According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in Kenya, more than 40 percent of the country’s 41 million people lack access to clean drinking water.
After a drought caused a massive famine in 2011, the search for new sources of water has become more urgent than ever.
But a recent discovery by UNESCO in partnership with Radar Technologies has the potential to save countless lives and provide water to millions. Using satellite imagery, radar and geological maps, the team located an underground water reserve that could meet the needs of people in Kenya for more than 70 years.
The Lotikipi Basin Aquifer holds more than nine times the amount of all of Kenya’s current reserves combined in a massive hidden lake.
Though creating the infrastructure to access the millions of gallons of water is still a challenge, the discovery offers hope to a region desperate for solutions to their water crisis. “The news about these water reserves comes at a time when reliable water supplies are highly needed,” the cabinet secretary for Kenya’s Ministry of Environment said in a statement. “We must now work to further explore these resources responsibly and safeguard them for future generations.”
After the successful find, the researchers are hoping to take the technology to other parts of Africa in the search for more life-saving water reserves.
