African water project supported by space (Forwarded)

ESA News
http://www.esa.int

8 June 2007

African water project supported by space

Algeria, Libya and Tunisia have kicked off an ambitious water project called
GEO-AQUIFER that will use satellite imagery to support the monitoring and
sustainable management of their common, transboundary groundwater resources,
bettering the living conditions of their population.

The groundwater resource, which was built up around 10 000 years ago, is
known as the North-Western Sahara Aquifer System (SASS, after its French
acronym). The SASS covers an area of over one million square kilometres and
is the key water resource in the region. Although it has negligible
recharge, it has experienced heavy exploitation, 'ground water mining', in
the past thirty years.

Ensuring the sustainability of this valuable, non-renewable resource is
vital for the lives of millions who depend on it for drinking water and
irrigation. Recognising the overexploitation of this shared resource, these
three countries initiated together with the Sahara and Sahel Observatory
(OSS) a consultation mechanism at ministerial level. This consultation
depends on objective, timely, area-wide and consistent information.

Although the ground water resources are hidden up to more than a kilometre
below the surface, the soon-to-be completed ESA project Aquifer has
demonstrated that observations from space of the surface of the Earth can
provide useful information.

"The ESA Aquifer project has demonstrated to us and the countries several
tools that space technology can provide. We are starting the GEO-AQUIFER
project because we think this technology can help us to get information
quickly on issues that have an exponential evolution," the OSS Executive
Secretary Youba Sokona said during the launch event on Thursday.

The Aquifer project was developed under ESA's Data User Element (DUE)
programme and takes place as part of the TIGER Initiative, aimed at applying
EO data to develop a technical, human and institutional capacity to bridge
Africa's water information gap using satellite data. Since Aquifer's
initiation in 2004, more than 200 African organisations have become involved
in different TIGER projects around the continent.

GEO-AQUIFER provides continuity with the ESA Aquifer project. Its principal
aim is to provide information to decision makers and thus to strengthen the
integrated water management practice. GEO-AQUIFER will use products and
services based on satellite data, such as land-use and land-cover maps,
change maps, surface water extent and dynamics, digital terrain models, and
derive information on water consumption for irrigation.

Capitalising on the encouraging results of the Aquifer project, GEO-AQUIFER
will be an extension and expansion towards increased geographic coverage and
user specific fine-tuning of products and services.

The GEO-AQUIFER project is co-funded by OSS and the African Water Facility
(AWF), which is managed by the African Development Bank (AfDB). OSS, is the
executive agency for GEO-AQUIFER, key partners are the national water
ministries. ESA is involved as member of the steering committee.

Speaking at the launch event, Yvan Kedaj of the AWF commended the efforts of
the African agencies involved. "I really appreciate the appropriation by the
countries of the tools and methodologies demonstrated by the ESA TIGER
Aquifer project. Countries asked us through the OSS initially as
coordinating and executing agency, and now as secretariat of the
consultation mechanism, for continuation of national capacity building on
the tools and methodologies developed through Aquifer.

"GEO-AQUIFER is co-funded by the AWF as the next step in EO data utilisation
in SASS water resources knowledge improvement, in order to quickly give to
the consultation mechanism relevant information at SASS level for decision
making."

GEO-AQUIFER has a lifetime of 18 months, with final results being planned
for late 2008.

[NOTE: Images supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMUNOEVL2F_economy_1.html ]