Transient electromagnetics: speeding up groundwater mapping
The race to increase access to safe water is more urgent than ever. One innovative and recently improved technology may have an answer.
Even in the driest parts of the world, huge reserves of water are hidden underground. Yet mapping these aquifers can be time consuming, labour intensive and often inaccurate.
Due to climate change, speeding up access to water is more urgent than ever before. By 2040, roughly one in four children worldwide will be living in areas of extremely high water stress.
The innovation
Transient electromagnetics (TEM) uses electrical pulses to help calculate the depth of aquifers, how much water they might hold, the type of materials surrounding them, and even if the water is saline or not.
Recent advances in TEM has made identifying aquifers faster, easier and more accurate than ever. The equipment can be towed or carried and automatically sends data to an app, enabling the creation of high-resolution maps to support rapid and informed decision making.
“With the help of TEM technology, we were able to map underground aquifers in the Dawa riverbank much faster than before."
Scaling up improved technology
The UNICEF Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub is working to scale up the use of TEM through capacity building, partnerships and knowledge sharing, and is already seeing promising results.
In Somalia, it has helped map aquifers near to a UNICEF and UNHCR supported camp in Dollow for people displaced by conflict and drought. The data generated is helping identify suitable sites to drill boreholes and utilize Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), a technique which redirects and stores water in the rainy season for drier times. This is one of the first uses of TEM in a humanitarian setting and is already driving forward progress, aiming to help improve access to water for over 210,000 people.
Similar demonstrations of TEM's potential, in collaboration with UNICEF offices and partners, have taken place in Afghanistan and Iraq. The technology, once scaled, could be a game-changing way of improving access to water for children affected by water scarcity across the world.
The TEM technology UNICEF is testing in fragile settings was developed by Aarhus University in Denmark with support from the Grundfos Foundation.
“We're seeing the potential of hydrogeophysics to solve huge water scarcity challenges exacerbated by climate change,” says Denys Grombacher, Associate Professor of Geoscience at Aarhus University. “By using advanced, but easy to use technology, we can identify optimal locations for water storage and manage floodwaters effectively, turning a destructive force into a lifeline for vulnerable populations.”
About the Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub
The UNICEF Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub is dedicated to accelerating the scaling of transformative and climate-resilient WASH solutions for children and their families globally. To achieve this ambitious goal, collaboration is key.
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