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As of 2018, over 40% of the 783 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are living without access to a source of safe water from their area (International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 8, Issue 4, April 2018). The lack of access to clean water in rural and urban areas primarily affects the community causing sickness, dehydration, and malnutrition. Overcrowded areas compound the problem, causing disease to spread. However, the negative effects of unclean water don’t stop there. Unclean water also affects a community’s ability to produce crops, recover from disaster. Eventually, the indirectly protect themselves from outside political interests, not to mention literacy rates. There are several challenges to clean water access, including limited financial resources, local government bureaucracy, and education. Unfortunately, analysts projected that from 2005 to 2015, 47 million more individuals in Africa were impacted by a clean water shortage. The scarcity of clean and piped water in rural and urban areas in Africa has many devastating effects, particularly on women and children. Though the water crisis in Africa is worsening, there is hope that investing in clean water interventions can have a significant impact on improving health, literacy rates and poverty rates.
Thousands are dying in Sub-Saharan Africa due to the lack of access clean water, and many people do not realize how dire the current situation is. Everyone needs water to live, and unfortunately, many Sub-Saharan Africans cannot buy clean water or walk to a clean water source. According to the World Health Organization, “only 59% of the world's population had access to adequate sanitation systems, while only 16% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa had access to drinking water through a household connection”(The Water Project). The other 84% of Sub-Saharan Africans have to walk to get water and in most instances, this water source is not sanitized. In some rural areas in Africa, up to 66% of water sources near villages is unfiltered, and the other 34% comes from wells dug into the ground. (access-to-water.png). North Africa, by comparison, has an astonishing amount of water coverage, with only 40% of the 783 million of Sub-Saharan Africa population live without access to an improved source of safe water from their area (International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 8, Issue 4, April 2018). African lives are being lost due to the dire situation of the lack of clean and sanitized water.
Limited access to clean water is only the beginning of the problem; the lack of clean water is also a large health and safety concern in Sub-Saharan Africa. Not only does the unclean water lead to dehydration, but it will also lead to crops not growing, which in turn causes malnourishment in communities. Many Africans living in overcrowded urban areas makes it even more difficult to control sanitation issues. Disease outbreaks are then associated with exposure to raw sewage. Disease such as cholera is spread rampantly during the wet season (pg. 53, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 8, Issue 4, April 2018) and young children often suffer from diarrheal illnesses that could be avoided by clean water and good hygiene. “Underdeveloped areas are confronted with different challenges to procure clean water and sanitation. The necessary control of the overcrowding in urban cities requires to ensure the quality in additional water supply source”(International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 8, Issue 4, April 2018). Though this may be the best and most effective way to get water for some Sub-Saharan Africans, they may get very bad diseases from it.
There are several challenges that are preventing individuals and communities from accessing clean water. First, water sources are improperly maintained to due to limited financial resources. According to the United Nations report, Africa lacks the “economic and institutional capacities to effectively develop and manage their water resources sustainably” due to several factors, primarily rapid and unplanned growth in urban areas. Although many African countries have made commitments to the WASH initiatives (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) there is “ insufficient domestic financing for WASH overall with particularly serious shortfalls for sanitation.” Widespread poverty in many African countries constrains the ability to make significant progress toward clean water goals.
Secondly, the city and rural governments often mishandle water services. Many Africans believe that their government does not prioritize providing clean water. According to The Conversation's article, “Africa is Failing to Close the Gap on Providing Water and Sanitation”, the authors stated that, on average, 55% of citizens rated their government’s performance in handling water and sanitation services as fairly bad or very bad. These negative appraisals were the majority view in all regions except North Africa, but even there, 46% rated their government’s handling of water and sanitation services as bad (The Conversation). Over half of the 1 billion people who live in Sub-Saharan Africa believe that their governments are not providing the support that they need to survive (World Population Review).
There is also à lack of education about water quality testing. Water quality testing is not performed as often as is necessary, and lack of education among the people utilizing the water source leads them to believe that as long as they are getting water from a well, it is safe. Once a source of water has been provided, the quantity of water is often given more attention than the quality of water (Rural and Urban Water Issues in Africa). Although hygiene education and interventions are being produced by governmental and non-governmental organizations, more is needed.
The implications of unclean water are many. Poor families often pay à large percentage of their money in order to get clean water. Underprivileged urban populations pay exorbitant amounts of money for water (Rural and Urban Water Issues in Africa). A lack of clean water in Sub-Saharan Africa can drive some towns into an economic crisis. Many individual work hours are lost due to health and dehydration issues. Lifewater, a non-profit charity, stated that “over 40 billion productive hours are lost each year to fetching water in Sub-Saharan Africa. About half of the developing world’s hospital beds are occupied by people with water-related illness.” Put another way, every year over 4 million years of work are lost due to water-related issues.
The lack of clean water’s impact on the labor force and health of the community is also an important reason why poverty rates are not improving in Sub Saharan Africa. According to analysts, 70% of water sources are normally used for irrigation and agriculture, so the scarcity of water leads to low crop production which in the long run leads to hunger and thirst”(earthshipsummit.com). Access to clean water is key to breaking the cycle of poverty. In addition, when there is no safe water and sanitation, people are more vulnerable to powerful or wealthy individuals and groups that threaten their security and resources.
Access to clean water dramatically affects the education of Sub-Saharan African girls and women. Women and girls in particular are usually expected to retrieve water for their families. When they don’t have to walk miles to fetch water each day, they have more time to learn. Schools that have proper toilet facilities mean that girls spend more time in school and less time at home, so literacy rates rise. Safe access water also allows women more time to earn their own income. (https://www.nestle.co.za/stories/safe-water-healthy-communities)
The United Nations has set à Sustainable Development Goal #6 (SDG6) for the year 2030 to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” Through the work of the United Nations and many non-profit organizations like the ones previously mentioned, there is hope that the goal of access to clean water for all can be met.
The positive effects of sanitation and access to water in à community are contagious. “When the community members are equipped and empowered to help themselves get access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene often lead to more productive collaboration in other areas, like education, ecological stewardship, and small business.” (Lifewater.org).
Work Cited:
“A Charity Providing Access to Clean Water in Africa.” The Water Project, thewaterproject.org/.
CHEBETT, DISMAS KIPKURUI. FACTORS INFLUENCING SUSTAINABILITY OF PIPED WATER PROJECT IN NAKURU COUNTY: A CASE OF NAKURU TOWN WEST SUB-COUNTY, KENYA. 2017, erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/101890/Chebett%2CDismas%20K_Factors%20Influencing%20Sustainability%20of%20Piped%20Water%20Project%20in%20Nakuru%20County-%20a%20Case%20of%20Nakuru%20Town%20West%20Sub-county%2C%20Kenya.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
Lewis, Lori. “Rural and Urban Water Issues in Africa.” Rural and Urban Water Issues in Africa.
Fotso, J., Ezeh, A.C., Madise, N.J., & Ciera, J. (2007). Progress towards the child mortality millennium development goal in urban sub-Saharan Africa: they dynamics of population growth, immunization, and access to clean water. BMC Public Health, 7, 218.
Metwally, A.M., Ibrahim, N.A., Saad, A., & Abu El-Ela, M.H. (2006). Improving the roles of rural women in health and environmental issues. International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 16(2), 133-144.
World Health Organization. (2006). Meeting the MDG drinking water and sanitation target: the urban and rural challenge of the decade. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/jmpfinal.pdf
Unicef. “MEETING THE MDG DRINKING TARGET WATER AND SANITATION THE URBAN AND RURAL CHALLENGE OF THE DECADE.”
Walker, Corah, et al. “Africa Is Failing to Close the Gap on Providing Water and Sanitation.” The Conversation, The Conversation, 17 May 2018, theconversation.com/africa-is-failing-to-close-the-gap-on-providing-water-and-sanitation-58820.
“Water and Poverty: How Access to Safe Water Reduces Poverty.” Lifewater, 28 Apr. 2017, lifewater.org/blog/water-poverty/.
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