The groundwater reserves are 100 times that of the surface. Why do Africans prefer to drink muddy water instead of drilling wells?

In the impression of many people, Africa is a place with high temperature, drought and water shortage. You can often see some news and information. Many Africans go to long distances to find water with basins on their heads. Is Africa really so short of water? In fact, this is not the case. Africa's groundwater resources are very rich, about 100 times that of surface water. Why don't Africans dig wells to get water?

According to the research, the groundwater reserves in Africa are extremely rich. In the Sahara Desert, the largest desert in Africa, the reserves of groundwater are as high as 375,000 cubic kilometers, and they are all freshwater resources. The Great Lakes in North America are the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world. The groundwater reserves of the Sahara Desert are 16 times that of the Great Lakes in North America.

Groundwater reserves in other parts of Africa are more abundant than those in the Sahara Desert. According to preliminary statistics, Africa's theoretical water resources reserves are as high as 1.155 billion kilowatts, second only to Asia. Since water resources are so abundant, why is Africa still so short of water?

That is because the groundwater resources in Africa are too deep from the ground. Take the Sahara Desert as an example, the average depth of groundwater is about 230 meters. It is very difficult to explore water resources in these areas. Moreover, in recent decades, the precipitation in many parts of Africa has been decreasing year by year due to climatic reasons, and it is difficult for the freshwater resources on the ground to ensure people's normal life.

Although it is possible to dig a well to get water, it is more difficult to dig a well to get water. In some places, it may be possible to dig a dozen meters down and there will be water, but in many places, digging down tens of meters or even hundreds of meters may not necessarily reach the water layer. . In places with more money, large-scale machinery and equipment will be purchased to drill wells, which can alleviate the shortage of fresh water, but in most areas that are not very wealthy, it is more difficult to popularize, and the local economy cannot support it.

Just relying on artificial wells, if you are lucky enough to dig a dozen meters, you will find water, but most of the time there is no water. It is unrealistic to dig too deep artificial wells, so Africans would rather walk dozens of kilometers to find water than to dig wells to get water. It is not that they are unwilling to dig wells, but that the effort and the return are not proportional.