According to a report published in 2023 by the United Nations University (UNU) Institute for Water, Environment and Health, 13 of the 54 countries in Africa are still suffering from serious water insecurity, despite the efforts and investments made in recent years to improve access to water, particularly drinking water. In this article, Afrik 21 looks at this worsening situation, and crosses opinions to suggest ways out of this water crisis.
The Comoros (19%), Somalia (25%), Libya (30%), Eritrea (35%), Djibouti (52%), Ethiopia (52%), Sierra Leone (53%), Chad (53%), Madagascar (54.4%), South Sudan (55%), Niger (56%), Sudan (60%) and Liberia (76%). These are the 13 worst performers in terms of access to water in Africa out of 54 countries, according to a report published in 2023 by the Institute for Water, Environment and Health of the United Nations University (UN). The reasons for this water poverty range from demographic and economic growth to conflicts and the effects of climate change.
In the Comoros, for example, this situation led to an uprising in November 2023 by the people of Moroni, who also raised the issue of the dilapidated state of the water distribution networks in the Comorian capital.“In the East African country, the problem is not one of water sources, but of distribution.There aren’t a thousand solutions: we need to increase storage capacity and build reservoirs above households to be able to cover the unserved areas”, stated the Société nationale d’exploitation et de distribution des eaux (SONEDE) in November 2023. The capital Moroni is far from being the only city in the Comoros facing a water crisis.
A situation fuelling the cholera crisis in Somalia
The same applies to neighbouring Somalia, where at least 54 people died between January and March 2024 from cholera, according to the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that 62% of the deaths were among children under the age of 5.
In the East African country, 28% of families have no functional sanitary facilities, while 34% practise open defecation and 80% have no water facilities for washing their hands. Hence the urgent need for drinking water and sanitation facilities to prevent the cholera epidemic from spreading further. For the time being, however, the country remains dependent on strategic boreholes, the only sources of water available to rural communities during the long dry seasons. Nearly 90% of Somalis face severe water shortages.
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And in the East African sub-region as a whole, this acute diarrhoeal infection has caused more than 200,000 cases, including more than 3,000 deaths in 2023 alone, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Loss of agricultural productivity
Madagascar’s agricultural sector is also threatened by water shortages, exacerbated by droughts, mainly in the south of the island. The direct consequences are a loss of agricultural productivity.
In January 2023, the number of highly food-insecure people in the East African country topped the 2 million mark, particularly in the southern and south-eastern regions of Madagascar, where this sector is also the mainstay of the economy. Indeed, the south of Madagascar has the driest climate on the island, with rain so scarce that some areas can be described as deserts. And yet, in the rest of the country, the dry season extends from April to October (or from May to September in the north), except on the east coast, where it rains all year round.
In Chad too, where 78% of the population lives directly or indirectly from agriculture, the lack of water is threatening the farming sector. In this Central African country, this situation is at the root of food insecurity for 5.7 million people, 2.1 million of whom are in a very critical situation, according to a UN report published in October 2023.
Major challenges ahead
In addition to conflicts, the proliferation of water-borne diseases and famine, water shortages can also lead to forced migrations, the loss of biodiversity, etc.
According to Loïc Fauchon, President of the World Water Council, change rests on three pillars: knowledge, finance and governance. Knowledge will make it possible to innovate in the introduction of alternative solutions to improve the supply of drinking water and irrigation (desalination, reuse of treated wastewater), and to digitalise water installations to avoid wastage.
More funding will also have to be allocated to the water sector. Only then will it be possible to build new facilities. The third pillar is governance, which must guarantee equitable sharing and total transparency.
“The days of water centralism are over. Water governance must be effectively shared between the State, which guarantees the resource and monitors its proper use. Then there is the role of the catchment areas, which organise the sharing of resources and between uses, guaranteeing quality through public policies. And finally, there is the role of local authorities and citizens, who are responsible for treatment and distribution, as well as pricing according to social situations and uses”, explained Loïc Fauchon in a recent interview with Afrik 21.
The Comoros, for example, which is aiming to increase its rate of access to drinking water from the current 19% to 67% by 2027, should try this approach, which will also be presented at the 10th World Water Forum in Bali, Indonesia. In Libya, the government also wants to secure this essential service, where the shortage of drinking water is estimated at 580,000 m3 per day. The North African country needs 2 million m3 of water a day to meet the demands of its population.
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The other solution might be to step up awareness-raising and education, which are also essential to solving the water crisis on the African continent. Indeed, to tackle water shortages, all forms of consumption need to be radically reformed, from individual use to the supply chains of major companies.
Inès Magoum
