Read at : IRIN
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89482
Lake Chad’s water woes
FITINÉ, 14 June 2010 (IRIN) – Finding clean water is as difficult for people living on the islands in Lake Chad as it is for their neighbours along the shores. “Since 1963, the surface area of Lake Chad has decreased from approximately 25,000 sq km to 1,350 sq km,” according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
“For the 2,000 residents here, there is only one water well, built by a church two years ago,” said David Penabeye, director of a health clinic on the island of Fitiné, who told IRIN that almost all the children have worms. Onshore, children use donkey carts to carry jerry cans filled with water for bathing, cooking and drinking.
UNEP noted that “Since 1963, the lake has shrunk to nearly a twentieth of its original size, due both to climatic changes and to high demands for agricultural water.” The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said the lake was also shallower than it has ever been.
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