When was the nubian aquifer discovered

Helen Bonsor from the BGS is one of the authors of the paper. She says that up until now groundwater was out of sight and out of mind. She hopes the new maps will open people's eyes to the potential.

Due to changes in climate that have turned the Sahara into a desert over centuries many of the aquifers underneath were last filled with water over 5, years ago. The scientists collated their information from existing hydro-geological maps from national governments as well as aquifer studies. The researchers say their new maps indicate that many countries currently designated as "water scarce" have substantial groundwater reserves. However, the scientists are cautious about the best way of accessing these hidden resources.

They suggest that widespread drilling of large boreholes might not work. Dr Alan MacDonald of the BGS, lead author of the study, told the BBC: "High-yielding boreholes should not be developed without a thorough understanding of the local groundwater conditions. With many aquifers not being filled due to a lack of rain, the scientists are worried that large-scale borehole developments could rapidly deplete the resource.

According to Helen Bonsor, sometimes the slower means of extraction can be more efficient. Organizations like these help determine appropriate strategies to provide in times of drought. In this area, every year is on the brink of a drought year.

Models of areas with higher production or greater drawdowns like the several in this report can improve probabilities of providing necessary amounts of water to the demands that needs it most. Before exploring the steps taken in the attempt and fail of a transboundary aquifer treaty of the NSAS, there are a few events including threats and invasions of water supplies that can further describe the importance of creating a transboundary treaty.

In September , a local tribe possibly affiliated with Islamic State IS in Iraq and Syria cut off water to Tripoli, capital of Libya, in hope to release a kidnapped victim. Tripoli relied on bottled for ten days Podrasky, Even with report listing the plan would not decrease the amount of water flowing into Egypt, Egyptian military threatened to invade such plans Podrasky, Officials from the four governments met again in and initialed an agreement for joint management of the aquifer.

Along with the monitor and data collection, it made a framework for institutions to address regional and national level concerns for uses of the aquifer. Concerns included potential growth, increased agricultural development, industrial and urban development activities. The parties adjourned and set a date to advance the modeling and renew the treaty. Formation of this proposal will be introduced by each countries factor into different concerns that may arise in the proposal process.

Following the introduction will be a formal doctrine of which accounts for these concerns and simply organizes policy, institutions and responsibilities for the riparian states.

It is important to include and involve all riparian states in the future formulation of policy and institutions of the NSAS in research and management short term and long term.

Chad has the least amount of land over the aquifer, a low amount of people if any reliant of the aquifer, and very low technological and economic feasibility to invest in a source linking project. Chad is currently one of the poorest countries in a collectively developing continent Africa, according to GDP.

Sudan has a similar situation to Chad but bears the burden of providing for more people; yet Sudan has more feasibility to make investments to link water resources.

Egypt chooses not to use much of the NSAS while Libya plans to have some of the largest daily extraction volumes from groundwater ever recorded. An integrated approach for water management of the NSAS will encourage sustainability and equitable right to use the aquifer between all nations.

It will also provide for a greater security from threats, previously suggested, as opposed to four countries acting alone. There is not a current framework for the NSAS but from analyzing the current uses, the framework being practiced is rule of capture. This rule will not yield long term production from the aquifer from all of its riparian states.

Libya could extract all of the available resources before Sudan and Chad have a chance to finish a project and leave many of millions of people without a reliable source of water. It is important to reestablish to notion: equitable right to use the water for long term. Correlative Rights, where land over the aquifer is the weighted factor in allocation, may be an appropriate solution to make the formulation simple.

Every country would have the equitable right to use the aquifer. Prior Appropriation may not be the best management practice in this case; the policy may not be suitable because Sudan and Chad would not be able to apply for appropriation for a considerable amount of time unless they apply for a permit for which they will not use for many years.

Appropriation could work if Libya would allow a considerable decline in their current extraction practices. This act from Libya is not realistic because the investment, and debt, of the five phases of the GMMR that Libya has accumulated and will continue to accumulate until completion.

If this were agreed upon, the appropriations would have to be an annual basis and never to exceed a certain amount; to be concise: if Libya is currently extracting a million cubic meters per day to meet their demand, their appropriation would be for that amount.

Appropriations would have to be given to riparian states by a management committee unbiased between the states and secure the sustainable and equitable use of the aquifer instead of the economic benefits of one. Reasonable off-site use could be considered but due to the climate of the region, the problem would be similar to the rule of capture because almost all withdrawals would be to provide for municipal and irrigation uses.

A court could deem a use unreasonable if they had a high evaporation loss. The Restatement of torts may provide the most necessary formulation for the sustainable and equitable use of the aquifer. The concern with this use is each withdrawal is specific and a court would bear the burden to make many decisions based on the factors listed figure 9. The four countries all share the aquifer in the sense of having a percentage of the aquifer below their lands territories.

This doctrine values each riparian state along with the sustainable and equitable right to use the aquifer. The Regional Strategy for the Utilization of the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System shall continue its efforts to provide data and analysis of uses and quality of the aquifer. All riparian states are responsible for providing information on a six month basis. The formulation of a water appropriation committee shall be formed to respond the site specific cases of reasonable uses that will meet a certain limit of volume on extraction.

This committee shall include three representatives from each country, one representing water management, one representing agricultural and irrigation uses, and a third representative that is concern specific for the country it represents.

The concern specific to the country is assigned by the country and not by another entity. All representatives may have a team assigned as subcommittees but the three representatives from each state will be the only representatives to appropriate water uses.

Meetings of data sharing will be every six months and meetings to make provisions, adjustments, and appropriations will be annually. Volumes to be extracted less than the limit shall be given immediate access once the committee receives the appropriation application but not before then. This information is important to receive so the committee can adjust the total volumes extracted from the aquifers. Exceeding this limit will require an application to the appropriation committee covering volume rate to be extracted i.

Failure to provide an appropriate amount of information, according to the committee, will not be considered in the appropriation process. The committee will provide judgement of appropriations according to these factors ranked from most necessary to less important by number with 1 ranking most necessary factor :.

Consideration and collaborative efforts in advancements in best management practices for all uses of the aquifer will be organized from each riparian state so that the use of the aquifer can be efficiently maximized.

Abdo, G. Challenges facing groundwater management in Sudan. Department of Engineering, University of Khartoum. Khartoum, Sudan.

Abu-Zeid, K. Most Egyptians live along the Nile and get their drinking and irrigation water from the river. Instead, some of the water samples were more than a thousand times that age. The researchers used the radioactive isotope chlorine, which has a half-life of , years, to date groundwater samples collected from 29 wells scattered around the Eastern Desert.

They found that the oldest samples in the alluvial aquifers were more than , years old. The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System is the largest known fossil water aquifer in the world. Spanning more than 2 million square kilometers across Sudan, Chad, Libya, and Egypt, it contains more than , cubic kilometers of groundwater—more water than the Nile River discharges in years. The water in the Nubian aquifer dates back to the Pleistocene epoch, when Earth weathered periodic deep freezes.