Experts meet over looming water crisis in Africa

Players in the water sector from Africa meet in Kampala this week for talks on how to meet the continent’s needs as the commodity comes under renewed pressure from climate change and rising demand.

The 15th African International Water Congress and Exhibition, which started on Monday, comes at a time when most countries are struggling to meet demand because of climate change effects, lack of resources to repair water infrastructure, and poor planning by government-backed providers.

The more than 80 water companies from across Africa have their work cut out as they seek solutions to poor weather and look for private sector solutions to the burgeoning crisis.

Topping the agenda will be the sharing of Lake Victoria’s waters, reversing the destruction of forests, and working out strategies that would attract private capital in the provision of the commodity to Africans, said William Tsimwa, the managing director of Uganda’s National Water and Sewerage Corporation.

“Lake Victoria is a big resource that can be used to cater for arid areas in most parts of the East African region. The Kampala meeting will be a forum where ideas on how this water can be bulk-transmitted to disadvantaged areas come up,” he said, adding that Egypt had been invited to present its case.

Tension has been rising between Egypt and Sudan, on the one hand, and other Nile basin countries including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, and Ethiopia on the other, over colonial agreements that favoured Egypt and Sudan in the exploitation of the Nile waters.

As part of the proposed Nile Water Basin Cooperative Framework, the countries are demanding an equitable water-sharing pact that would allow for bigger access to the resource.

But Egypt argues that the upstream countries have far greater rainfall than it has. Under a 1929 agreement between Britain and Egypt, the Nile basin countries are required to seek permission from Cairo before embarking on large-scale projects that could affect the level and flow of the river water, such as irrigation and power generation.

Potential conflict over the use of African rivers is heightened by the fact that more than 80 of Africa’s rivers and lake basins are shared by two or more countries and many states depend on water flowing from outside their national boundaries.

Some large-scale projects, including dams, may exacerbate the impact of flooding and drought threatening livelihoods and further reducing access to water.

This is fuelled by different policies and programmes applied on either side of the borders for the management of water resources.

Already, plans by Ethiopia to start a mega hydro-power plant along River Omo, which is the main tributary to Lake Turkana, has sparked controversy with environmentalists saying the project threatens the livelihoods of those depending on the lake.

Destruction of forests is also expected to get prominent mention since it has been identified to be behind the poor weather in a number of Africa countries, notably in East and Central Africa.

Fourteen countries in Africa are already experiencing water stress, another 11 are expected to join them by 2025 at which time nearly 50 per cent of the continent’s projected population of 1.45 billion will face water scarcity, according to the UN.

Nearly 51 per cent (300 million people) in sub-Saharan countries lack access to safe water, while 41 per cent lack adequate sanitation.