The water and sanitation crisis in urban Africa seems to be
exacerbated within its megacities. What is a megacity, you ask? Well, according
to the United
Nations, a megacity can be defined as a metropolitan area with a population
in excess of 10 million people. However, the definition of a megacity does vary
depending on the source used; some may include minimum population densities
(e.g. 2000 people/km2) (Makinde,
2012). For the purpose of this blog, we’ll use the UN definition of 10
million people +.
The two major megacities of Africa are:
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Cairo, Egypt
Other recognised rapidly growing megacities in Africa include:
- Accra, Ghana
- Brazzaville/Kinshasa, Congo/DRC
- Dakar, Senegal
- Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- Johannesburg/Pretoria, South Africa
- Khartoum, Sudan
- Luanda, Angola
- Maputo, Mozambique
- Mombasa, Kenya
- Nairobi, Kenya
To my dismay, I have found that tracking down an accurate current population figure for these cities are no small feat! Depending on the source, population data may be exaggerated or subdued. As there are so many people, living in such a range of conditions, even the accuracy of census data is questionable. Fertility and death rates are also so high and variable, that it is almost impossible to keep track of! However, should you not succeed, try, try and try again. According to the World Population Review (WPR), in 2014, Cairo’s population was approximately 12 million. Lagos’ population was estimated to be at an astonishing 21 million in 2014 (WPR, 2015). For now, I want to focus on the water and sanitation crisis in these two cities, as they are Africa’s biggest megacities.
Resources such as potable water and sanitation and waste
systems are by no means of any abundance in urban Africa. Whilst megacities
tend to be the wealthiest in terms of GNP, they also have an incredible demand
to satisfy; as population rises, so does demand, leading to a strain on
resources such as water and sanitation. Thus, in many areas of megacities,
there are slums, which shelter the excess people that the city cannot. There
are also very affluent areas of megacities, which provide excellent water and
sanitation services. Over the next posts, I aim to look at the exact causes of
the water and sanitation crisis in Lagos and Cairo, and the most impacted
areas, hopefully to reveal the incredible inequality within these urban African
megacities.
I Have always associated megacities with the developed world where we advanced infrastructure and state of art modern architecture. This has given a new meaning to the term.
ReplyDeleteThough if water crises is linked to the size of population, how have the new world countries like, US, Australia UK and others overcome this?
Developed countries don't tend to suffer from the same problems as we have neo-colonial links and powers to other countries we import water from. The US and UK have access to water largely through their political power and relations with other countries. Developing countries do not have this same advantage unfortunately!
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