Letoyie Leroshi walked for five days hunting water. After three years of drought in Samburu County, Kenya, the riverbeds were bone-dry.
Then Leroshi found a patch of wettish sand in the sunbaked Ewaso Ng’iro riverbed. He brought a group of fellow herders to dig. They hit water and the jubilant young men broke into song, a traditional call to their cattle and camels.
Harnessing Eastern Africa’s groundwater could be a huge benefit for a region struggling to slake its thirst. Climate change is making drought more likely but, as in much of the continent, people in East Africa and the Horn of Africa lack the resources to tap groundwater on a wide and efficient scale.
Photo: AP
For Leroshi and other Kenyan herders, the situation is desperate.
“We had thousands of livestock four years ago when we experienced short rains,” he said. “We have lost hundreds of our cattle and are now worried that if the rains fail yet again, we will lose everything.”
Leroshi and other herdsmen carry weapons and are prepared to fight if attacked by people trying to steal from them.
“Everyone else around is also armed and ready to steal our livestock,” he said.
The British charity WaterAid and the British Geological Survey found that Africa has enough groundwater for most countries to get through at least five years of drought.
“Groundwater has great potential for drought resilience,” said Girma Ebrahim, a hydrogeologist with the International Water Management Institute.
The UN water agency said that about 400 million people across Africa lack access to clean water.
Lmeshen Lekoomet, 54, recently left with the family’s few remaining animals in search of pasture and water.
As his family waited, his two-year-old became severely dehydrated and malnourished and was hospitalized. Lekoomet never returned.
In the coastal cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1997, and in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2017, drought led people to use groundwater. In Ethiopia, wells equipped with hand pumps outperformed all other sources during a drought in 2015 and 2016.
Africa has 72 giant aquifers that are largely untapped, scientists say. Some farming and pastoral communities in these regions already rely on wells, using digging by hand and with solar-powered equipment.
“This is a game-changer,” said Edwin Macharia, the director of programs for the aid agency Mercy Corps in Ethiopia.
Other regions of the world provide cautionary tales of how the misuse of groundwater can make situations worse.
“Not to say it should not be exploited,” said Philip Wandera, former director of the Kenya Wildlife Service and now range-management lecturer at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. But “groundwater is not a quick-fix answer for the current drought ... if you have been poor managers of surface water, it means you are likely to do the same with groundwater.”
Tunisian President Kais Saied yesterday condemned a European Parliament resolution on human rights calling for the release of his critics as “blatant interference.” The EU Parliament resolution, voted by an overwhelming majority the day before, called for the release of lawyer Sonia Dahmani, a popular critic of Saied, who was freed from prison on Thursday, but remained under judicial supervision. “The European Parliament [resolution] is a blatant interference in our affairs,” Saied said. “They can learn lessons from us on rights and freedoms.” Saied’s condemnation also came two days after he summoned the EU’s ambassador for “failing to respect diplomatic rules.” He also
Tropical Storm Koto killed three people and left another missing as it approached Vietnam, authorities said yesterday, as strong winds and high seas buffeted vessels off the country’s flood-hit central coast. Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s middle belt in recent weeks, flooding historic sites and popular holiday destinations, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Authorities ordered boats to shore and diverted dozens of flights as Koto whipped up huge waves and dangerous winds, state media reported. Two vessels sank in the rough seas, a fishing boat in Khanh Hoa province and a smaller raft in Lam Dong, according to the
Sri Lanka made an appeal for international assistance yesterday as the death toll from heavy rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 123, with another 130 reported missing. The extreme weather system has destroyed nearly 15,000 homes, sending almost 44,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said. DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said relief operations had been strengthened with the deployment of thousands of troops from the country’s army, navy and air force. “We have 123 confirmed dead and another 130 missing,” Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo. Cyclone Ditwah was moving away from the island yesterday and
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
RSS