Senegal, host of the 9th edition of the Water Forum, hosted by the African continent for the first time, is experiencing the same difficulties as the majority of countries in the region whose water security is threatened.. “The level of current withdrawals is expected to increase by 30% to 60% by 2035, reinforcing water stress and testing the ability to meet the demand of a rapidly urbanizing population”, highlighted a World Bank study published in mid-March.
Satisfy basic needs
Of the 1.3 billion inhabitants of the continent in 2020, indicates theReport of the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP), 411 million of them still did not have a basic drinking water service. Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria are the African countries with the most inhabitants in this case. Thus, in sub-Saharan Africa, only 54% of the inhabitants use drinking water. As regards basic sanitation services (toilets and equivalent), 779 million Africans do not have access to them (208 million of them relieve themselves in the open air) and 839 million do not have basic sanitation services.
Reduce urban-rural inequalities
In addition, many disparities persist between rural and urban areas. In the latter, two out of five people do not have access to safe water, two out of three do not have safely managed sanitation facilities and half the population does not have adequate sanitation services. basis, according to the United Nations. The Covid-19, of which hand washing is one of the measures to keep the disease at bay, has highlighted the fragility of Africans in the field of water. A World Bank analysis points out that “nearly 63% of urban dwellers in sub-Saharan Africa have difficulty accessing” to basic services, including hand washing. As for rural areas, three out of four people do not have safely managed drinking water, three out of four do not have safely managed sanitation services and seven out of ten do not have basic sanitation services.
Accelerating the pace for universal access
African countries have made significant progress in providing clean water and sanitation services to their people. Nevertheless, for achieve the sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) which consists of “ensure access for all to sustainably managed water supply and sanitation services by 2030”, they will have to redouble their efforts. To know how to multiply “by twelve” the current rates of progress with regard to access to water, “by twenty” those of safely managed sanitation and “by forty-two” progress rates for basic sanitation services.
Betting on groundwater
Make efforts and find new sources of supply other than surface water. “I’Africa has significant groundwater resources”, indicates the last edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report published on the occasion of World Water Day celebrated on March 22. The text emphasizes that although these reservations “are not all usable”their volume would be “a hundred times greater than the annual renewal of freshwater resources in the region”. As a result, “the exploitation of groundwater is a solution with great potential to meet the growing water needs of sub-Saharan Africa”.
A study by the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the NGO WaterAid comes to similar conclusions. According to it, “each country in sub-Saharan Africa could provide 130 liters of drinking water per day per person by drawing from groundwater, using no more than 25% of the long-term average recharge, and in most cases less than 10% “. Knowing that according to the WHO, “about 50 liters” of water per person per day is enough to meet the most basic water needs.
Financing water development
The exploitation of groundwater requires the mobilization of additional resources for States whose purse is thin, particularly in the private sector. Senegalese President Macky Sall, who holds the presidency of the African Union, underlines in a forum that the continent “will have to invest up to 20 billion dollars (18 billion euros) every year“, in the field of water“the countries (not allocating) today only 0.5% of their GDP to the sector”. “Governments alone will not be able to afford these expenses, particularly at a time when many are struggling to pay for essential services, in the context of mounting debt, he adds. While multilateral development banks have pledged to increase their financing to the sector by 25% to 35%, private investment will have a key role to play in bridging the gap, within the framework of strong public-private partnerships, which are essential strengthening private sector participation”.