No, this is not another April Fools' Day post about South America's Guaraní aquifer system (GAS); I've got almost another year to conjure another tall tale. Nor is it the title of an adventure TV series that Fox has produced to replace 24, or perhaps the long-awaited sequel to Anne of Green Gables.
I'm serious this time.
I've been in touch with UK freelance multimedia journalist Annabel Symington (the 'Sym' in her last name is pronounced like 'Simm' - no long 'i'). We have been following each other on Twitter for a while.
Through her Tweets I realized that she had a keen interest in the Guaraní - see her Guaraní Project WWW site and Facebook page. She has been raising money - $14,500 - to finance a documentary about it and has a team assembled: Vasilios Sfinarolakis (shown below with Annabel) and Mark Tipple. That $14,500 will get them down to South America this summer.
Here's a little video explaining the cost breakdown. She held a fundraising auction at the Hotel Hudson in Manhattan on 16 April 2010. You can make a pledge here (I have donated money to her cause). Rest assured that your CC will not be charged unless the project makes it full amount.
Symington is also involved in the News Exchange Americas, which also has a blog.
So what's the reason for this post? Well. I now have a personal interest in the GAS and her project.
After Symington read my post about the GAS she called me and we had a nice chat. She told me that she enjoyed my Guaraní send-up (of course, I am impervious to such compliments from a real journalist). She mentioned that she is still looking for an 'angle' for her documentary. Governance? Management? Exploitation? Effects on the indigenous Guaraní people? and
She then asked me two questions: 1) would I be willing to serve as an unofficial hydrogeologic advisor to her; and 2) would I consent to being filmed in a trailer she could use to promote the as-yet completed documentary? I said 'Yes" to both questions, so on 23 April 2010 I will be flying to New York City (hence the use of 'LaGuardia' in the title) to meet with her and Vasilios Sfinarolakis in Connecticut. I will be paying my own way.
I consented because the GAS has intrigued me for about a decade. I first heard a presentation on it in 2000 at anNGWA conference in Las Vegas. A Brazilian hydrogeologist spoke about it on a meeting I organized, Ground Water: A Transboundary, Strategic and Geopolitical Resource.
Since that time my interest in the GAS has piqued because of 1) its sheer size - the largest stock of liquid freshwater in the world (c. 37,000 cubic kilometers or 30 billion acre-feet, over 1.6 times the volume of water in all the North American Great Lakes); 2) its transnational nature - it underlies parts of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, an area of about 1.19 million square kilometers (about 460,000 square miles, more than the combined area of Texas and California); and 3) the rumors swirling about it regarding conspiracies, conflict, exploitation by the USA and/or the World Bank, George W. Bush's involvement, etc. (see the most recent Stygoscape to learn more).
The conspiracy stuff is especially fascinating. As Symington recently mentioned on Columbia University's WaterMatters blog, the recent James Bond film Quantum of Solace was supposedly based on the GAS.
Here is a flyer on the GAS from the Organization of American States (OAS) that is several years old.
The IAEA estimates that the GAS could sustainably supply 360M people annually. It receives about 166 cubic kilometers (135 MAF) of recharge per year.
I'll be posting on the GAS from time to time. In the meanwhile, I am looking forward to next weekend.
And I'll be listening for those clicks on my phone.
"Anyone who knows how difficult it is to keep a secret among three men - particularly if they are married - knows how absurd is the idea of a worldwide secret conspiracy consciously controlling all mankind by its financial power; in real, clear analysis." -- Oswald Mosley
New conspiracy theory: SNWA's new tunnel under Lake Mead is actually headed south to the Guarani Aquifer.
Posted by: Rainbow Water | Tuesday, 20 April 2010 at 03:51 PM
and 4) "The Mission."
Posted by: Tim in Albion | Sunday, 18 April 2010 at 08:30 PM