 * 10^12 = 76.3 trillion gallons per year.

Google says: 1 cubic km = 2.64 * 10^11 U.S. gallons.
So, (76.3 * 10^12) / (2.64 * 10^11) = 28.9 * 10^1 = 289 cubic km / year <- that's the amount of water withdrawn per year in the U.S. excluding thermoelectric.

Another source: An imperial gallons to cubic km converter: http://www.unitjuggler.com/convert-volume-from-gallonimperial-to-km3.html
(and then I converted the imperial gallons to U.S. gallons, using 1 imperial gallons = 1.2 U.S. gallons)

[adirondacker]

41. Nice work! nt

[Ezlivin]

35. Maybe the Lord will lead Pat Robertson

...to do what he does best: Bilk Africans out of profiting from their own resources.

[joanbarnes]

37. How did another nation end up on top of 'our' resources? (Water, oil, rare earth metals, whatever.)