The Hunger Games: Groundwater is Gold🗺️

Hey everybody, welcome back to my second post. In light of the new Hunger Games film coming out in November, I thought I would start this post by trying to link the film series and Geography! There are some clear theme overlaps between the films and Water/Food in Africa (the most obvious being the play on words), however in the films there are themes of oppression, starvation and corruption which can sadly be found in certain African regions. Despite this, building on my first post and using the action plan I devised it's not fair to to make the generalisation that this is the case in all African regions.  

The Hidden (but Not so Hidden) Groundwater: 

For many African farmers, groundwater, is "an essential ingredient"(Gaye and Tindimugaya, 2018). It is an in theory steady and dependable source that is especially important in areas with limited or unpredictable surface water. Exploring groundwater in the context of a case study will make analysis stronger, I have chosen Namibia as it's an arid region with a high variety of aquifer productivity as seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Aquifer Productivity Distribution in Africa (McGrath, 2012)

Namibia in Context:

With the Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) initiative, the city of Windhoek (the capital) is addressing the severe reality of water shortage (and hence food shortages as a biproduct) in a novel way. In addition to addressing the pressing issue of water security, this strategy establishes a standard for long-term, sustainable water management in dry areas (Murray et al., 2018).

The unique climate and topography of Windhoek need creative ways to water management. Because of the difficult terrain and scarcity of permanent rivers, the city could not continue to rely on traditional water supply (Tredoux, Van Der Merwe and Peters, 2009). The MAR project, which has been under progress since 2006, was first proposed in 1997 and aims to make water safer and more sustainable in the future.

Restoring a fractured quartzite aquifer underneath the city is the main objective of the MAR plan. In order to use this process, clean water must be periodically injected into the aquifer so that it may be drawn from when resources are few. During the first phase, six injection boreholes (Figure 2) with a 10,000 m³/day (Murray et al., 2018) capacity were erected. Subsequent additions have resulted in a considerable increase in the system capacity.

Figure 2: Injection Borehole Site (Murray, 2017)

For Windhoek, the MAR plan is more than a technological advancement; it's a lifeline. In addition to ensuring the population's survival, the city's increased water supply also creates the foundation for future expansion, development and addressing food issues - a thriving population can't be a hungry one. Such programmes are more important than ever in light of climate change (Wise, 2017), providing a 'proof of concept' model for other areas with comparable problems.

Moving Forward:

The next post will offer an analysis into the effectiveness of the MAR scheme.

As always, I encourage you to comment your thoughts (don't be shy!) Any feedback is appreciated!