Movers & Shakers
MEMBER NEWS
‘PEOPLE AS FAR AS THEY EYE CAN SEE’ — AN APEGA MEMBER KEEPS HELPING THE WORLD’S REFUGEES FIND WATER
Paul Bauman, P.Eng., P.Geoph. , is no stranger to the harsh reality of refugee camps. He’s volunteered his technical skills in places like the Kakuma Refugee Camp, using geophysics to help find water wellsites for 200,000 people living in Kenya’s Turkana desert. His work there and elsewhere earned him the 2016 APEGA Summit Award for Community Service and a cover story, Seeking Water in a Harsh Land , in the fall 2016 issue of The PEG . But even that experience didn’t quite prepare him for his latest humanitarian trip, this time to refugee camps in Bangladesh. In recent months, the popula- tion of Rohingya refugees living in the country has exploded — from 300,000 to nearly one million — as people flee ethnic violence in Myanmar. “You may have heard (about) it or read it, but the repeated phrasing is true, people as far as the eye can see, in all directions,” Mr. Bauman writes in a Facebook post. Before the crisis escalated in August, he was already contracted by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to do a water exploration pro- gram in the region. The project scope was expanded and fast-tracked when thousands more refugees began arriving. Mr. Bauman and four colleagues spent about three weeks in the camps, starting in early Novem- ber. Joining him were fellow Calgarian’s Alastair McClymont, P.Geo., PhD, Colin Miazga, G.I.T., Eric Johnson, P.Geo. , and Vancouver’s Chris Slater, P.Geo. They had two goals: to identify aquifers in Southern Teknaf Peninsula to supplement surface water supplies; and to explore for deeper aquifers in Kutupalong, an expansion camp that has over 6,000 shallow wells, most contaminated with E. coli and other bacteria. Working each day in stifling heat — laying heavy seismic cables across rice fields, through crowded streets, and next to families living in makeshift homes — was mentally and physically exhausting.
Even more challenging was seeing people — children especially — living in appalling conditions, and hear- ing their stories about the violence they fled. “I can somewhat comfortably absorb the deplor- able and insane conditions we are now seeing daily,” Mr. Bauman wrote, early in the trip. “The fact that the lack of clean and sufficient volumes of water has a technical solution, and we are here trying to do something about it, makes it easy to dive back into the chaos each day.” The team’s efforts paid off. They were able to locate aquifers using electrical resistivity tomography to gather and analyze subsurface images. Drilling and well testing by UN agencies will determine just how high the water yield is at each site. “Working together in a team under such harsh conditions, as I did with my four geophysicist col- leagues, is a profound team-building and profes- sionally and personally satisfying experience,” Mr. Bauman says. “At the end of each day, we would all have enormous awe for how (the refugees) could persevere under such harsh conditions, after the trauma that they had already endured.” It’s possible that future missions to the region will be required. “The camps are ever-expanding, and there are deeper aquifers, for which there is significant interest to explore,” says Mr. Bauman. For others who are interested in working in Bangladesh, he suggests visiting the website reliefweb.int for current opportunities. And for those who can’t travel, Mr. Bauman notes that there are other ways to make an impact, like donating to a charity that fit your values and interests. “There are non-governmental organizations and UN agencies working in every sector imaginable: water, sanitation, child protection, gender-based violence, microloans, education, health, maternal health, vocational training,” he says. “Above all: do something! You will feel better.”
24 | PEG WINTER 2017
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