From MOID AHMAD
I read your article ‘Will Gaddafi’s great river run dry?’ with great
interest (This Week, 7 September).
I designed the North and South Sahir Well Fields which have been in
operation since 1974, and which are monitored by a network of monitoring
wells. The recent data indicate the drop in water levels in shallow aquifers
is less than 2 metres in 11 years of operation, and the pumping levels in
the wells are not changing because the water is being supplied from the
upper aquifers.
Our model for the Kufra and Sarir basin indicated that inflow from Tibesti,
Chad and Sudan is 80 m3/sec. The idea of the well field drying up in 50
or 100 years is a pure speculation by people who are not familiar with the
actual data.
The people of Africa are dying of hunger and starvation. It is the duty
of hydrologists to do their best to provide water for the people. There
is plenty of groundwater in the Sahel and North African sedimentary basins
which can be used for agroforestry. We are currently exploiting US groundwater
in California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas and nobody is telling us that is
a ‘national fantasy – it’s madness to use this water which can never be
replaced for agriculture’.
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While the initial investment for developing the Libyan irrigational
system is high, I am dismayed that you are advocating supply of American/European
subsidised food to the poor African countries. Rather than spending their
financial resources on imported food, the Sahelian are choosing to invest
in developing their own resources.
Moid Ahmad Ohio University, US
