Letoyie Leroshi walked for five days in search of water. The rivers in Samburu County, Kenya, were dry after three years of little rain.
Letoyie Leroshi 步行五天寻找水源。肯尼亚桑布鲁县的河流在经历了三年少雨后干涸了。
 
Then, Leroshi, a cow herder, found a small wet area of sand on a dry river bottom. He brought a group of fellow herders to the site to help dig. They hit water, and the young men broke into a happy song.
随后，牧牛人勒罗什在干涸的河底发现了一小片潮湿的沙地。他带着一群牧民来到现场帮助挖掘。他们碰到了水，年轻人唱起了欢快的歌。
 
This water, known as groundwater, could be very helpful in an area dealing with a long period of too little water, or drought.
这种水被称为地下水，对于长期缺水或干旱的地区来说可能非常有用。< br/>
 
Drought, groundwater
干旱、地下水
 
Climate change is making drought more likely. And people in East Africa and the Horn of Africa do not have the resources to tap groundwater effectively or widely.
气候变化使干旱更有可能发生。而东非和非洲之角的人们没有有效或广泛开采地下水的资源。
 
For Leroshi and other Kenyan herders, the situation is difficult.
对于 Leroshi 和其他肯尼亚牧民来说，处境很艰难。
 
"We had thousands of livestock four years ago when we experienced short rains," he said. "We have lost hundreds of our cattle and are now worried that if the rains fail yet again, we will lose everything."
“四年前，我们有数千头牲畜，当时我们经历了短暂的降雨，”他说。 “我们已经失去了数百头牛，现在担心如果再次下雨，我们将失去一切。”
 
Leroshi and other herdsmen carry weapons to protect their animals from thieves.
Leroshi 和其他牧民携带武器以保护他们的牲畜免遭窃贼。
 
"Everyone else around is also armed and ready to steal our livestock," he said.
“周围的其他人也都武装起来，准备偷走我们的牲畜，”他说。
 
The United Nations water agency estimates that roughly 400 million people across Africa lack access to clean water.
联合国水务机构估计，非洲大约有 4 亿人无法获得干净的水。
 
The British nonprofit group WaterAid and the British Geological Survey examined the situation. They found that Africa has enough groundwater for most countries to get through at least five years of drought.
英国非营利组织 WaterAid 和英国地质调查局调查了这一情况。他们发现非洲有足够的地下水供大多数国家度过至少五年的干旱。
 
In the coastal city of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania in 1997 drought led people to use groundwater. The same thing happened in Cape Town, South Africa in 2017. In Ethiopia, hand-pumped wells performed better than all other water sources during a drought in 2015 and 2016.
1997 年，在坦桑尼亚的沿海城市达累斯萨拉姆，干旱导致人们使用地下水。 2017 年南非开普敦也发生了同样的事情。在埃塞俄比亚，在 2015 年和 2016 年的干旱期间，手抽水井的表现优于所有其他水源。
 
Africa has 72 large underground areas of water, known as aquifers, that are largely unused, scientists say.
非洲有 72 个大型地下区域科学家说，被称为含水层的水基本上未被使用。
 
Cautionary tales
警示故事
 
Experts also warn people about the danger of misusing groundwater.
专家还警告人们滥用地下水的危险。
 
Philip Wandera is a former director of the Kenya Wildlife Service and now with the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He said groundwater "is not a quick-fix answer for the current drought ... if you have been poor managers of surface water, it means you are likely to do the same with groundwater."
菲利普·万德拉 (Philip Wandera) 是肯尼亚野生动物服务中心的前任主任，现供职于东非天主教大学。他说，地下水“不是解决当前干旱的速效办法……如果你对地表水的管理不力，这意味着你很可能对地下水做同样的事情。”
 
The U.N. reports that just three percent of the total farmed land in sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated. It says only 5 percent of that land is irrigated with groundwater.
联合国报告说，在撒哈拉以南非洲，只有百分之三的耕地得到灌溉。它说只有 5% 的土地用地下水灌溉。
 
Groundwater exploration and building projects are impossible without financing.
如果没有资金，地下水勘探和建设项目是不可能的。
 
Agnes Kalibata, leader of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, said, "Smallholder farmers who make up most food producers on the continent," badly need irrigation technology.
艾格尼丝·卡利巴塔，绿色革命联盟领导人在非洲，“构成非洲大陆大部分粮食生产者的小农户”急需灌溉技术。
 
"Millions of people don't have enough safe, clean water to meet their daily needs, let alone face the climate crisis," said Tim Wainwright of WaterAid in the United Kingdom. He added, "Governments, along with the private sector, should use COP27 to agree on investments in responsible groundwater use," along with clear rules for how to use it.
“数以百万计的人没有足够的安全、干净的水来满足他们的日常需求，更不用说面对气候危机了，”英国 WaterAid 的蒂姆·温赖特 (Tim Wainwright) 说。他补充说，“政府和私营部门应该利用 COP27 就负责任地下水使用方面的投资达成一致”，以及如何使用地下水的明确规则。
 
COP27 is the UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt.
COP27 是联合国气候变化大会发生在埃及沙姆沙伊赫。
 
The people in Samburu, however, cannot wait much longer. Many herders are almost at the point of losing everything.
然而，桑布鲁的人们等不及了。许多牧民几乎到了血本无归的地步。
 
 
"I have lost 30 cows in ... two weeks and if it continues like this we will lose many more. Our women and children are also severely affected," said 30-year-old herder Lemerwas Limayo. "Drought ravages all living things."
30 岁的牧民 Lemerwas Limayo 说：“两周内我失去了 30 头牛，如果这种情况继续下去，我们将失去更多。我们的妇女和儿童也受到严重影响。” “旱灾摧残万物”。