The WATEX™ System is a key technology to help international institutions finding water for refugee camps.
CONTEXT
Kakuma is one of the biggest Refugee Camp in Africa. It is located in Turkana County, north of Kenya, near the borders of South Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia and held by the UNHCR since 1992.
It serves refugees who have been forcibly displaced from their home countries due to war or persecution from South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Uganda, and Rwanda. According to UNHCR statistics, the camp population held 107,698 refugees in January 2013.
The water supply situation of Kakuma refugee camp was dependent on 11 boreholes available in the camp. Only 7 were operating, the others were too saline to be used.
A thorough survey using the WATEX™ system was conducted on the Tarash watershed, located upstream of the Kakuma Camp, which revealed the feasibility of extracting sufficient water to support a population of 200,000 people.
The Kakuma Refugee Camp is situated in the center of a broad geosyncline. The shallow basement is located between two distinct volcanic hills. Within this complex heterogeneous geological context, the Tarash watershed drains from south to north all surface water towards Kakuma.An accurate match to RTI's analysis and estimation; as of December 31st, 2022, a total of 200,134 people, mostly South Sudanese refugees, reside in Kakuma refugee camps. The camps are managed by the Kenyan Department of Refugee Services (DRS) while the UNHCR coordinates all humanitarian actors operating in the camps.
The WATEX™ map generated at the time is still valid today, and used to drill new boreholes in Kakuma.
Learn more about our WATEX™ Groundwater Mapping projects by contacting us today!