Entrepreneur in the field of exploration.

Alain Gachet subsequently received specialized training in radar exploration^[4] and acquisition techniques in the United States. In 1999, he founded a mining exploration company, Radar Technologies International Exploration, aka RTI Exploration, which, at that time, focused on exploration and discovery of gold and ore deposits.^[11]

He then embarked on gold exploration in the rainforest of the Republic of Congo,^[12] then in Mali.^[7] He prospected for gold-bearing zones by panning the river bottoms for months with the Central African Pygmies in the equatorial forest, and thereby acquired a solid knowledge of the sub soils of the Congo.^[4] He combined this knowledge with his recently acquired skills in new radar technology which allowed Gachet to penetrate the clouds and deep canopy of the jungle and to locate the gold's source.^[9]

Alain Gachet was later commissioned by Shell, as a consultant, to prospect for an oil project in Sirte, Libya.^[6]

Genesis of using satellite radar to prospect for water

In June 2002, while studying satellite radar images taken from the Libyan desert for Shell Oil Exploration, Gachet identified unexpected features in the radar echoes of southern Sirte. This proved to be the signs of a gigantic leak which measured billions of cubic meters, originating from the Great man-made River,a huge artificial underground pipeline of four thousand kilometers and four meters in diameter built by Colonel Gaddafi. As the bearer of bad news, the engineer quickly fled Libya but said he realized "he was onto something new and important".^[4][3]

Gachet says “The experience gave me the idea that I could use radar frequencies to find underground water that could be used to help people”.^[3] Over the next two years, he used geophysical, geological and satellite data in conjunction with various other disciplines—physics, chemistry, geophysics, seismology, and a complex algorithm he developed, to render 3D maps of water occurrence probability in specific areas indicating where and at what depth groundwater could likely to be located. The technique makes it possible to "remove the outer layers like an onion, and to thereby focus ground searches on interesting areas".^{[10][3][1][11]}

Testing and development

During the Darfur Crisis in 2004, more than 250,000 Sudanese refugees were forced to relocate to the desert landscape of eastern Chad. Providing water to the refugees was the most important priority for their survival. Every day without enough water meant the loss of 200 children's lives in the camps. UNOSAT contacted Alain Gachet to solve water supply issues. RTI was commissioned by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the implementation of its method of radar detection and for the drilling of some 350 wells in eastern Chad and northern Sudan on the sites of camps sheltering 250,000 refugees from the War in Darfur where Water access had been identified as one of the major source of the conflict.^[13] Alain Gachet and the drilling team traveled across the deserted region, comparing the satellite images and visual cues present in the field.^[14][15] RTI developed maps using WATEX technology to identify target areas to drill for deep groundwater. In 2004, with the help of UNHCR, around 250,000 refugees in the Ouaddaï Region in Chad were provided water from this project and, in 2005 and 2006, with contributions from USGS and the U.S. Department of State, this project contributed to the survival of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons camps in Darfur in Sudan.^[16] The success of the operation attracted the attention of Bill Woods, White House cartographer at the time, who called upon Alain Gachet in June 2005.^[6] The system of the French scientist has been appraised as "genius" by Dr. Saud Amer, head of the United States Geological Survey, and former United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo Willam Ramsay has stated that Alain Gachet "has provided a tool for humanity to address one of the most serious problems of the 21st century".^[14] United States Agency for International Development USAID entrusted RTI with a second mission in the Darfur region of Sudan. On the specific indications of Alain Gachet, 1,700 wells were drilled.^[7] Prior to RTI's involvement, the NGO's responsible for locating water sources had a success rate of around 33 percent. Using RTI, the rate of success was 98 percent.^[17]

Additional projects and assignments

RTI participated in the archaeological research of the Hebrew Mission in Jerusalem, on the supposed tomb of King Herod the Great.^[4]

In 2013, upon the request of the UN, Gachet and his team located an underground lake measuring 200 000 000 m3 in the desert county of Turkana in Kenya: the Lotikipi Basin aquifer is one of the largest aquifers known to date on the African continent.^[18] The Lotikipi Basin Aquifer contains 200 billion cubic meters of fresh water and covers an area of 4,164 km². The aquifer is nine times the size of any other aquifer in Kenya and has the potential to supply the population with enough fresh water to last 70 years or indefinitely if properly managed.^[19][20] The acquifer is about the size of Rhode Island and replenishes at a rate of 1.2 billion cubic meters a year. Gachet's company, RTI established a new basis for the mapping of Kenya.^[18] Some wells remain open, but one planned for 160,000 nomads in the region was dismantled because the Kenyan government could no longer fund it.^[7]

In 2015, the Iraqi government appealed to Alain Gachet to find new water reserves in an attempt to relieve Iraq from the threat of water shortages, generated upstream, in the dams along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. With the support of the European Union and UNESCO, Gachet delineated a map showing more than 67 aquifers, including 64 located in northern Iraq, on a territory of more than 1.68 million hectares.^[14]

Alain Gachet continues to focus on the implementation and development of the WATEX method to improve upon the exploration of water at depths of more than 80 meters below the earths surface. Deep ground aquifers have been discovered using WATEX technology in Afghanistan, South-western Angola, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Eastern Chad, Darfur Sudan, Iraq, Gabon, Togo, and the sultanate of Oman.^{[4][11][14][9][16]}

Since 2018, Alain Gachet and his company RTI exploration has been working together with MINAE (Ministry of Environment, Energy, and Telecommunications of Costa Rica) and the U.S. Geological Service to evaluate aquifers that will provide Costa Rica with clearer information related to its underground water sources. The project “Mapping of the Ground Water Hydric Resource in Costa Rica” uses WATEX high technology which provides images of Costa Rica's subterraneous water sources bypassing interference from surface obstacles like infrastructure and vegetation. This will allow Costa Rica to develop a better strategy for using its underground water sources to address the issues of drought and climate change.^[21]

Awards and honors

In January 2015, upon the recommendation of Ségolène Royal, the French Minister of Ecology at that time, Alain Gachet is awarded by Yves Coppens, the rank of Chevaliers of the French Legion of Honor.^[7][11] In the US, he was elected in the “Space Technology Hall of Fame” by NASA and the Space Foundation in 2016 for using modern space technologies for the progress of humanity.^[2][17]

In 2017, endorsed by the organizations that had previously accompanied him but also by George Washington University, the University of Turin and the Canadian Space Agency, Gachet calls for an increase in the drilling of aquifers and the establishment of regulation on rapid agricultural development and relates his message through television, lectures and in writing. He has written a memoir of his experiences, published in 2015 by JC Lattes JC Lattès of his experiences: Le sourcier qui fait jaillir l’eau du désert.^[5][22]

Only aquifers that are renewable can reasonably be exploited because fossil water must be preserved for future generations, according to Alain Gachet. However, they represent together, by far, the largest freshwater deposit on the planet. There is more fresh water hidden underground than visible on the lakes, rivers and glaciers. Up to thirty times more according to NASA estimations.

Alain Gachet stated in article published in The Independent that "over a billion people have no easy access to drinking water and that 1.8 million children die each year from diseases linked to drinking bad water". He added that "in another half century, there will be 5.5 billion - two thirds of the population - living in a state of severe water-shortage."^[11] In an article published in the French magazine Ouest France, Gachet points out that there is enough deep groundwater in Africa to transfigure the entire face of the continent - enough water to stop many wars, rebuild agriculture and restore dignity and hope to millions of men (translated from statement in French).^[7] He directly links the European migration crisis of the 21st century to the desertification of the Sahel and the agricultural underdevelopment it entails; according to him, conflicts in the Middle East are also linked.^[11]