WATER DEVELOPMENT
Is water resource management crucial for Africa?
Published: 10-FEB-05
By Amina Accram
According to the United Nations
Development Programme
(UNDP), the main wars in
Africa over the next 25 years
could be fought over water, as countries
jostle for access to this scarce resource.
Potential “water wars” are likely in
areas where rivers and lakes are shared
by more than one country (trans-border
water sources). These possible fl ashpoints
include the Nile, Niger, Volta and Zambezi
basins. Experts have further warned of
possible water scarcity on the continent
by the year 2025. This could be crucial,
given that a number of African countries
relay heavily on water for food and trading
purposes.
Phera Romoeli, SADC Coordinator of
Water Policy and Programmes, says it is
evident that although the water situation
in Africa in general is receiving attention,
there is still a big challenge of affording
access to the resources to the vast majority
of the African population.
“We need to see an Africa where
there
is an equable and sustainable use and
management of water resources for poverty
alleviation, socio-economical development
and Regional Corporation,” he said.
More than two million people die each
year due to poorly managed and treated
water – mostly in Africa.
The 7th Annual Pan African Water Conference
2004 in Johannesburg addressed some of
these enormous challenges of allocating,
using and protecting Africa’s limited water
resources.
Featuring more than 11 country case
studies, the water conference examined the
critical issues and gave examples on how
the quality and scarcity of water on the
continent can be resolved. The conference
united water sector decision-makers in
one place with the hope of promoting a
continent-wide shift towards integrated
Water Resource Management.
WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH THE RIVERS?
As the longest river in the world, the
Nile is a trans-boundary water resource
shared by 10
African countries with a
combined population of about 300 million,
which is expected to reach 600 million
by 2025.
Suffocated by environmental
degradation, poverty, overpopulation
and pollution due to its transboundary
nature, the conservation
and management of the Nile is in need
of urgent attention.
“The trans-boundary nature of
the Nile compounds the challenge
of realising immediate redress of the
current challenges and trends. An
appropriate framework needs to be
formulated for this river. Corporative
water resource management can serve as
a catalyst for greater regional integration,
both economical and political with
potential benefi ts far exceeding those
derived from the river itself,” says
Patrick Kahangire, Executive Director
of the Nile Basin, Uganda.
Kahangire stresses the need for a
strategic action plan for the Nile River.
Although there has been development,
comprising of complementary programs
at basin-wide and subsidiary
levels,
more needs to be done.
“The Nile Basin countries have
decided to cooperate on the management
and development of the Nile River for
the benefit of all. Currently the first
set of projects under both the Shared
Vision and Subsidiary Action Programs
are moving to implementation stage
and detailed studies for downstream
investment. Progress has also been
made on the development of the longterm
legal and institutional framework
to ensure continuity of the collaborative
efforts,” explains Kahangire.
In West Africa, the Niger Basin
has been experiencing a series
of hydrological, climatical and
environmental changes over the past few
decades, resulting in persistent drought
that has caused the Sahara desert’s
movement southwards towards the
Atlantic Ocean. The river has also been
having a low flow in reservoir storage
capacity, with acute water shortages
coinciding with an increase in water
demand. The Niger basin has also been
experiencing many
political and socio-economical
problems, which has the
upshot of negative regional and cross
boarder cooperation.
“This has resulted in increased
incidences of water-borne diseases,
famine, poverty and a high rate of
migration to the urban areas,” says
Ibraheem Olomoda from the Niger
Basin Authority (NBA).
The Nile Basin Authority, which
was established in 1963, has since
strengthened its strategies among
member countries and has currently
established various committees and pilot
projects to help in the preservation of
the River Niger Basin.
In April 2004, a conference with
the NBA heads of state and partners
in Paris addressed action plans for the
improvement of the Niger basin. Using
the shared vision for the sustainable
development of the Nile basin, the NBA
member countries confi rmed their
political willingness to work together
to develop of the resources of the basin.
A declaration was signed to facilitate
the implementation of
water resources
and ecosystems of the basin.
This year the NBA will evaluate
the level of development of the basin,
create a sustainable development action
plan for the river and search for the
mobalisation of financial resources for
the implementation of an investment
program.
“Preservation of the Niger basin will
require an active participation of the
NBA member countries while adopting
and respecting the principles of the
new shared vision and the consensual
legislation of the United Nations on
international watercourses,” advises
Olomoda.
In Ghana, the Ghana Water and
Sewerage Corporation has achieved
clean water coverage of 76% in urban
areas and 40% in the rural sector. A
study into the state of the water supply
in Ghana last year attributed the
problems in the sector due to lack of
good management.
“Appointments to key positions were
not necessarily by merit and despite
demonstrable engineering skills, there
was a lack of
entrepreneurship in the
management of the water sector. High
levels of non-revenue water exceeding
50%, poor billing and collection made
the Ghanaian water corporation lack
clear institutional arrangements,”
explains Emanuel Nkrumah, project
director at the Ghanaian Water Sector
Restructuring project in his recent
presentation paper.
PROGRESS IN NORTH AFRICA
Water is a valuable commodity
in many Maghreb countries due to
increasing demand, hostile environmental
factors and overpopulation.
Libya, one of the driest regions in
North Africa, has already implemented
plans to solve its water problems. It has
developed additional sources of water,
including the Great Man-Made River
Project, desalination plants and water
treatment.
Despite having more than 50 flowing
rivers in the region, water supply is
dwindling in most North African Arab
countries and there is an ever-widening
gap between available reserves and
increasing
consumption, notes Adam
Kuwairi, director of research studies at
the Great Man-Made River Project.
The project is expected to provide
huge water potential which will help the
benefi ciaries to solve a food crisis caused
by droughts and expected population
growth. Kuwairi notes that the project
will improve the quality of life in Africa
and discourage African emigration to
western industrialised countries.
Phase one of the project includes
conveying 2m cubic metres of water
per day from well fields in Sarir and
Tazerbo to end reservoirs at Sirt and
Benghazi. The system is designed to
carry a flow of 3.68m cubic meters per
day in the future, with the additional
water being drawn from a well field
at Kufra. A feasibility study has been
done for the possibility of linking the
Nile with the Great Man-Made River
Network.
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