A newly discovered water source in Namibia could supply half of Africa’s driest sub-Saharan country with water for 400 years. The body of water, known as an aquifer, flows under the border between Angola and Namibia.

It’s called Ohangwena II, and covers a vast area of northern Namibia, measuring roughly 70 km by 40 km, on the Namibian side of the border.

Scientists say the water is up to 10 000 years old, and cleaner to drink than many modern sources.

Martin Quinger, a project manager from the German federal institute for geoscience and natural resources (BGR), says it’s a substantial body of water:

The amount of stored water would equal the current supply of this area in northern Namibia for 400 years, which has about 40 per cent of the nation’s population.

What we are aiming at is a sustainable water supply so we only extract the amount of water that is being recharged. What we can say is that the huge amount of stored water is will always be enough for a back up for an area that is currently supplied only by surface water.

For the rural water supply the water will be well suited for irrigation and stock watering, the possibilities that we open with this alternative resource are quite massive.

If the water [has spent] 10 000 years underground, it means it was recharged at a time when environmental pollution was not yet an issue, so on average it can be a lot better than water that infiltrates in cycles of months or years.

This region is currently dependent on two rivers for its water supply, and this has restricted agricultural development in regions not close to the water supply. But that could all change with the new aquifer.

A British Geological Survey map illustrates African aquifers..

The Namibian aquifer could protect the area against drought for 15 years.

Natural pressure will make the water easy and cheap to extract, but there is a problem: a smaller, salty aquifer, sits on top of the new find, and it raises the possibility that unauthorised drilling could threaten the quality of the water.

Quinger explains:

If people don’t comply with our technical recommendations they might create a hydraulic shortcut between the two aquifers which might lead to the salty water from the upper one contaminating the deep one or vice versa.

The BBC reported that another key aim for the researchers involved is to develop the capacity among young Namibians to manage their country’s water resources before the funding from the EU runs out.

[Source: BBC]