Fresh Water
Although the rocks beneath the city contained a vast reservoir of fresh water, known as the Trarza Lake, fresh water is running out, owing to the large growth of the city. Engineers have warned it could run out by 2054, since it is not rain-fed, and is therefore non-renewable. The problem is particularly bad in the sandy shanty towns where the majority of the population lives.
Many people already have to buy water, which is expensive compared with the average wage in the city.
Read more about this topic: Nouakchott
Famous quotes containing the words fresh and/or water:
“All men are partially buried in the grave of custom, and of some we see only the crown of the head above ground. Better are the physically dead, for they more lively rot. Even virtue is no longer such if it be stagnant. A man’s life should be constantly as fresh as this river. It should be the same channel, but a new water every instant.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I asked, “What happens, father, when you die?”
He told where all the running water goes,
And dressed me gently in my little clothes.”
—Robert Pack (b. 1929)