UMKC to Address Water, Health Issues in Africa

Photo by Janet Rogers, Division of Strategic Marketing and Communications

Prof. Jejung Lee will lead international team in Cameroon

The central African nation of Cameroon can look forward to two vital forms of assistance that will save lives and lead to better health, thanks to an international team of scientists led by Jejung Lee, Ph.D., associate professor of Geosciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Lee’s team will identify new sources of clean, safe well water in Cameroon and involve local African scientists in the work so it can be maintained and continued after the international team leaves.

“The people in the region will develop cleaner groundwater resources and new knowledge,” Lee said. “If we do all the work, it cannot continue. This project will also promote capacity building for a better use of geophysical techniques in the region.”

The project is being funded by a $100,000 two-year grant from Geoscientists Without Borders, the humanitarian program launched by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) six years ago. It is one of only three projects worldwide funded by the group in 2014. All three projects use modern earth science theory and technology to ameliorate long-standing problems in some of the world’s poorest regions.

The UMKC-led project in Cameroon also will include scientists from the Research Institute of Development in France, the University of Ngaoundere in Cameroon and the University of Maiduguri in Nigeria. The fundamental problem in the area is that limited access to clean fresh water has, over the last decade, led to severe outbreaks of cholera. The project will rely upon electromagnetic surveys to characterize a basement rock aquifer which can subsequently be developed into a freshwater well field, leading to significant community health improvement.

The project stems from Lee’s ongoing research, funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation, into the geological impacts of the shrinkage of Lake Chad. Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon all border the lake, which has been shrinking steadily since at least the 1980s.

On his visits to the site, Lee was struck not just by the scientific data, but the human toll.

“I saw a lot of people living in poverty, and having real trouble getting clean water,” he said. His scientific and humanitarian urges combined to push him to design the project and appeal to Geoscientists Without Borders for funding.

“Science can help people live in a better and healthy environment. The Geoscientists Without Borders program gives our international team an opportunity to help Cameroonians find cleaner water resources,” Lee said.

A group of students will accompany the scientists on the trip to Africa in December, including several from UMKC. Lee sees great benefits for the students as well as the people of Cameroon.

“First, our students will have the experience of a lifetime. They will grow as scientists, but they also will see how people live with extremely limited resources, and deal with cholera outbreaks every year,” Lee said. “They will get a better sense of how to contribute to the world community by using their knowledge of Geosciences.”


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