1 00:00:02,110 --> 00:00:04,777 (ambient music) 2 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:22,450 Seen from the sky, 3 00:00:22,450 --> 00:00:25,930 water gives its blue color to our planet. 4 00:00:25,930 --> 00:00:29,250 But the fresh water that's indispensable to life 5 00:00:29,250 --> 00:00:33,680 represents an infantilism part of all that blue. 6 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:35,710 Soon we'll be eight billion people 7 00:00:35,710 --> 00:00:37,470 sharing this vital reserve 8 00:00:37,470 --> 00:00:40,340 that's gradually eroding due to pollution, 9 00:00:40,340 --> 00:00:42,340 waste and global warming. 10 00:00:43,330 --> 00:00:45,170 One human being out of three 11 00:00:45,170 --> 00:00:47,600 already suffers from a lack of water. 12 00:00:48,550 --> 00:00:51,910 Perhaps the solution is to look under our feet, 13 00:00:51,910 --> 00:00:55,200 at the water in the dizzying depths of the Earth, 14 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:56,470 the aquifers. 15 00:00:57,354 --> 00:01:00,021 (ambient music) 16 00:01:02,970 --> 00:01:04,710 Over a period of two years 17 00:01:04,710 --> 00:01:09,000 we followed Alain Gachet, a geophysicist and explorer 18 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,050 who has perfected a revolutionary method 19 00:01:11,050 --> 00:01:15,030 for finding underground water anywhere in the world. 20 00:01:15,030 --> 00:01:16,650 This method has already saved 21 00:01:16,650 --> 00:01:19,000 hundreds of thousands of lives. 22 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,205 It could save millions. 23 00:01:21,205 --> 00:01:23,872 (ambient music) 24 00:01:34,380 --> 00:01:37,580 This story begins in 2013. 25 00:01:37,580 --> 00:01:40,600 We meet Alain Gachet at his home in Tarascon 26 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:42,620 in Southeast France. 27 00:01:42,620 --> 00:01:44,540 Unknown to the broad public, 28 00:01:44,540 --> 00:01:46,820 his name primarily circulates amongst 29 00:01:46,820 --> 00:01:50,070 the humanitarian agencies of the United Nations. 30 00:01:52,030 --> 00:01:54,410 UNESCO, the agency that's responsible 31 00:01:54,410 --> 00:01:56,410 for water management in the world 32 00:01:56,410 --> 00:01:57,900 has commissioned him to explore 33 00:01:57,900 --> 00:02:00,560 the subsoil of Northern Kenya. 34 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:03,850 Today, East Africa is ravaged by the great drought 35 00:02:03,850 --> 00:02:06,440 which started in 2011. 36 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,290 Alain Gachet concentrates his study on the most vast, 37 00:02:09,290 --> 00:02:12,790 porous and most arid region of Kenya, Turkana. 38 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:18,190 He christened his invention WATEX, 39 00:02:18,190 --> 00:02:20,520 short for Water Exploration. 40 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,000 It's a mathematical algorithm that combines 41 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,400 satellite images from NASA and Earth science parameters. 42 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:29,730 We're lucky enough to discover WATEX's 43 00:02:29,730 --> 00:02:31,450 first image of the zone. 44 00:02:32,660 --> 00:02:34,150 It's very dark. 45 00:02:34,150 --> 00:02:37,310 If it's very black that means it's very dry, immensely dry. 46 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,680 There's no water down to probably the first 80 meters 47 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:43,670 but water might lay even deeper. 48 00:02:43,670 --> 00:02:45,510 That may be why it's so black. 49 00:02:45,510 --> 00:02:47,000 The water's gone down so deep 50 00:02:48,250 --> 00:02:51,530 that it disappears completely from the radar screen. 51 00:02:51,530 --> 00:02:53,250 And if by chance this black hole 52 00:02:53,250 --> 00:02:55,110 overlays a deep sedimentary basin 53 00:02:55,110 --> 00:02:57,120 where the water infiltrates deeply enough, 54 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,280 we might discover deep water down to 55 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:01,290 one, two, three, 400 meters. 56 00:03:01,290 --> 00:03:02,740 But for us that's interesting, 57 00:03:02,740 --> 00:03:04,360 we call that an aquifer. 58 00:03:05,650 --> 00:03:07,680 It took six months of assembly, 59 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,850 analysis and computation to accomplish this mapping 60 00:03:10,850 --> 00:03:13,310 of the aquifer resources of Turkana. 61 00:03:13,310 --> 00:03:15,350 It's like an echography that sees 62 00:03:15,350 --> 00:03:18,140 hundreds of meters into the ground. 63 00:03:18,140 --> 00:03:21,270 With the head in the stars we see from space 64 00:03:21,270 --> 00:03:25,050 a new underground galaxy which is practically unknown. 65 00:03:25,050 --> 00:03:27,510 Now if we really want to concrete our ideas 66 00:03:27,510 --> 00:03:29,900 we have to go on site and break rocks 67 00:03:29,900 --> 00:03:31,961 to check if we're not wrong. 68 00:03:31,961 --> 00:03:34,628 (uptempo music) 69 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,730 To confirm the hypothesis of his map 70 00:03:38,730 --> 00:03:41,410 he has to study the geology on site 71 00:03:41,410 --> 00:03:43,600 so we follow him to Kenya. 72 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,370 First stop is Lodwar, 48,000 inhabitants, 73 00:03:47,370 --> 00:03:49,740 capital of the region of Turkana. 74 00:03:49,740 --> 00:03:53,210 11 hours by land from the capital Nairobi. 75 00:03:53,210 --> 00:03:55,320 Gachet's research indicates the presence 76 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,950 of an aquifer just five kilometers from the city of Lodwar. 77 00:03:59,900 --> 00:04:02,920 With his WATEX map connected to his GPS 78 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:04,640 he looks for the spot where the water 79 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,290 from the rainy season infiltrates the subsoil 80 00:04:07,290 --> 00:04:08,880 to feed the aquifer. 81 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:12,680 He specifically looks for porous, permeable rocks, 82 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,990 irrefutable geological proof that water infiltrates 83 00:04:15,990 --> 00:04:18,210 and does not remain on the surface. 84 00:04:19,330 --> 00:04:20,520 There, big grained, 85 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:22,370 that's what we call a recharge zone. 86 00:04:23,850 --> 00:04:28,850 The water is literally swallowed by the rock like a sponge. 87 00:04:29,690 --> 00:04:31,350 All the optimal conditions are met 88 00:04:31,350 --> 00:04:33,770 for this to be a magnificent aquifer. 89 00:04:33,770 --> 00:04:35,650 It's a considerable mass of sandstone 90 00:04:35,650 --> 00:04:38,000 that we see stretching out at a great distance, 91 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:39,640 all of that is sandstone. 92 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:43,150 All the sandstones are filling a great aquifer basin below. 93 00:04:44,530 --> 00:04:48,370 Around us arid land as far as the eye can see. 94 00:04:48,370 --> 00:04:50,220 Difficult to imagine a water reserve 95 00:04:50,220 --> 00:04:53,140 a hundred meters under our feet. 96 00:04:53,140 --> 00:04:56,790 Better still, his WATEX map indicates the presence 97 00:04:56,790 --> 00:04:59,290 of an aquifer 20 times bigger 98 00:04:59,290 --> 00:05:03,300 at the very north of Turkana in the Lotikipi Plain. 99 00:05:03,300 --> 00:05:06,720 So we leave for the border in South Sudan and Uganda 100 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,120 heading on the track for Lokichogio, five hours away. 101 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:18,050 On this Lotikipi Plain the geological indications 102 00:05:18,050 --> 00:05:21,580 confirm the existence of a gigantic aquifer. 103 00:05:21,580 --> 00:05:25,290 But the ultimate irrefutable proof comes when you drill. 104 00:05:28,750 --> 00:05:31,650 Alain Gachet hands his map over to his clients, 105 00:05:31,650 --> 00:05:34,490 UNESCO and the Kenyan government. 106 00:05:34,490 --> 00:05:36,820 The sites of boreholes and their depths 107 00:05:36,820 --> 00:05:39,670 are laid out to a precision of one meter. 108 00:05:39,670 --> 00:05:43,870 It's July 2013 and the drillers install their equipment. 109 00:05:45,410 --> 00:05:49,290 The first exploratory borehole is complicated to set up 110 00:05:49,290 --> 00:05:50,720 because there isn't just one 111 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,090 but three aquifers on top of each other 112 00:05:53,090 --> 00:05:55,870 according to Gachet's hypothesis. 113 00:05:55,870 --> 00:06:00,000 The last aquifer must be hiding 400 meters underground, 114 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,040 almost the depth of an oil deposit. 115 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:07,350 This drilling is expensive, about $200,000. 116 00:06:07,350 --> 00:06:09,100 Alain Gachet must succeed. 117 00:06:11,170 --> 00:06:13,370 The stakes are very high. 118 00:06:13,370 --> 00:06:16,770 In this area, nomad populations with their herds 119 00:06:16,770 --> 00:06:20,800 seek scarce and intermittent watering holes. 120 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:23,750 The drilling rig is visible for kilometers around 121 00:06:23,750 --> 00:06:25,570 and the women flock to it 122 00:06:25,570 --> 00:06:28,260 as if emerging from nowhere. 123 00:06:28,260 --> 00:06:31,180 What's being attempted here can change their lives. 124 00:06:31,180 --> 00:06:33,840 The technicians work in rotation day and night 125 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:34,940 in the withering heat. 126 00:06:35,855 --> 00:06:38,522 (uptempo music) 127 00:06:44,998 --> 00:06:47,868 (water gushes) 128 00:06:47,868 --> 00:06:52,432 On the eighth of July, 2013 water spouts out. 129 00:06:52,432 --> 00:06:55,015 (water gushes) 130 00:07:10,965 --> 00:07:14,798 (singing in foreign language) 131 00:07:19,030 --> 00:07:20,160 This whole zone here 132 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:21,950 which today is totally deserted 133 00:07:21,950 --> 00:07:23,810 and where the population continues to suffer 134 00:07:23,810 --> 00:07:27,420 from drought, malnutrition and from undernourishment, 135 00:07:27,420 --> 00:07:29,790 I think we have the opportunity to transform this 136 00:07:29,790 --> 00:07:31,510 into a major economic zone. 137 00:07:32,716 --> 00:07:36,549 (singing in foreign language) 138 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:44,160 This day marks a decisive step 139 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:46,650 for Alain Gachet who is deeply touched. 140 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:49,810 The women thank him for having revealed the water 141 00:07:49,810 --> 00:07:52,410 that was always present under their feet. 142 00:07:53,430 --> 00:07:56,210 The aquifers are porous subterranean rocks 143 00:07:56,210 --> 00:07:58,440 that imprison the water they contain 144 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:01,610 between two layers of impermeable clay. 145 00:08:01,610 --> 00:08:04,160 They're called confined aquifers. 146 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:06,840 The reserves of water they contain are 30 times 147 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:08,930 more important than all the fresh water 148 00:08:08,930 --> 00:08:10,500 on the surface of the earth. 149 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,910 Sometimes located kilometers down, 150 00:08:14,910 --> 00:08:17,190 the aquifers are not touched by pollution 151 00:08:17,190 --> 00:08:19,650 from human activity as the superficial 152 00:08:19,650 --> 00:08:22,250 groundwater tables might be. 153 00:08:22,250 --> 00:08:25,940 The water that feeds them comes from the rain and snow melt. 154 00:08:25,940 --> 00:08:27,690 It infiltrates the ground 155 00:08:27,690 --> 00:08:30,220 sometimes hundreds of kilometers away 156 00:08:30,220 --> 00:08:33,340 and slowly migrates through the geological layers. 157 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,590 An aquifer takes millions of years to fill out 158 00:08:42,590 --> 00:08:44,770 and only a few decades to be emptied. 159 00:08:44,770 --> 00:08:47,320 You can destroy an aquifer by pumping too fast 160 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:50,400 without taking into account the rechargeable quantity. 161 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:52,170 An aquifer that's dead is like a sponge 162 00:08:52,170 --> 00:08:54,820 that contracts one last time and won't fill up again. 163 00:08:56,220 --> 00:08:57,640 Alain Gachet's expertise 164 00:08:57,640 --> 00:08:59,930 goes beyond finding aquifers. 165 00:08:59,930 --> 00:09:01,990 He also masters their functioning 166 00:09:01,990 --> 00:09:04,240 and knows if they're renewable or not 167 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:07,140 in order to ensure sustainable exploitation, 168 00:09:08,470 --> 00:09:11,370 The five aquifers Gachet discovered in Turkana 169 00:09:11,370 --> 00:09:12,420 are renewable. 170 00:09:13,490 --> 00:09:17,630 This discovery is important and in September 2013, 171 00:09:17,630 --> 00:09:19,350 on the occasion of a water summit 172 00:09:19,350 --> 00:09:21,680 organized in the capital Nairobi, 173 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:24,260 the Kenyan government and UNESCO announced 174 00:09:24,260 --> 00:09:27,830 the presence of 245 billion cubic meters 175 00:09:27,830 --> 00:09:30,660 of drinkable water in Turkana. 176 00:09:30,660 --> 00:09:33,640 The Minister of the Environment Judi Wakhungu 177 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:36,130 presents the WATEX map to the media. 178 00:09:36,130 --> 00:09:37,860 We have now the possibility 179 00:09:37,860 --> 00:09:41,090 of actually having a bread basket in Turkana, 180 00:09:41,090 --> 00:09:43,760 something that we could never have imagined before. 181 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:47,490 We have the possibility of having industries in Turkana 182 00:09:47,490 --> 00:09:49,540 so it is very, very exciting news 183 00:09:49,540 --> 00:09:51,900 and I think it's even going to take a long time 184 00:09:51,900 --> 00:09:54,580 for people in the country to even imagine. 185 00:09:54,580 --> 00:09:56,120 All the experts confirm 186 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:00,100 that the discovery changes things completely for Turkana. 187 00:10:00,100 --> 00:10:02,860 In his technical report, Alain Gachet posits 188 00:10:02,860 --> 00:10:05,750 that the great aquifer of the Lotikipi Plain 189 00:10:05,750 --> 00:10:09,660 multiplies ninefold Kenya's fresh water reserves. 190 00:10:09,660 --> 00:10:12,461 The international press picks up the story. 191 00:10:12,461 --> 00:10:15,128 (uptempo music) 192 00:10:20,830 --> 00:10:22,770 In Paris, Alexandre Taithe, 193 00:10:22,770 --> 00:10:25,920 a researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research 194 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,450 is well-aquatinted with this region of Kenya 195 00:10:28,450 --> 00:10:30,320 but is skeptical about the benefits 196 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,320 and value of Gachet's discovery 197 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:33,970 for the inhabitant's development. 198 00:10:35,740 --> 00:10:37,360 I remember an article of his 199 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,510 and I quoted in which he explains that thanks to water, 200 00:10:40,510 --> 00:10:42,280 the people of Turkana will pass 201 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:44,290 from the stone age to modern times. 202 00:10:44,290 --> 00:10:46,170 That's also the way that many Kenyan 203 00:10:46,170 --> 00:10:49,130 developmental specialists and NGOs look at things 204 00:10:49,130 --> 00:10:51,550 before arriving in a place they don't know 205 00:10:51,550 --> 00:10:53,690 and that they presume they're going to develop. 206 00:10:53,690 --> 00:10:55,920 All plans of the past which consisted of 207 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:57,430 trying to settle the nomads around 208 00:10:57,430 --> 00:10:59,680 hydraulic equipment didn't work. 209 00:10:59,680 --> 00:11:01,870 Obviously the discovery of water in Turkana 210 00:11:01,870 --> 00:11:03,120 is very good news. 211 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:05,350 Now though who will take advantage of this? 212 00:11:05,350 --> 00:11:07,490 It's not the Turkana people who are going to invest 213 00:11:07,490 --> 00:11:08,920 in their own county. 214 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:13,170 And to be sure it's thanks to the funds 215 00:11:13,170 --> 00:11:14,450 from the Japanese government 216 00:11:14,450 --> 00:11:16,820 that UNESCO and the Kenyan government 217 00:11:16,820 --> 00:11:20,510 launched the five exploratory boreholes in Turkana. 218 00:11:20,510 --> 00:11:23,210 The WATEX map of Turkana's subterranean water 219 00:11:23,210 --> 00:11:25,090 and all the data produced are now 220 00:11:25,090 --> 00:11:27,390 the property of the Kenyan state. 221 00:11:27,390 --> 00:11:29,710 It now becomes its job to transform 222 00:11:29,710 --> 00:11:31,710 these exploratory boreholes 223 00:11:31,710 --> 00:11:33,980 into sustainable production wells 224 00:11:33,980 --> 00:11:35,670 and to make its development choices 225 00:11:35,670 --> 00:11:37,960 with the local authorities. 226 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,890 Two years after the discovery of the aquifers 227 00:11:40,890 --> 00:11:42,600 we return with Alain Gachet 228 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:45,960 to see how this treasure of 245 million 229 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,050 cubic meters of fresh water 230 00:11:48,050 --> 00:11:50,980 has changed the life of the Turkana population. 231 00:11:53,170 --> 00:11:57,830 It's 2015 and our twin engine plane lands in Lodwar, 232 00:11:57,830 --> 00:12:00,220 the closest town to the small aquifer. 233 00:12:00,220 --> 00:12:02,870 Just at the edge of town a happy surprise, 234 00:12:02,870 --> 00:12:06,010 wells have been installed by the Kenyan government. 235 00:12:06,010 --> 00:12:09,390 They're equipped with pumps and operate with solar energy. 236 00:12:09,390 --> 00:12:12,350 Alain Gachet notes that all the wells 237 00:12:12,350 --> 00:12:16,050 drilled according to his directions are productive. 238 00:12:16,050 --> 00:12:19,480 At last he can drink the water from the aquifer. 239 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:24,100 He scrupulously takes note of the taste and characteristics. 240 00:12:24,100 --> 00:12:26,050 He also meets the population 241 00:12:26,050 --> 00:12:29,740 and asks questions about their daily uses for the water, 242 00:12:29,740 --> 00:12:31,830 and how they are learning about agriculture 243 00:12:31,830 --> 00:12:33,510 and irrigation techniques. 244 00:12:38,830 --> 00:12:40,780 We are very happy to have this water. 245 00:12:41,710 --> 00:12:43,780 Before the arrival of this water 246 00:12:43,780 --> 00:12:44,880 it was very difficult. 247 00:12:48,670 --> 00:12:51,690 Now our animals can drink and graze here. 248 00:12:51,690 --> 00:12:53,830 Before we had to walk with our animals to the river 249 00:12:53,830 --> 00:12:55,180 to find something to drink. 250 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,210 It was really hard here, very hard. 251 00:13:03,990 --> 00:13:07,610 For the animals, for us, even for our dogs. 252 00:13:12,470 --> 00:13:15,170 Everyone had to go to the river to drink 253 00:13:15,170 --> 00:13:17,620 but thank God, today we are truly happy. 254 00:13:22,010 --> 00:13:24,410 It makes me very happy because in 20 years, 255 00:13:24,410 --> 00:13:25,243 it'll take time. 256 00:13:25,243 --> 00:13:28,530 I think in 20 years this will be a California. 257 00:13:29,420 --> 00:13:32,570 You'll be able to produce all kinds of citrus fruits, 258 00:13:32,570 --> 00:13:34,950 all the fruits they want to provide some cash 259 00:13:34,950 --> 00:13:36,360 to these people here. 260 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:37,620 They'll get richer. 261 00:13:37,620 --> 00:13:39,820 It's obvious this will require organization 262 00:13:39,820 --> 00:13:42,310 but once the wells are dug and maintained, 263 00:13:42,310 --> 00:13:45,110 I'd say that here with good soil everything will follow. 264 00:13:47,740 --> 00:13:50,990 The government really has to promote much more education 265 00:13:50,990 --> 00:13:54,220 and particularly education in agricultural schools 266 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,160 because agriculture, well you can't improvise, 267 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,070 the Earth has its laws. 268 00:14:00,070 --> 00:14:01,390 You have to learn them. 269 00:14:01,390 --> 00:14:04,690 In Europe we have almost 1,500 years apprenticeship now, 270 00:14:04,690 --> 00:14:06,730 2,000 years, more. 271 00:14:06,730 --> 00:14:07,780 It takes a long time. 272 00:14:10,882 --> 00:14:12,730 Gachet suggests that the head 273 00:14:12,730 --> 00:14:15,750 of the small agricultural community go with him 274 00:14:15,750 --> 00:14:18,530 to check on a spot that seems abnormally humid 275 00:14:18,530 --> 00:14:19,900 on his WATEX map. 276 00:14:21,060 --> 00:14:24,750 After a half hour in the four by four off the mapped track, 277 00:14:24,750 --> 00:14:26,810 hidden behind a curtain of dunes 278 00:14:26,810 --> 00:14:30,363 a carpet of wild vegetation appears. 279 00:14:30,363 --> 00:14:32,992 Here is your land, the promised land. 280 00:14:32,992 --> 00:14:34,350 (laughs) 281 00:14:34,350 --> 00:14:36,000 We discover at the same time 282 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,440 as the head of the community a gigantic green expanse 283 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:40,940 in the middle of the desert. 284 00:14:41,900 --> 00:14:44,130 I discovered by satellite south of Lodwar 285 00:14:44,130 --> 00:14:48,130 an extremely strange surface of some 1,400 hectares 286 00:14:48,130 --> 00:14:49,910 entirely surrounded by dunes. 287 00:14:50,980 --> 00:14:52,750 When you cross the dunes 288 00:14:52,750 --> 00:14:55,150 you plunge into a kind of basin 289 00:14:55,150 --> 00:14:57,920 with soil that's just begging to be cultivated. 290 00:15:00,300 --> 00:15:01,200 There is some water. 291 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:02,710 Yes, it's moist. 292 00:15:02,710 --> 00:15:03,830 Yeah. It's moist. 293 00:15:03,830 --> 00:15:05,070 Of course we have water. 294 00:15:05,070 --> 00:15:08,659 If we drain properly the access of water 295 00:15:08,659 --> 00:15:11,060 we can start with a little project 296 00:15:11,060 --> 00:15:13,380 and you can grow vegetable all here. 297 00:15:16,070 --> 00:15:18,860 This region's entering a virtuous circle. 298 00:15:18,860 --> 00:15:21,530 They have the soil, they have the water 299 00:15:21,530 --> 00:15:24,250 and now the oil companies are making discoveries, 300 00:15:24,250 --> 00:15:27,180 they have energy, access to energy. 301 00:15:27,180 --> 00:15:29,350 At last, at last. 302 00:15:29,350 --> 00:15:30,760 That's the triangle of virtue, 303 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:32,550 energy, soil, water. 304 00:15:32,550 --> 00:15:34,020 It's the basis of prosperity. 305 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:36,810 Two years after the discovery 306 00:15:36,810 --> 00:15:38,310 of this first aquifer, 307 00:15:38,310 --> 00:15:42,040 we can see the beginning of development but not prosperity. 308 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:43,410 In the zone of Lodwar, 309 00:15:43,410 --> 00:15:45,940 the inhabitants crowd around four wells. 310 00:15:45,940 --> 00:15:47,550 That's a modest infrastructure 311 00:15:47,550 --> 00:15:49,460 when we know there's over 10 billion 312 00:15:49,460 --> 00:15:51,400 cubic meters of water here, 313 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:54,280 enough to satisfy the consumption of a city like Paris 314 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:55,430 for more than 10 years. 315 00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:58,820 It's not two wells, three wells, 316 00:15:58,820 --> 00:16:01,490 four wells that these zones need. 317 00:16:01,490 --> 00:16:02,650 They need a hundred. 318 00:16:02,650 --> 00:16:03,970 For that you need investment 319 00:16:03,970 --> 00:16:05,640 because these wells are expensive. 320 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:08,490 So, I would say that for $3 million 321 00:16:08,490 --> 00:16:11,940 we could already stabilize the resources. 322 00:16:11,940 --> 00:16:14,607 (uptempo music) 323 00:16:27,100 --> 00:16:29,280 We resume our roads towards the north 324 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:32,620 heading for the giant aquifer of the Lotikipi Plain. 325 00:16:33,830 --> 00:16:36,720 For Gachet it's a return he's been waiting for 326 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:38,800 to the first exploratory borehole 327 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:43,800 where in 2013 women danced in the geyser of fresh water. 328 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,290 Covering a surface of more than 4,000 square kilometers 329 00:16:47,290 --> 00:16:51,230 with reserves estimated at 200 billion cubic meters, 330 00:16:51,230 --> 00:16:54,300 the three superposed aquifers of Lotikipi 331 00:16:54,300 --> 00:16:56,830 possess a volume of water 20 times 332 00:16:56,830 --> 00:16:58,700 that of the Lodwar aquifer. 333 00:17:01,510 --> 00:17:04,610 No water, no women, nothing. 334 00:17:04,610 --> 00:17:06,640 The well's closed. 335 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:08,590 There's just a sealed casing 336 00:17:08,590 --> 00:17:11,830 from the former well sticking out of the ground. 337 00:17:11,830 --> 00:17:14,980 Gachet checks that this tube so complicated to install 338 00:17:14,980 --> 00:17:17,220 penetrates the three aquifers. 339 00:17:17,220 --> 00:17:20,050 Because he had only watched the drilling of the first. 340 00:17:20,929 --> 00:17:22,060 (tap echoing) 341 00:17:22,060 --> 00:17:24,460 The three echoes confirm that 342 00:17:24,460 --> 00:17:26,226 but then what happened? 343 00:17:26,226 --> 00:17:29,270 Gachet will ask the head of the Lotikipi district. 344 00:17:33,430 --> 00:17:37,190 Water sample was taken to Nairobi chemist. 345 00:17:37,190 --> 00:17:38,940 When the commenter were asking when 346 00:17:40,170 --> 00:17:43,480 this water been drilled and it's not in use 347 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:45,750 so what we had there is that 348 00:17:45,750 --> 00:17:49,730 this water is very much salty, 349 00:17:49,730 --> 00:17:52,250 that it's not good for human consumption. 350 00:17:52,250 --> 00:17:56,390 Because of these reports that water saline 351 00:17:57,542 --> 00:17:59,440 it's not fit for human consumption. 352 00:18:00,460 --> 00:18:02,970 But the question is people have been 353 00:18:02,970 --> 00:18:04,770 drinking this water before, 354 00:18:04,770 --> 00:18:08,766 no reports are there that people have died. 355 00:18:08,766 --> 00:18:10,060 Alain Gachet remembers 356 00:18:10,060 --> 00:18:12,410 that he had also tasted the water burbling 357 00:18:12,410 --> 00:18:16,110 from the borehole two years ago and it wasn't salty. 358 00:18:16,110 --> 00:18:19,340 He's beginning to understand what must have happened 359 00:18:19,340 --> 00:18:21,170 and he persuades the district head 360 00:18:21,170 --> 00:18:24,610 to accompany him to the closed well in order to explain. 361 00:18:26,757 --> 00:18:29,240 (children giggling) 362 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:31,860 It's a pity they don't produce water here. 363 00:18:33,910 --> 00:18:36,690 It cannot be salty, free aquifers, you see? 364 00:18:36,690 --> 00:18:39,470 When they drilled they mix all the water. 365 00:18:40,490 --> 00:18:41,910 When drilling the driller 366 00:18:41,910 --> 00:18:45,250 ought to have isolated each aquifer with cement 367 00:18:45,250 --> 00:18:47,440 and make separate analysis. 368 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:49,040 He didn't do that. 369 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:50,130 As it turns out, 370 00:18:50,130 --> 00:18:53,960 the water in one of the three aquifer is saline. 371 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:56,910 Gradually the fresh water from the other two aquifers 372 00:18:56,910 --> 00:18:59,350 and the saline water mixed. 373 00:18:59,350 --> 00:19:02,150 Lokichogio is there between the two mountains 374 00:19:02,150 --> 00:19:05,450 so you have a corridor which opens to Uganda 375 00:19:05,450 --> 00:19:07,320 and all the water swallows like, 376 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:09,190 it's like the entrance of a bottle 377 00:19:09,190 --> 00:19:10,730 and here is a big bottle. 378 00:19:11,730 --> 00:19:13,940 All water comes into the big bottle 379 00:19:13,940 --> 00:19:16,130 with big veins like that. 380 00:19:16,130 --> 00:19:17,410 So this is a recharge. 381 00:19:17,410 --> 00:19:21,010 Every year, every year a lot of water is coming there. 382 00:19:21,010 --> 00:19:22,510 It doesn't come from the sky here. 383 00:19:22,510 --> 00:19:24,400 As long as it rains 384 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:25,233 in Uganda. In Uganda 385 00:19:25,233 --> 00:19:26,500 you have water here. Water here. 386 00:19:26,500 --> 00:19:28,390 You don't care even if it doesn't rain here, 387 00:19:28,390 --> 00:19:29,223 you don't care. 388 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,210 Water is coming from very far 389 00:19:32,210 --> 00:19:34,340 and then penetrates underground, 390 00:19:34,340 --> 00:19:36,410 Well, you know all the women dancing around 391 00:19:36,410 --> 00:19:37,310 taking water from 392 00:19:37,310 --> 00:19:40,520 and they drank the water with a lot of pleasure 393 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:44,040 and that's harming the people. 394 00:19:46,030 --> 00:19:48,670 Wow, what a story. 395 00:19:48,670 --> 00:19:50,596 Did I tell you how many kilometers 396 00:19:50,596 --> 00:19:53,570 they are walking to get water everyday here? 397 00:19:53,570 --> 00:19:55,260 They walk for the whole day 398 00:19:55,260 --> 00:19:57,070 then come in the evening home. 399 00:19:57,070 --> 00:19:59,889 20, coming back 20, 40 kilometers walking. 400 00:19:59,889 --> 00:20:01,600 And with all the cattle? 401 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:03,460 Yeah, with the cattle. 402 00:20:03,460 --> 00:20:06,127 (ambient music) 403 00:20:24,563 --> 00:20:26,090 The height of absurdity. 404 00:20:26,090 --> 00:20:28,620 These women have 200 billion cubic meters 405 00:20:28,620 --> 00:20:30,600 of water under their feet 406 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:31,760 but where do they go now 407 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:33,820 to get the water they need everyday? 408 00:20:34,730 --> 00:20:37,510 Alain Gachet wants to note the GPS coordinates 409 00:20:37,510 --> 00:20:40,200 of the seasonal watering hole where these women go. 410 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,610 Over the 20-kilometer route we ran into men 411 00:20:44,610 --> 00:20:47,610 and their herds who were converging from all over. 412 00:20:47,610 --> 00:20:49,836 Some have been walking for days. 413 00:20:49,836 --> 00:20:52,503 (ambient music) 414 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:09,770 They shouldn't have to depend on watering holes 415 00:21:09,770 --> 00:21:13,100 that are so unhealthy and polluted. 416 00:21:13,100 --> 00:21:16,410 Look, there you see the animals, all their excrement, 417 00:21:16,410 --> 00:21:18,340 they piss, they shit. 418 00:21:18,340 --> 00:21:20,840 I mean, the little girls drink that water 419 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:22,500 and they manage to survive, I don't know how 420 00:21:22,500 --> 00:21:25,470 but the drama is that there's no well nearby. 421 00:21:25,470 --> 00:21:27,900 They could have made a well to extract water 422 00:21:27,900 --> 00:21:29,650 and that's the difference between deep wells 423 00:21:29,650 --> 00:21:32,550 and these puddles that are conducive to malaria. 424 00:21:32,550 --> 00:21:35,250 The mortality is such that only the strongest survive. 425 00:21:39,027 --> 00:21:40,230 So, it will be dry very soon. 426 00:21:40,230 --> 00:21:41,600 It will be dry very soon. 427 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:43,450 Two months, it will be finished. 428 00:21:43,450 --> 00:21:45,240 And what will happen with all these people? 429 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:46,140 Then they crash. 430 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,840 I hope after this maybe you look up 431 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:54,915 to the county that got us and meet their governor. 432 00:21:54,915 --> 00:21:56,544 We want to meet him-- 433 00:21:56,544 --> 00:22:00,711 Yeah, maybe explain to him some of these issues. 434 00:22:03,263 --> 00:22:04,880 Gachet keeps his promise. 435 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:07,560 He returns to Lodwar, the county capital 436 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:10,050 to inform the governor about the situation. 437 00:22:13,540 --> 00:22:17,023 I met a special friend before coming to meet with you 438 00:22:17,023 --> 00:22:18,720 in my office in France. 439 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,150 I want you to have this document in hand. 440 00:22:21,150 --> 00:22:22,990 These are dip of the first 441 00:22:22,990 --> 00:22:25,070 which are highly sustainable for centuries. 442 00:22:25,070 --> 00:22:27,400 If you drill for pastoral east 443 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:32,080 wells all along here down to 100 meter 444 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:34,730 you will have fresh water all along here, no problem. 445 00:22:36,010 --> 00:22:38,520 So once we've gotten a picture of this 446 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:40,660 then now we can plan to look for resources 447 00:22:40,660 --> 00:22:44,204 and maximize the use of visual. 448 00:22:44,204 --> 00:22:46,130 Alain understands that the governor 449 00:22:46,130 --> 00:22:49,620 of the Turkana region who should be the most concerned 450 00:22:49,620 --> 00:22:52,040 has never received the WATEX map. 451 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:55,010 Neither UNESCO nor the Nairobi central government 452 00:22:55,010 --> 00:22:58,220 had considered it necessary to supply him with it. 453 00:22:58,220 --> 00:22:59,980 And yet with this information 454 00:22:59,980 --> 00:23:03,860 his development objectives could at last become realistic. 455 00:23:03,860 --> 00:23:06,250 But what leeway does he really have? 456 00:23:07,340 --> 00:23:09,750 We realized that the discovery of gigantic 457 00:23:09,750 --> 00:23:13,040 reserves of water in a country that desperately needs it 458 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,230 doesn't fundamentally alter the equation. 459 00:23:16,230 --> 00:23:19,540 Lack of political will, of the means, of a vision 460 00:23:19,540 --> 00:23:22,950 has a direct impact on the population. 461 00:23:22,950 --> 00:23:26,360 Today, approximately 40% of the Kenyan population 462 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:29,020 lacks access to clean water. 463 00:23:29,020 --> 00:23:31,910 And around the world, some 5,000 children 464 00:23:31,910 --> 00:23:35,810 die everyday from illnesses related to unhealthy water. 465 00:23:39,730 --> 00:23:42,020 I went beyond my mandate as a scientist 466 00:23:42,020 --> 00:23:45,350 by going to see the governor and giving him the documents. 467 00:23:45,350 --> 00:23:47,610 And by reminding the governor the importance 468 00:23:47,610 --> 00:23:50,310 of these subterranean objectives. 469 00:23:50,310 --> 00:23:52,620 I played my last card with this trip. 470 00:23:52,620 --> 00:23:54,700 I have no reason to go any further 471 00:23:54,700 --> 00:23:56,870 and to fight against windmills. 472 00:24:00,410 --> 00:24:02,610 In this long journey with Alain Gachet 473 00:24:02,610 --> 00:24:04,510 we've seen how hard it is for him 474 00:24:04,510 --> 00:24:07,650 to be satisfied with just finding water. 475 00:24:07,650 --> 00:24:09,920 Everything about water interests him. 476 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:12,170 Science, economy, politics. 477 00:24:12,170 --> 00:24:14,460 Since childhood he'd seen himself 478 00:24:14,460 --> 00:24:16,990 as an explorer in all of these spheres. 479 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:19,840 I saw it in Madagascar. 480 00:24:21,060 --> 00:24:23,980 I saw electricity arrive, the railroad. 481 00:24:25,030 --> 00:24:26,940 There was no magic, it was technology. 482 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:31,270 And I said to myself, Alain, you have to be a scientist. 483 00:24:31,270 --> 00:24:34,070 You adore nature, be a botanist like your father. 484 00:24:34,070 --> 00:24:36,080 You could first of all be a geologist. 485 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,400 But I told myself, no, first be a physicist 486 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:40,210 because everything is based on physics. 487 00:24:40,210 --> 00:24:41,900 This is the way to understand nature. 488 00:24:41,900 --> 00:24:43,330 I understood that quickly 489 00:24:43,330 --> 00:24:45,160 and I would say that I had a bawl with math 490 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:46,790 and physics at the beginning 491 00:24:46,790 --> 00:24:49,190 while remaining a geologist prospecting for 492 00:24:49,190 --> 00:24:51,710 butterflies on one side and minerals on the other. 493 00:24:51,710 --> 00:24:53,380 The beauty of both of these facets. 494 00:24:53,380 --> 00:24:55,220 With a masters in nuclear physics 495 00:24:55,220 --> 00:24:56,370 and quantum mechanics, 496 00:24:56,370 --> 00:24:58,800 he entered the Nancy School of Mining 497 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:01,860 which trains the best of French engineers. 498 00:25:01,860 --> 00:25:05,620 He learned about the management of energy and base metals. 499 00:25:05,620 --> 00:25:07,440 At 27 he was recruited 500 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:11,060 by the French national oil company Elf Aquitaine. 501 00:25:11,060 --> 00:25:14,060 As an exploration geophysicist and geologist 502 00:25:14,060 --> 00:25:17,720 he prospected for hydro carbons in the North Sea. 503 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:20,830 Elf awarded him the innovation prize for an invention 504 00:25:20,830 --> 00:25:23,740 allowing the discovery of dangerous gas-bearing zones 505 00:25:23,740 --> 00:25:25,300 that no one was able to see. 506 00:25:27,850 --> 00:25:29,590 We're not just technicians, 507 00:25:29,590 --> 00:25:31,520 we're also protectors of the human community 508 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:33,180 we bring along on our adventure. 509 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:36,830 And this responsibility leads you at one point 510 00:25:36,830 --> 00:25:40,040 to meet and deal with powerful people. 511 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,460 Decision makers who have the power in their hands. 512 00:25:43,460 --> 00:25:46,120 Power can be dizzying, the power to decide. 513 00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:48,070 For me I had the technical power 514 00:25:48,070 --> 00:25:49,960 but not the power to decide about investment 515 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:51,220 in such and such an area, 516 00:25:51,220 --> 00:25:52,720 in such and such a country. 517 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:57,270 In 1992, he was promoted number two 518 00:25:57,270 --> 00:25:59,970 of Elf Congo in Congo Brazzaville 519 00:25:59,970 --> 00:26:03,330 and entrusted with international negotiations. 520 00:26:03,330 --> 00:26:07,240 In 1994, the president of Congo, Pascal Lissouba, 521 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:08,980 decides to sell the shares owned 522 00:26:08,980 --> 00:26:11,130 by his country in Elf Congo. 523 00:26:11,130 --> 00:26:14,220 Elf's management in Paris takes advantage of the situation 524 00:26:14,220 --> 00:26:16,670 and sets a ridiculous purchase price. 525 00:26:16,670 --> 00:26:18,630 Alain Gachet refuses to conduct 526 00:26:18,630 --> 00:26:20,690 the negotiations on those terms. 527 00:26:22,820 --> 00:26:26,490 But I said, you're screwing up the Congoist people. 528 00:26:26,490 --> 00:26:28,780 You're going to set up a ferocious civil war. 529 00:26:28,780 --> 00:26:31,260 You're pushing people to despair. 530 00:26:31,260 --> 00:26:34,220 They told me, "Gachet, you're playing politics, get out." 531 00:26:34,220 --> 00:26:35,053 Alain Gachet left 532 00:26:35,053 --> 00:26:37,020 his comfortable situation with Elf. 533 00:26:37,020 --> 00:26:39,330 He negotiated two years of salary 534 00:26:39,330 --> 00:26:42,450 and was prohibited from working for competing oil companies 535 00:26:42,450 --> 00:26:44,400 during a period of four years. 536 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:46,150 With his severance pay in pocket, 537 00:26:46,150 --> 00:26:47,990 he left for the United States 538 00:26:47,990 --> 00:26:50,680 to learn about the latest radar technologies. 539 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:55,120 His goal, to set up his own exploration mining company. 540 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:57,830 And I created my firm in 1999. 541 00:26:57,830 --> 00:27:00,830 I have this vision that I'm going to do something brilliant. 542 00:27:03,310 --> 00:27:04,310 I have the tools. 543 00:27:05,770 --> 00:27:07,080 I didn't think at all of water of course, 544 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:09,500 I thought I'd get rich in gold mines, et cetera. 545 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,040 In 2002, the no competition clause 546 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,120 with Elf finally ended. 547 00:27:16,120 --> 00:27:19,820 Shell asks him to look for oil in Libya and he accepts. 548 00:27:20,780 --> 00:27:23,870 It's while analyzing the radar images of Libya 549 00:27:23,870 --> 00:27:25,220 that his attention is drawn 550 00:27:25,220 --> 00:27:27,270 by an abnormal sign of humidity 551 00:27:27,270 --> 00:27:29,090 in the middle of the desert. 552 00:27:29,090 --> 00:27:32,100 His diagnostic is almost unbelievable. 553 00:27:32,100 --> 00:27:35,110 A gigantic subterranean water leak. 554 00:27:35,110 --> 00:27:36,690 The leak comes from the pipes 555 00:27:36,690 --> 00:27:38,360 feeding the great manmade river 556 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:40,390 constructed by Colonel Gaddafi. 557 00:27:41,490 --> 00:27:45,120 Water is spreading over a territory as big as Portugal. 558 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:48,390 I told myself that experience 559 00:27:48,390 --> 00:27:51,660 is now going to let me discover aquifers. 560 00:27:51,660 --> 00:27:55,640 My ambition was to filter those radar images 561 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,990 to such a point that the only thing that would appear 562 00:27:58,990 --> 00:28:00,580 would be humidity. 563 00:28:00,580 --> 00:28:03,030 I have to say the idea took me over like a fever. 564 00:28:05,540 --> 00:28:07,700 From then on, radar exploration 565 00:28:07,700 --> 00:28:10,660 becomes Alain Gachet's core business. 566 00:28:10,660 --> 00:28:13,100 But how can you see underground with satellites 567 00:28:13,100 --> 00:28:17,010 that are in orbit 800 kilometers above the earth? 568 00:28:17,010 --> 00:28:19,780 Satellites provide two kinds of images. 569 00:28:19,780 --> 00:28:22,100 Optical images which are color photographs 570 00:28:22,100 --> 00:28:24,330 close to the visual reality 571 00:28:24,330 --> 00:28:28,470 and radar images which are like black and white echographies 572 00:28:28,470 --> 00:28:31,050 that illustrate physical properties of the ground 573 00:28:31,050 --> 00:28:33,210 up to a few meters deep. 574 00:28:33,210 --> 00:28:35,510 An experiment with a simple lab radar 575 00:28:35,510 --> 00:28:38,710 shows how electromagnetic hyperfrequency waves 576 00:28:38,710 --> 00:28:40,100 react to humidity. 577 00:28:42,010 --> 00:28:43,180 There you can clearly see 578 00:28:43,180 --> 00:28:45,260 that the more I moisten the sand, 579 00:28:45,260 --> 00:28:47,830 the more its radar response increases. 580 00:28:47,830 --> 00:28:50,280 The curve increases and there it's quite evident. 581 00:28:54,330 --> 00:28:56,140 Radar is sensitive to two things, 582 00:28:56,140 --> 00:28:58,100 humidity and roughness. 583 00:28:58,100 --> 00:28:59,520 Roughness in this context means 584 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:01,280 the rocks that are spreading over the desert 585 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:03,240 that send back many echoes. 586 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,430 But a surface that's totally flat yet humid 587 00:29:05,430 --> 00:29:06,840 will give the same signal. 588 00:29:08,625 --> 00:29:11,010 For two years, Alain Gachet devotes himself 589 00:29:11,010 --> 00:29:14,000 to the elaboration of a mathematical algorithm 590 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,230 to separate those two signals 591 00:29:16,230 --> 00:29:19,750 and to just keep the information related to humidity. 592 00:29:19,750 --> 00:29:23,920 In 2004 his invention hasn't yet been tested on site 593 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:25,730 but the humanitarian agencies 594 00:29:25,730 --> 00:29:28,130 of the United Nations hear about it. 595 00:29:28,130 --> 00:29:30,980 Among those agencies, the High Commission on Refugees 596 00:29:30,980 --> 00:29:33,070 is urgently looking for water. 597 00:29:33,070 --> 00:29:35,530 Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese civilians 598 00:29:35,530 --> 00:29:37,710 are feeling the Darfur conflict 599 00:29:37,710 --> 00:29:41,060 to take refuge in Chad, the neighboring country. 600 00:29:41,060 --> 00:29:44,260 Marc Andre Bunzli working with the UNHCR 601 00:29:44,260 --> 00:29:46,120 coordinates the technical aspects 602 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:48,430 of water supplies in the refugee camps. 603 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:51,070 I wondered how we were going to find water 604 00:29:51,070 --> 00:29:52,780 for 20,000 people at the time 605 00:29:52,780 --> 00:29:55,620 knowing that the refugee camps would about that size. 606 00:29:55,620 --> 00:29:58,160 So, that was kind of a panicky time at the HCR 607 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:00,540 when we really wondered how were going to manage 608 00:30:00,540 --> 00:30:01,440 to give drinking water 609 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:03,340 to all those people and their animals. 610 00:30:04,290 --> 00:30:06,840 We begin by finding water supply from the surface 611 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:07,980 or water to be treated 612 00:30:07,980 --> 00:30:09,770 and that's what we're going to distribute first 613 00:30:09,770 --> 00:30:10,960 and trucking it in. 614 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,460 We put it in the trucks to be distributed. 615 00:30:13,460 --> 00:30:16,540 It's extremely expensive, it's extremely inefficient 616 00:30:16,540 --> 00:30:18,690 but it's usually the only source of water 617 00:30:18,690 --> 00:30:19,970 that we find right away 618 00:30:19,970 --> 00:30:22,280 and then we begin to do some exploration 619 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:25,000 and we try to find other sources of water. 620 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:28,680 The first wells dug with traditional techniques 621 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:30,700 are frequently unproductive, 622 00:30:30,700 --> 00:30:33,000 a waste of time, a waste of money 623 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,000 and the refugees continue to flood in. 624 00:30:37,976 --> 00:30:40,110 So, the United Nations call me. 625 00:30:40,110 --> 00:30:41,880 They know that I have at my disposal 626 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,160 tools that are extremely effective 627 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,500 and I am the only one who's apparently available 628 00:30:47,500 --> 00:30:50,080 and open enough to innovation 629 00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:52,980 to be able to face this crisis with the right tools. 630 00:30:54,210 --> 00:30:55,460 The clock is ticking. 631 00:30:55,460 --> 00:30:58,440 From his headquarters, Alain Gachet is searching for water 632 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:01,610 for some 250,000 refugees. 633 00:31:01,610 --> 00:31:04,330 After four months of analysis and calculation 634 00:31:04,330 --> 00:31:07,320 he at last discovers subterranean reserves 635 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:09,220 and leaves for Chad, the country 636 00:31:09,220 --> 00:31:11,280 into which the refugees are flooding 637 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,310 to determine the drilling sites. 638 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,230 I discovered several groups of these refugees 639 00:31:21,230 --> 00:31:22,440 dying in the dust. 640 00:31:23,626 --> 00:31:27,156 It was total improvisation in total disarray 641 00:31:27,156 --> 00:31:29,720 and I even asked myself at one point, 642 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:31,640 what are you doing in this hellhole? 643 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:33,480 In order to continue my job 644 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:35,980 I preferred not seeing the refugees. 645 00:31:35,980 --> 00:31:38,210 So, I locked myself in the car 646 00:31:38,210 --> 00:31:40,810 and did my navigating with no visibility. 647 00:31:40,810 --> 00:31:43,420 I'd say to the driver right, left, 648 00:31:43,420 --> 00:31:45,890 straight ahead, stop. 649 00:31:45,890 --> 00:31:47,890 I grab my hammer and I break a few rocks, 650 00:31:47,890 --> 00:31:50,500 verify the geology and we'd set off again. 651 00:31:50,500 --> 00:31:52,230 We went through that process until we found 652 00:31:52,230 --> 00:31:54,560 a good place to install a well. 653 00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:57,230 I collected several blocks of rock in the car's trunk. 654 00:31:57,230 --> 00:31:59,500 With my pot of paint I painted one in white 655 00:31:59,500 --> 00:32:01,000 and put it down there. 656 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:04,080 I recorded in my mapping application the GPS coordinates 657 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,910 and I took off again to be able to indicate to the drillers 658 00:32:06,910 --> 00:32:07,990 who were coming behind us 659 00:32:07,990 --> 00:32:10,006 that that was the place to dig a hole. 660 00:32:10,006 --> 00:32:12,673 (ambient music) 661 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:20,200 But when I saw the water gurgling forth in Darfur, 662 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:25,420 it's not about oil, it's about people. 663 00:32:28,970 --> 00:32:32,830 In 2005, his invention attracts the attention 664 00:32:32,830 --> 00:32:35,420 of some American scientists, 665 00:32:35,420 --> 00:32:37,620 in particular Dr. Saud Amer 666 00:32:37,620 --> 00:32:40,240 of the United States Geological Survey. 667 00:32:41,750 --> 00:32:44,260 It's he who audited the WATEX method 668 00:32:44,260 --> 00:32:45,880 for the state department. 669 00:32:46,940 --> 00:32:50,820 This international expert in radar remote sensing 670 00:32:50,820 --> 00:32:54,650 advices the White House on problems related to water. 671 00:32:56,690 --> 00:32:58,970 I thought it is really good methodology 672 00:32:58,970 --> 00:33:02,360 and it worth tried it. 673 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:04,780 And that's where we tried it in Darfur 674 00:33:04,780 --> 00:33:09,065 and I was astonished with the success rate. 675 00:33:09,065 --> 00:33:11,110 And this is not something from us, 676 00:33:11,950 --> 00:33:16,110 the report came from UNESCO, UNICEF and the NGOs. 677 00:33:16,110 --> 00:33:18,860 The success rate went to 98%, 678 00:33:18,860 --> 00:33:22,120 every time they drilled they found water. 679 00:33:22,970 --> 00:33:27,970 To me, Alain is really a very good scientist. 680 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:29,620 He is genius actually 681 00:33:29,620 --> 00:33:32,040 that's why I earlier said 682 00:33:34,180 --> 00:33:36,980 anyone can study remote sensing, 683 00:33:36,980 --> 00:33:40,490 anyone can study hydrology and hydrogeology 684 00:33:40,490 --> 00:33:44,310 but it comes to the point the expertise. 685 00:33:44,310 --> 00:33:48,250 How much expertise and how much talent you have 686 00:33:48,250 --> 00:33:52,440 and there are a lot of gifted people in many disciplines. 687 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:55,709 What happened here is the inferring. 688 00:33:55,709 --> 00:33:57,640 From emergencies to the long-term 689 00:33:57,640 --> 00:33:59,910 at the request of the American State Department, 690 00:33:59,910 --> 00:34:03,230 the USGS and Alain Gachet studied the resources 691 00:34:03,230 --> 00:34:05,600 in aquifers all over Darfur 692 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,330 some 200,000 square kilometers. 693 00:34:08,330 --> 00:34:10,340 In two years, results were impressive, 694 00:34:10,340 --> 00:34:13,100 1,700 wells are dug to supply 695 00:34:13,100 --> 00:34:15,510 almost three million refugees. 696 00:34:15,510 --> 00:34:17,700 These wells are still productive. 697 00:34:17,700 --> 00:34:20,960 This success attracts the curiosity of the European Union 698 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,680 which invites Gachet to explain his methods. 699 00:34:25,410 --> 00:34:28,630 Upon arrival in Brussels from the very beginning 700 00:34:28,630 --> 00:34:32,300 they say, "Mr. Gachet, no, we can't give you 20 minutes. 701 00:34:32,300 --> 00:34:35,300 "You have five minutes in a little conference hall, 702 00:34:35,300 --> 00:34:36,570 "a workshop." 703 00:34:36,570 --> 00:34:37,520 Why, what happened? 704 00:34:38,538 --> 00:34:40,920 "Mr. Gachet, you're a dangerous man. 705 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:43,050 "You find water in war zones." 706 00:34:43,050 --> 00:34:45,950 I said, "First of all, you asked me. 707 00:34:45,950 --> 00:34:50,251 "The United Nations asked me to find water in war zones 708 00:34:50,251 --> 00:34:51,470 "and it's especially in war zones 709 00:34:51,470 --> 00:34:53,080 "that you need to find water. 710 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:55,270 "People are uprooted, they're dying of thirst. 711 00:34:55,270 --> 00:34:56,770 "Do you know what it means to die of thirst 712 00:34:56,770 --> 00:34:58,940 "in your Brussels office? 713 00:34:58,940 --> 00:35:00,440 "You don't know what means. 714 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:01,273 "Me I saw it. 715 00:35:01,273 --> 00:35:03,750 "You have an obligation to help those people." 716 00:35:03,750 --> 00:35:05,850 In spite of the success in Darfur, 717 00:35:05,850 --> 00:35:08,160 United Nations agencies will no longer 718 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:10,670 call on him for several years. 719 00:35:10,670 --> 00:35:13,490 As for American scientists, they're only interested 720 00:35:13,490 --> 00:35:16,420 in the best method on the market and that's WATEX. 721 00:35:17,599 --> 00:35:20,180 Saud Amer and Alain Gachet have multiplied 722 00:35:20,180 --> 00:35:22,030 the discoveries of aquifers 723 00:35:22,030 --> 00:35:25,330 in arid zones like Ethiopia and Somalia. 724 00:35:25,330 --> 00:35:27,540 Collaboration between the two scientists 725 00:35:27,540 --> 00:35:30,450 has even allowed a refinement of the WATEX method. 726 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:33,340 After five years of purgatory, 727 00:35:33,340 --> 00:35:36,690 the United Nations once again called on Alain Gachet. 728 00:35:37,610 --> 00:35:40,620 Two mission were simultaneously undertaken. 729 00:35:40,620 --> 00:35:43,720 The emergency mission to Kenya that we followed 730 00:35:43,720 --> 00:35:45,930 and another mission of great importance, 731 00:35:45,930 --> 00:35:48,050 the identification of aquifers 732 00:35:48,050 --> 00:35:51,590 on a country-wide scale, Iraq. 733 00:35:51,590 --> 00:35:54,540 Conducted by UNESCO for the European Union, 734 00:35:54,540 --> 00:35:57,880 this Iraqi mission very sensitive on the diplomatic level 735 00:35:57,880 --> 00:35:59,610 is making slow progress. 736 00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:03,100 Iraq is a country divided between 737 00:36:03,100 --> 00:36:05,180 Arab and Kurdish communities, 738 00:36:05,180 --> 00:36:07,580 a country surrounded by hostile neighbors 739 00:36:07,580 --> 00:36:09,970 and ravaged by 30 years of war, 740 00:36:09,970 --> 00:36:11,700 a country in hydraulic stress 741 00:36:11,700 --> 00:36:14,650 where water is a major strategic concern. 742 00:36:14,650 --> 00:36:18,100 In 2015, the advance of the ISIL 743 00:36:18,100 --> 00:36:21,720 and the massive influx of refugees make the Iraqi mission 744 00:36:21,720 --> 00:36:25,340 which was at a standstill an absolute priority. 745 00:36:25,340 --> 00:36:27,460 Just after his return from Kenya, 746 00:36:27,460 --> 00:36:29,330 Alain Gachet organizes a meeting 747 00:36:29,330 --> 00:36:31,250 with the Italian and American experts 748 00:36:31,250 --> 00:36:33,280 commissioned by UNESCO. 749 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,719 So, it's not we are trying to find water 750 00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:37,090 just for the refugees 751 00:36:37,090 --> 00:36:41,140 but due to the diminished or the reduction 752 00:36:41,140 --> 00:36:43,470 in surface water in Iraq in general 753 00:36:43,470 --> 00:36:48,470 due to many reason either infrastructure upstream of Iraq, 754 00:36:49,310 --> 00:36:53,840 climate change, population increase, agriculture, 755 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:57,500 Iraq has to find other water resources 756 00:36:57,500 --> 00:37:00,377 to supplement the surface water. 757 00:37:00,377 --> 00:37:03,710 The big problem of Iraq is that Iraq today 758 00:37:03,710 --> 00:37:07,770 is going to hit a wall I mean in the use of water. 759 00:37:07,770 --> 00:37:11,990 Meaning that Iraq is starting being not able 760 00:37:11,990 --> 00:37:14,160 to meet the water needs 761 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:16,060 they are going to have in the future 762 00:37:16,060 --> 00:37:19,790 because Iraq depends on more than 80% 763 00:37:19,790 --> 00:37:23,420 of the water that enters from the upstream countries 764 00:37:23,420 --> 00:37:25,870 through the Euphrates and Tigris River. 765 00:37:25,870 --> 00:37:29,330 And Turkey and Iran, especially Turkey, 766 00:37:29,330 --> 00:37:31,930 they are building a lot of dams there 767 00:37:31,930 --> 00:37:34,440 regulating the Tigris and the Euphrates. 768 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:38,420 So, Iraq is the downstream country 769 00:37:38,420 --> 00:37:41,810 and depends on these which is especially 770 00:37:41,810 --> 00:37:46,040 you know, a political decision, a political management. 771 00:37:47,790 --> 00:37:49,290 Water is a source of tension 772 00:37:49,290 --> 00:37:50,520 in the whole Middle East 773 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:52,720 and more particularly within Iraq. 774 00:37:56,290 --> 00:37:58,410 The conflict between the Kurds from the mountains 775 00:37:58,410 --> 00:37:59,760 and the Arabs of the plains 776 00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:02,200 has been going on for thousands of years. 777 00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:04,470 One group has water and knows where it is, 778 00:38:04,470 --> 00:38:05,750 the other group also has water 779 00:38:05,750 --> 00:38:07,990 but they don't know where it is. 780 00:38:07,990 --> 00:38:09,860 And the day we manage to find some 781 00:38:09,860 --> 00:38:11,970 we hope that will calm things down 782 00:38:11,970 --> 00:38:14,440 but it might on the contrary increase tensions. 783 00:38:15,350 --> 00:38:16,820 because everything is so explosive there 784 00:38:16,820 --> 00:38:19,560 we no longer have any idea of what things can lead to 785 00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:20,840 so there are countries where in fact 786 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:22,730 finding water in certain circumstances 787 00:38:22,730 --> 00:38:25,060 can be extremely dangerous. 788 00:38:25,060 --> 00:38:28,700 But I consider that it's always a good idea for a country 789 00:38:28,700 --> 00:38:31,730 to know where its natural resources are. 790 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:35,990 Because when a period of peace arrives, maybe in a century, 791 00:38:35,990 --> 00:38:37,950 they'll at least know where they stand 792 00:38:37,950 --> 00:38:40,120 in order to get going again. 793 00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:42,810 If we cruise on an ocean of ignorance 794 00:38:42,810 --> 00:38:45,870 we can't expect anything positive in the future. 795 00:38:45,870 --> 00:38:47,020 The entire little team 796 00:38:47,020 --> 00:38:48,630 is working full throttle. 797 00:38:48,630 --> 00:38:51,700 Delphine Sevestre orders hundreds of satellite images 798 00:38:51,700 --> 00:38:53,350 from the space agencies. 799 00:38:53,350 --> 00:38:55,100 With optical and radar images 800 00:38:55,100 --> 00:38:57,310 covering 70 square kilometers, 801 00:38:57,310 --> 00:39:01,080 the geologist puts together a mosaic of the entire country, 802 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:03,020 a colossal task. 803 00:39:03,020 --> 00:39:04,490 It's through this composite map 804 00:39:04,490 --> 00:39:06,930 that Gachet applies his algorithm. 805 00:39:06,930 --> 00:39:09,500 The first calculations isolate the signals 806 00:39:09,500 --> 00:39:11,200 of the underground humidity 807 00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:14,779 and permit to infer the presence of aquifers in Iraq 808 00:39:14,779 --> 00:39:17,060 hereto for unknown. 809 00:39:17,060 --> 00:39:18,874 On the eve of their departure, 810 00:39:18,874 --> 00:39:20,740 Saud Amer prepares Gachet 811 00:39:20,740 --> 00:39:22,610 for the presentation of their method 812 00:39:22,610 --> 00:39:25,670 on a very delicate diplomatic terrain. 813 00:39:25,670 --> 00:39:28,180 For the adoptive American who had to leave Iraq 814 00:39:28,180 --> 00:39:30,740 during the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein 815 00:39:30,740 --> 00:39:32,850 this is not a mission like any other. 816 00:39:32,850 --> 00:39:34,740 His superiors have prohibited him 817 00:39:34,740 --> 00:39:36,730 from setting foot on the ground 818 00:39:36,730 --> 00:39:40,620 so we leave with the Italian hydrogeologist for Erbil, 819 00:39:40,620 --> 00:39:42,780 the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. 820 00:39:44,810 --> 00:39:47,580 On site, Alain Gachet begins by inspecting 821 00:39:47,580 --> 00:39:49,470 an ancient network of tunnels 822 00:39:49,470 --> 00:39:53,005 that drain water towards the villages, the Kahrez. 823 00:39:53,005 --> 00:39:55,672 (uptempo music) 824 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:09,220 These are dry stones. 825 00:40:09,220 --> 00:40:11,960 The water's very nice when you stop stirring up the clay, 826 00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:13,820 it's a water that's extremely pure 827 00:40:13,820 --> 00:40:14,930 and totally drinkable. 828 00:40:15,790 --> 00:40:17,840 The flow rate is weak but regular. 829 00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:23,340 Must be about one liter per second 830 00:40:24,220 --> 00:40:25,400 which isn't ridiculous. 831 00:40:28,738 --> 00:40:30,300 A Kahrez is a hydraulic system 832 00:40:30,300 --> 00:40:32,030 rooted in a very ancient tradition 833 00:40:32,030 --> 00:40:34,700 going back 3,000 or 4,000 years 834 00:40:34,700 --> 00:40:36,480 which is going to drain the water 835 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:38,970 falling in to this amphitheater. 836 00:40:38,970 --> 00:40:40,930 This permitted many small mountain communities 837 00:40:40,930 --> 00:40:42,440 to live in total autonomy 838 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:44,910 and this seriously displeased Saddam Hussein, 839 00:40:44,910 --> 00:40:48,550 and took it upon himself to destroy the Kahrez 840 00:40:48,550 --> 00:40:50,960 to force the populations to flee these villages 841 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:51,900 and go to the cities 842 00:40:51,900 --> 00:40:53,950 where it was much easier to control them. 843 00:40:57,980 --> 00:40:59,210 We take the road again 844 00:40:59,210 --> 00:41:01,700 through the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. 845 00:41:03,010 --> 00:41:04,880 As in Kenya, Alain Gachet is looking 846 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:07,108 for an aquifer recharge zone. 847 00:41:07,108 --> 00:41:09,775 (uptempo music) 848 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:26,360 Under the river there are several accesses 849 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:27,790 to underground water. 850 00:41:27,790 --> 00:41:29,060 There there's an environment 851 00:41:29,060 --> 00:41:31,430 that's probably very rich in deep water. 852 00:41:31,430 --> 00:41:34,000 The water can be exploited here without touching the river 853 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:36,490 with deeper reserves that must be considerable 854 00:41:36,490 --> 00:41:38,730 because the altitude of those anticlines 855 00:41:38,730 --> 00:41:41,530 that you see over there and are still covered with snow, 856 00:41:41,530 --> 00:41:42,700 well, when the snow melts 857 00:41:42,700 --> 00:41:46,030 it's going to infiltrate this sandstone which is porous 858 00:41:46,030 --> 00:41:48,450 and will permit the circulation of the underground water. 859 00:41:48,450 --> 00:41:51,390 And there we are in aquifers that are renewable. 860 00:41:52,730 --> 00:41:54,480 It's a rock that's been chemically dissolved 861 00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:57,400 by the carbonic acid transported by the snow 862 00:41:57,400 --> 00:41:59,890 and has a very specific aspect. 863 00:41:59,890 --> 00:42:01,980 As if I had soaked this block 864 00:42:01,980 --> 00:42:03,730 in hydrochloric acid for example 865 00:42:04,934 --> 00:42:07,850 the water has worked on it, acidic water impacted it. 866 00:42:10,230 --> 00:42:12,400 The geological survey of Alain Gachet 867 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:14,790 confirms the presence of deep aquifers 868 00:42:14,790 --> 00:42:18,500 in this strategic zone where tensions are high. 869 00:42:18,500 --> 00:42:22,110 A zone where ISIL is expanding its domination 870 00:42:22,110 --> 00:42:25,710 and forcing onto the road more than four million refugees 871 00:42:25,710 --> 00:42:27,800 according to the HCR. 872 00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:31,080 Camps are multiplying and the need for water is growing. 873 00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:34,700 Gachet notes the GPS coordinates of the new refugee camps 874 00:42:34,700 --> 00:42:37,580 and his scientific reflexes lead him to evaluate 875 00:42:37,580 --> 00:42:40,883 the pertinence of the existing infrastructure. 876 00:42:40,883 --> 00:42:43,550 (uptempo music) 877 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:47,590 Those are the camp's water reserves 878 00:42:47,590 --> 00:42:51,720 so obviously it's a very strategic place, very protected. 879 00:42:51,720 --> 00:42:53,480 The water arrives from that hill up there 880 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:54,760 directed by a pipeline. 881 00:42:56,640 --> 00:42:58,490 And apparently the reserves are enough 882 00:42:58,490 --> 00:43:00,870 to supply 11,000 refugees. 883 00:43:08,070 --> 00:43:09,590 It's very good, fine quality. 884 00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:13,040 Even in Erbil, 885 00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:15,870 in the middle of the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan 886 00:43:15,870 --> 00:43:18,610 a refugee camp has been set up. 887 00:43:18,610 --> 00:43:21,310 The governor has to manage the sharing of the resource 888 00:43:21,310 --> 00:43:23,260 between residents and refugees 889 00:43:23,260 --> 00:43:25,935 and try to avoid tensions. 890 00:43:25,935 --> 00:43:28,602 (uptempo music) 891 00:43:33,220 --> 00:43:35,420 The Kurdish people have reacted very well 892 00:43:35,420 --> 00:43:38,040 because it's not just water but also electricity, 893 00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:39,770 medical services and education 894 00:43:39,770 --> 00:43:42,780 that these refugees more and more numerous require. 895 00:43:42,780 --> 00:43:44,100 We're not talking about a million 896 00:43:44,100 --> 00:43:49,030 but 1,800,000 internally displaced and Syrian refugees. 897 00:43:49,030 --> 00:43:50,700 But the reaction of the Kurdish population 898 00:43:50,700 --> 00:43:52,510 has been very positive til now. 899 00:43:57,315 --> 00:44:00,220 All right, so it was a bomber we saw passing over? 900 00:44:00,220 --> 00:44:02,040 Exactly, it was a jet fighter. 901 00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:04,340 While we are visiting Iraqi Kurdistan 902 00:44:04,340 --> 00:44:08,090 a counteroffensive of Kurdish fighters against ISIL 903 00:44:08,090 --> 00:44:10,170 is raging a few dozen kilometers 904 00:44:10,170 --> 00:44:14,040 from the 10,000 refugees in the camp of Kaworgosk. 905 00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:15,560 Tension is increasing. 906 00:44:16,790 --> 00:44:19,260 And when I say that the context is not easy, 907 00:44:19,260 --> 00:44:21,620 in Darfur I had my driver and two assistants 908 00:44:21,620 --> 00:44:23,540 who were assassinated. 909 00:44:23,540 --> 00:44:26,510 Not by the rebels but by the refugees themselves 910 00:44:26,510 --> 00:44:28,200 under the pretext that they were poisoning 911 00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:29,730 the water in their cisterns 912 00:44:29,730 --> 00:44:33,020 simply because they put chlorine in to disinfect the tanks. 913 00:44:33,020 --> 00:44:34,860 And with no warning, no explanation, 914 00:44:34,860 --> 00:44:36,020 boom, boom, it's over. 915 00:44:37,310 --> 00:44:39,070 I like to create wealth because of that. 916 00:44:39,070 --> 00:44:40,870 Wealth is the only element that allows 917 00:44:40,870 --> 00:44:43,100 a conflict to be diffused. 918 00:44:43,100 --> 00:44:45,180 So my objective is not to find a little water 919 00:44:45,180 --> 00:44:47,660 because a little water is war. 920 00:44:47,660 --> 00:44:49,610 With lots of water we can begin imaging 921 00:44:49,610 --> 00:44:50,920 that we can build peace. 922 00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:54,010 However, water has always been 923 00:44:54,010 --> 00:44:56,430 at the heart of conflict in the Middle East. 924 00:44:56,430 --> 00:44:59,320 It's difficult to imagine that it can contribute 925 00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:01,580 to peace in Iraq in such chaos. 926 00:45:03,110 --> 00:45:05,180 The whole military strategy of ISIL 927 00:45:05,180 --> 00:45:08,790 in Iraq and in Syria aims at one thing. 928 00:45:08,790 --> 00:45:11,500 Controlling the dams on the Tigris and the Euphrates. 929 00:45:12,700 --> 00:45:15,870 It began in February 2014 930 00:45:15,870 --> 00:45:17,370 with the Fallujah Dam for example 931 00:45:17,370 --> 00:45:20,640 in Iraqi territory where ISIL wanted to 932 00:45:21,700 --> 00:45:23,350 exert pressure on the security 933 00:45:23,350 --> 00:45:25,220 of the water supply downstream. 934 00:45:27,700 --> 00:45:31,000 But also by closing these fuses provoking floods, 935 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,980 and thus, discontent among the population upstream. 936 00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:37,730 Holding the dams also permits 937 00:45:37,730 --> 00:45:39,180 giving electricity to people, 938 00:45:41,070 --> 00:45:44,410 thereby, putting on your side certain populations 939 00:45:44,410 --> 00:45:46,680 who are perhaps reluctant to support this 940 00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:48,190 radical Islamist movement. 941 00:45:49,710 --> 00:45:52,120 Control of the Mosul and the Haditha Dams 942 00:45:52,120 --> 00:45:55,960 is a key element in ISIL's strategy of conquest. 943 00:45:57,990 --> 00:45:59,650 Iraqi authorities alerted me 944 00:45:59,650 --> 00:46:01,680 that if these two dams are destroyed 945 00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:04,150 Iraq will practically no longer exist. 946 00:46:06,010 --> 00:46:09,090 Summer 2015, back in Tarascon, 947 00:46:09,090 --> 00:46:11,890 the last stage of the WATEX operation begins. 948 00:46:11,890 --> 00:46:14,980 Alain Gachet processes the geological data 949 00:46:14,980 --> 00:46:17,310 collected in Iraqi Kurdistan. 950 00:46:17,310 --> 00:46:21,510 Saud Amer studies the internal functionings of the aquifers. 951 00:46:21,510 --> 00:46:24,510 He determines the quantity and quality of the water, 952 00:46:24,510 --> 00:46:27,690 its age and the speed with which it's recharged 953 00:46:27,690 --> 00:46:30,280 to ensure sustainable exploitation. 954 00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:33,070 In exclusivity, Alain Gachet reveals to us 955 00:46:33,070 --> 00:46:35,130 the result of his work on Iraq. 956 00:46:37,330 --> 00:46:38,970 This is the unpublished map. 957 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:42,330 It's unique. 958 00:46:43,570 --> 00:46:45,530 All of Iraq has been WATEXed. 959 00:46:47,270 --> 00:46:50,230 And there we have a pure signature of water. 960 00:46:50,230 --> 00:46:51,940 Where does this water come from? 961 00:46:51,940 --> 00:46:55,120 It can't come from the Mesopotamian basin, 962 00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:56,960 it isn't connected to the streams and rivers 963 00:46:56,960 --> 00:46:58,330 that would arrive here. 964 00:46:58,330 --> 00:47:01,010 It doesn't rain here, it's really the western desert. 965 00:47:01,010 --> 00:47:05,510 Therefore, this water comes from down deep. 966 00:47:05,510 --> 00:47:07,760 There's probably a huge source of water 967 00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:10,075 that's asleep somewhere down there. 968 00:47:10,075 --> 00:47:12,492 (calm music) 969 00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:22,580 Water comes from Saudi Arabia, 970 00:47:22,580 --> 00:47:25,690 it's going to gradually infiltrate the Mesopotamian basin. 971 00:47:26,830 --> 00:47:28,880 And migrates 700 kilometers 972 00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:32,690 to arrive at the base of this fault to here. 973 00:47:34,461 --> 00:47:35,500 And there is pressure, 974 00:47:35,500 --> 00:47:37,500 there is practically one kilometer of head, 975 00:47:37,500 --> 00:47:39,200 there's so much pressure here. 976 00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:41,890 That water is going to seep all along 977 00:47:41,890 --> 00:47:43,080 the length of the fault 978 00:47:44,030 --> 00:47:46,570 and that's what we see on the radar image. 979 00:47:46,570 --> 00:47:48,260 That means that there are probably 980 00:47:48,260 --> 00:47:49,990 very large water reserves here 981 00:47:49,990 --> 00:47:52,310 under high pressure waiting for us. 982 00:47:52,310 --> 00:47:55,000 Here we are in a full-fledged cross border process. 983 00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:57,360 So there there is a real potential for the future 984 00:47:57,360 --> 00:47:59,530 independent of the Tigris and Euphrates, 985 00:47:59,530 --> 00:48:03,170 independent of the policy of huge dams conducted by Turkey 986 00:48:03,170 --> 00:48:05,360 which has full control of the Iraqi economy 987 00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:06,430 with surface water. 988 00:48:06,430 --> 00:48:08,680 With this they'd be free of the Turkish dominance 989 00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:11,390 to rebuild a new Iraq according to a new paradigm. 990 00:48:13,260 --> 00:48:15,280 UNESCO summons the whole team 991 00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:17,640 to a secret spot outside of Iraq. 992 00:48:18,540 --> 00:48:21,880 The hydrological adviser to the Iraqi prime minister 993 00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:24,470 and an expert from the Ministry of Agriculture 994 00:48:24,470 --> 00:48:27,610 and Natural Resources arrived from Baghdad. 995 00:48:27,610 --> 00:48:30,270 For UNESCO's project head Andreas Luke, 996 00:48:30,270 --> 00:48:32,970 the result goes beyond what he hoped for. 997 00:48:32,970 --> 00:48:35,350 We get special authorization to film. 998 00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:39,790 Let's make this as the base map. 999 00:48:39,790 --> 00:48:43,624 This is the WATEX map, last well we dig there is 1000 00:48:43,624 --> 00:48:45,430 with no signal. 1001 00:48:45,430 --> 00:48:49,123 On the north of (mumbles) up to the Syrian border 1002 00:48:49,123 --> 00:48:51,630 it's a beautiful moist area, 1003 00:48:51,630 --> 00:48:55,474 means that good soils and probably good aquifer too. 1004 00:48:55,474 --> 00:48:56,958 Yeah, it's a good aquifer. 1005 00:48:56,958 --> 00:48:57,876 Here. 1006 00:48:57,876 --> 00:48:59,773 And then part three is there. 1007 00:48:59,773 --> 00:49:02,437 I also choose one, choose one. 1008 00:49:02,437 --> 00:49:04,104 So, Mr. Sedek now, 1009 00:49:06,230 --> 00:49:08,230 the Iraqi army has to control this area. 1010 00:49:10,067 --> 00:49:11,240 The Iraqi army will. 1011 00:49:11,240 --> 00:49:13,708 Has to, has to control that. 1012 00:49:13,708 --> 00:49:15,690 Not in Turkey hands. 1013 00:49:16,600 --> 00:49:19,690 This information then should be kept secret. 1014 00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:22,091 For the moment, yes. 1015 00:49:22,091 --> 00:49:24,100 For the moment. 1016 00:49:24,100 --> 00:49:25,460 As a result of this meeting, 1017 00:49:25,460 --> 00:49:27,640 strategic objectives are defined. 1018 00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:31,050 Five boreholes over 1,000 meters in depth 1019 00:49:31,050 --> 00:49:32,380 will be put in place. 1020 00:49:33,820 --> 00:49:38,360 UNESCO official, Dr. Luke suggest I publish. 1021 00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:40,560 There are results that are exceptional. 1022 00:49:40,560 --> 00:49:44,040 Geological cross sections that nobody has ever seen before. 1023 00:49:44,040 --> 00:49:45,490 It's up to me to say yes or no 1024 00:49:45,490 --> 00:49:47,750 because when we put these allocations out there 1025 00:49:47,750 --> 00:49:48,850 we'll have the Saudis, 1026 00:49:48,850 --> 00:49:51,140 the Turks and the Iranians all over us. 1027 00:49:51,140 --> 00:49:53,600 So, let's do our job all the way through 1028 00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:55,310 and when we've done everything we can, 1029 00:49:55,310 --> 00:49:57,920 perhaps if the political situation permits it, 1030 00:49:57,920 --> 00:49:59,540 we'll publish. 1031 00:49:59,540 --> 00:50:01,160 I don't know my fame to publications 1032 00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:05,190 but to my results, it's discovery that interests me. 1033 00:50:06,630 --> 00:50:08,540 After all these months of work, 1034 00:50:08,540 --> 00:50:11,310 Alain Gachet, Saud Amer and the whole team 1035 00:50:11,310 --> 00:50:14,530 grant themselves a moment of optimism. 1036 00:50:14,530 --> 00:50:16,010 This incredible map, 1037 00:50:16,010 --> 00:50:18,690 the product of a humanitarian emergency, 1038 00:50:18,690 --> 00:50:21,750 is now the instrument for the rebuilding of an Iraq 1039 00:50:21,750 --> 00:50:23,350 that would no longer be centered 1040 00:50:23,350 --> 00:50:25,690 on the Tigris and Euphrates, 1041 00:50:25,690 --> 00:50:29,690 an alternative to the saline ground water polluted by war. 1042 00:50:29,690 --> 00:50:32,430 But also, a way to no longer depend on dams 1043 00:50:32,430 --> 00:50:35,650 controlled by the Turks and by ISIL. 1044 00:50:35,650 --> 00:50:38,110 In the foreseeable future if political will 1045 00:50:38,110 --> 00:50:39,690 and investments follow, 1046 00:50:39,690 --> 00:50:42,480 this means that there will be water for everybody. 1047 00:50:43,920 --> 00:50:45,820 I got into the great water war. 1048 00:50:45,820 --> 00:50:48,000 I could say I waited into it up to my chin, 1049 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:49,240 up to my ears. 1050 00:50:49,240 --> 00:50:51,940 I put my soul into it but I'm going all the way. 1051 00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:58,140 Free and cross disciplinary minds 1052 00:50:58,140 --> 00:51:00,810 have always been the motors of progress. 1053 00:51:00,810 --> 00:51:04,500 The great explorers drew maps of the seas and continents 1054 00:51:04,500 --> 00:51:07,960 but the depths of the Earth remain little known. 1055 00:51:07,960 --> 00:51:12,120 No complete map of the planet's deep aquifers exists. 1056 00:51:12,120 --> 00:51:13,980 Alain Gachet with his algorithm 1057 00:51:13,980 --> 00:51:15,760 and access to a super computer 1058 00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:19,870 would only take a few years of calculating to make that map. 1059 00:51:19,870 --> 00:51:21,800 The discovery of water gives power 1060 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:23,660 to the one who controls it 1061 00:51:23,660 --> 00:51:26,510 but can we refuse the discovery under the pretext 1062 00:51:26,510 --> 00:51:29,800 that we don't know what politicians will do with it? 1063 00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:33,010 In about 2030, one person out of two 1064 00:51:33,010 --> 00:51:35,260 will suffer from a lack of water. 1065 00:51:35,260 --> 00:51:37,690 Science offers a chain of solutions 1066 00:51:37,690 --> 00:51:40,440 that it would be wise not to neglect. 1067 00:51:40,440 --> 00:51:43,970 With his invention, Alain Gachet is one link in this chain. 1068 00:51:44,867 --> 00:51:47,284 (calm music) 1069 00:51:55,570 --> 00:51:57,169 That's the risk. 1070 00:51:57,169 --> 00:51:59,586 (calm music) 1071 00:52:05,230 --> 00:52:06,860 No, everything is okay. 1072 00:52:09,180 --> 00:52:10,480 I want to taste the water. 1073 00:52:14,690 --> 00:52:16,465 (laughs) 1074 00:52:16,465 --> 00:52:18,882 (calm music) 1075 00:52:30,909 --> 00:52:34,826 (speaking in foreign language)