As World Warms, Africa's Waters Going Dry

(AP)  At Jinja pier the rusty red hull of a Lake Victoria freighter sat barely afloat in water just six feet deep — and dropping. "The scientists have to explain this," said ship's engineer Gabriel Maziku.

Across the bay, at a fish packing plant, fishermen had to wade ashore with their Nile perch in flat-bottomed boats, and heave the silvery catch up to a jetty that soon may be on dry land and out of reach entirely. Looking on, plant manager Ravee Ramanujam wondered about what's to come.

"Such a large body of water, dropping so fast," he said.

At 27,000 square miles, the size of Ireland, Victoria is the greatest of Africa's Great Lakes — the biggest freshwater body after Lake Superior. And it has dropped fast, at least six feet in the past three years, and by as much as a half-inch a day this year before November rains stabilized things.

The outflow through two hydroelectric dams at Jinja is part of the problem — a tiny part, says the Uganda government, or half the problem, say environmentalists. But much of what is happening to Victoria and other lakes across the heart of Africa is attributable to years of drought and rising temperatures, conditions that starve the lakes of inflowing water and evaporate more of the water they have.

An extreme example lies 1,500 miles northwest of here, deeper in the drought zone, where Lake Chad, once the world's sixth-largest, has shrunk to 2 percent of its 1960s size. And the African map abounds with other, less startling examples, from Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, getting half the inflow it once did, to the great Lake Tanganyika south of here, whose level dropped over five feet in five years.

"All these lakes are extremely sensitive to climate change," the U.N. Environment Program warned in a global water assessment two years ago.

Now, in a yet unpublished report obtained by The Associated Press, an international consulting firm advises the Ugandan government that supercomputer models of global-warming scenarios for Lake Victoria "raise alarming concerns" about its future and that of the Nile River, which begins its 4,100-mile northward journey here at Jinja.

The report, by U.S.-based Water Resources and Energy Management International, says rising temperatures may evaporate up to half the lake's normal inflow from rainfall and rivers, with "severe consequences for the lake and its ability to meet the region's water resources needs."

A further dramatic drop in Victoria's water levels might even turn off this spigot for the Nile, a lifeline for more than 100 million Egyptians, Sudanese and others.

"People talk about the snows of Kilimanjaro," said Aris P. Georgakakos, the study's chief author, speaking of that African mountain's melting glaciers. "We have something much bigger to worry about, and that's Lake Victoria."

Each troubled lake is a complex story.

Lake Chad's near-disappearance, for example, stems in part from overuse of its source waters for irrigation. Deforestation around Lake Victoria, shared by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, makes the area a less efficient rain "catchment" for the lake, and overfishing and pollution are damaging its $400-million-a-year fishing industry. Kenya's Rift Valley lakes, some just a few feet deep, have always fluctuated in size, even drying up with drought.

But African leaders say things are different this time, because long-term climate change may eclipse other factors.

"These cycles, when they've happened, they haven't happened under the circumstances pertaining now — the global warming, overpopulation, degradation," said Maria Mutagamba, Uganda's water and environment minister.

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[nadeau4201]

I wonder if Al Gores family would give up their oil field for the sake of global warming? I doubt it.

[jjreding-2009]

There's no such thing as global warming. God - I mean George Bush - told me so.

[random_radar]

If we reduce industrialization, we will reduce the carrying capacity of the earth. That will result in the death of hundreds of millions of people. If you want to wake up to anything, wake up to the fact that what environmentalists are proposing will result in the death of unparalled numbers of people.

That may be okay with you, but I'll bet you don't want to be one of them. Of course, if you do feel that you shouldn't be here, you can take care of that yourself (think globally, commit suicide locally).

Yes, it does appear that there will be trouble. The question is what you are going to do to survive. I guarantee the leadership has a plan to outlive you.

[adventurepa]

"nature is doing what it always has" posted by nadeau4201
"This might turn out to be another Y2K scare."
Posted by kesac4650
"A hundred years to us is a life time, to the earth it is not even an eye blink."
Posted by thgdriver

Wrong people! Open up your eyes.
Damage in the last 100 years has been enormous.
(In the history of the world, CO2 Car emissions, industry emissions etc never happened before)

The amount of CO2 in the air is an all time high.
The amount of rainforest area is at an all time low.
The temp is increasing 1 degree at the equator but many degrees at higher latitudes.
Polar icecaps are receeding at incredible rates.
Water is drying up in African lakes.
Reason= Humans and Industrial revolution.

When are people going to admit there is a problem and stop having studies to figure it out.
We need to do something about it, like yesterday.
The problem is only going to get worse.
By the way, water per gallon, right now cost more than gas does, if you buy it in the small plastic bottles filling up landfills..

[nadeau4201]

Now they are going to try and scare us into thinking that we will someday run out of water. A water war perhaps. The only thing is 75% of the earth is made up of water. So what a load of *** nature is doing what it always has.

[flolake]

SharnCedar: If you'd be interested in a fresh and unbiased view of global warming, you might want to see the movie written by AL Gore I believe. The title is "Inconvenient Truth". I've had friends on both sides of the political fence give the film high marks.

[flolake]

SharnCedar: If you'd be interested in a fresh and unbiased view of global warming, you might want to see the novie written by AL Gore I believe. The title is "Inconvenient Truth". I've had friends on both sides of the political fence give the film high marks.

[sharncedar]

Any scientists out there? How come the global warming is always bad, like won't global warming also make some places warmer and wetter, and isn't that good?

It seems like propaganda when you always try to make thing sseem bad, it makes the global warming people look like the usual idiots, trying to scare and manipulate the sheep.

It makes me question the whole "global warming" thing when you are nto being honest about it - there must be huge areas in Africa getting more water under global warming, maybe even the Sahara desert, who knows. Why not tell that story too.