Tsunami's Salt May Render Many IO Islands Uninhabitable

[hatrack]

"Some Indian Ocean islands could have been made permanently uninhabitable by the salt water that flooded them during the devastating Asian tsunami of 26 December.

Water experts are now warning that, in the long run, the salt invasion may prove almost as destructive to the land as the tsunami itself. It could leave some communities dependent on outside aid for food and water for months or years to come.

There are widespread reports from across the stricken region that seawater has filled wells, invaded the porous rocks on which communities depend for water, and poisoned soils. Even as far away as Somalia in east Africa, hundreds of wells used by coastal villages are now poisoned with salt or have been buried by sand washed inland by the giant waves.

Dozens of coral atolls in the Maldive Islands south of India were completely overwhelmed by the waves, which poisoned all of their underground water reserves with salt. "On 17 or 18 islands there is literally no water at all. They are having to bring it in by ship," a World Health Organization official told the New York Times. Communities will have to wait for rains to flush out aquifers, the permeable rocks that hold groundwater. But the WHO says that for some, especially on small atolls, it could be a very long wait. The British Geological Survey says that, in the worst cases, the aquifers may be "unusable for many years".

EDIT

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6840