No reason for africa to have no water.

uh oh i started a heated debate.....nothing gud of a heated debate

Originally posted by Shadow88
Hmmmm......maybe i should start a business venture........maybe then i could PROVE i could solve this problem better amonst others rather than just talk about it.....

Ok then! so how does one go about LOCATING the water...by sonar? ultrasound???

CHEERS GUYS!

[edit on 11-5-2005 by Shadow88]

Geology.

Yes, really. Like I said, water is only in certain types of rocks (aquifers.)

True, generally groundwater is heavily contaminated and requires expensive treatment before it's even remotely drinkable.

The best way to locate aquifers, from personal experience, is by the use of borehole sampling. this allows you to accuratly(well, reasonably anyway) map out the geology of the ground and also gives you the water levels so you know how deep you're going to have to sink the well. worst case scenerio however, you sink the borehole into the aquifer itself. We had this on a job once and the borehole was only 100mm diameter, we had 33 litres per second gushing out of the 100mm diameter hole the auger left. When sinking a well you want to rest just on top of the aquifer.

Magnetic resonance sounding can also be used but this is expensive and not really appropriate for use in the 3rd world.

[edit on 11/5/05 by Creative_Seeker]

The climate in Africa dry earth, dry air....or dry earth, humid air?

if the latter is there any way to build a device to absorb the moisture from the air? (yea i know its a de-humidifier but on a large scale and more efficient?) this could help possibly...and there would be any expensive drilling.....

Originally posted by HowardRoark

You disagree with what? I just posted some information about the fact that many recently drilled wells in Bangladesh and India are contaminated by arsenic, and that it is considered a major health issue.

Do you disagree with that?


And I wonder why they are not.

That post reminds me of Jack Nicholson sitting at the bar in the Overlook Hotel, ruminating about the “white man’s burden.”

Hold on a second Howard, you are taking my words out of context.
Besides, what does the Bangladesh government drilling wells for water have to do with western degrading of the rest of the world?

Badruzzaman criticizes a World Bank-funded project run by the government of Bangladesh to identify and shut down the tainted wells. “They test the well, paint it red if it’s pumping up water full of arsenic, and tell people they cannot drink from that well. What’s the alternative? People can’t live without water! We need simple, cheap remediation techniques.”

Oh, I see, because World Bank is involved it is purely the westerners fault, right? No solution!? Or is this a case of giving up for the sake to push one's political agenda? "Oh, the wells are painted red and left there and nothing can be down about it, all because big shot westerner WB had to come in and mess everything up, boo hoo hoo, etc..."

In fact there is a solution. Though I surmise the Bangladesh and Indian government are too lazy to lift a finger.

The Arsenic Biosand Filter (ABF), invented by engineers at MIT with the support of local partners, provides simultaneous arsenic and pathogen removal for safe, clean drinking water.

web.worldbank.org...:20208573~menuPK:214469~pagePK:180691~piPK:174492~theSitePK: 205098,00.html

[edit on 11-5-2005 by Frosty]

Originally posted by Shadow88
The climate in Africa dry earth, dry air....or dry earth, humid air?

if the latter is there any way to build a device to absorb the moisture from the air? (yea i know its a de-humidifier but on a large scale and more efficient?) this could help possibly...and there would be any expensive drilling.....

Something similar to this is taught as a survival technique if i remember rightly, dig a hole in the sand/earth, put a cup at the bottom of the hole, piece of plastic over the top weighted down in the corners and a small weight in the middle. Moisture condenses on the plastic and drips into the cup. On a larger scale I'm not so sure if water extraction from the air would work and completely redesigning the principals of a humidifier to be more efficient would initially cost alot. Think the way to go would be tapping underground sources.

Originally posted by Creative_Seeker
True, generally groundwater is heavily contaminated and requires expensive treatment before it's even remotely drinkable.

Not in all cases. Here in the Midwest U.S., the best aquifers are in St. Peter's sandstone and produce a nice sweet water (ok, with a bit of Ca and Fe, but that just adds to the taste )

The best way to locate aquifers, from personal experience, is by the use of borehole sampling. this allows you to accuratly(well, reasonably anyway) map out the geology of the ground and also gives you the water levels so you know how deep you're going to have to sink the well. . .
Magnetic resonance sounding can also be used but this is expensive and not really appropriate for use in the 3rd world.

[edit on 11/5/05 by Creative_Seeker]

I'm surpised no one has mentioned dowsing yet.

Don't get me started on dowsers either the only thing dowsers are good at finding is gullible people with money.

Actually there is one form of “dowsing” that does work. It involves using a steel rod (a straightened out coat hanger works well) to locate buried pipes and such. If the rod is balanced properly it will align with the magnetic field from the buried pipes. Note that this usually does not work around high tension power lines

think I'll just stick to my radar surveys for finding underground utilities.