Cairo: Part 3

According to the OECD (2010), Egypt has now achieved 100% coverage of clean drinking water. Whilst this may be true, drinking water is most accessible to those in affluent areas. Those in the slums (ashwa’iyyat) however, tend to have to travel further. Women and girls in particular are burdened with the traditional duty to fetch and carry water from clean water sources. This has led to chronic back and spinal problems (Gharzeddine, 2007). For practicality purposes, the females of the households may sometimes choose to fetch water from closer sources, which may be unreliable. The OECD (2010) however, does acknowledge that wastewater services only have a 55% coverage throughout Egypt. Organisations such as the National Organisation for Potable Water and Sewage Drainage, plans, designs and constructs municipal water purification plants. Operations and maintenance services are delegated to public/private companies, authorities and governorates. Public and private partnerships have been formed to develop the water and sanitation systems of Cairo and projects, such as the New Cairo Wastewater Treatment Plant, have been effective.

Ahmed and Ashour (2009) however, claim that the Cairo Water Authority has 13 water treatment plants throughout the city. Although a majority of the population receive potable water through individual linkages to their home, many apartments and other housing complexes do not actually have individual connection to each residence, due to lack of indoor plumbing. Poorer areas often have access to communal taps, however long queues tend to accumulate. In extremely poor areas, which in fact do not have feasible, practical access to even communal taps, the residents tend to be coerced into buying unsafe water at high prices. It is also stipulated that daily water usage exceeds the capacity of the sewage system, giving rise to ‘standing pools of raw sewage in the streets and in the water table’. The deterioration of water and sanitation quality in Cairo is partially attributed to increasing strain from population growth. As well as the emergence of slums, a more formal proactive approach, has been to create additional areas such as ‘New Cairo’ to support the surplus population.  

Ultimately, more is being done to treat the water and sanitation crisis in Cairo. However, due to a lack of infrastructure, the poorest are not reaping the benefits from improvements to the water and sanitation system. Additionally, the wastewater and sewage system are not as developed as the water distribution system. Compounded with leaky pipes, these variables lead to an increasingly more polluted Nile, and in turn, pollutes Cairo’s water supply. However, Cairo and Lagos are not the only cities in Africa that face these various problems of inequality in water and sanitation distribution. Next post will aim to provide additional evidence that unequal distribution of water and sanitation is rife throughout Africa, and is further exacerbated by exponentially increasing populations.

Cairo: Part 2

Cairo, much like the rest of Egypt, relies on the 1,600km of the Nile that flows through the country, for their water supply. Showers (2002) posits that Cairo is plagued with declining freshwater supply due to continuous discharge of agricultural discharges and untreated human sewage. This problem is further exacerbated as megacities industrialise and industrial chemical dumping becomes a regular affair. Showers also asserts that 60% of domestic waste remains untreated and is disposed of in the Nile River or is left in the streets of slums. Laws against dumping are of little effectiveness due to corruption. This is particularly the case in Cairo, where a lot of garbage ends up in slums like Manshiyat Naser, and the Zabbaleen (garbage people) inhabitants are partial to taking bribes (Elliot 2011).

The Nile however, is also affected from pollution further upstream in countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Eritrea and the Democratic Republic of Congo, some of which face extreme political and business corruption. Myllylä (1995) extrapolates that approximately 1,500 villages discharge their waste into the Nile further upstream. It was also estimated that 35 factories discharged 125 million m³ of industrial untreated wastewater in 1995… Imagine the figure after 20 years of industrialisation! 

Consequently, the Nile is facing increased pollution, which has given rise to water-borne diseases such as typhoid, parasitic diseases and bacterial diarrhoea. Whilst affluent areas of Cairo can afford clean, filtered water, that is not still subject to untreated sewage, slum and settlements cannot. This leads to death as a result of these diseases and financial inability for healthcare or water and sewage treatment systems. Other diseases include schistomiasis (from a parasite), which can lead to cancer and death.

Furthermore Alpeyrie (2013) also adds that in some cases, potable water from slums are actually diverted to wealthier areas of Cairo, who will pay more for it and are perhaps deemed more worthy as they contribute more to the economy, through higher human capital and employment in the formal sector.

However, there have been efforts to improve the water and sanitation system in Cairo. USAID (2015) invested $727 million from 1984-2006 to improve wastewater collection, treatment and disposal on Cairo’s West Bank. Leaking sewers and methods of irrigation on the water table created high saline levels and groundwater contamination. This led to structural instability of buildings and historic monuments. USAID lowered the groundwater tables and implemented upgraded sewerage systems.

Cairo: Part 1

Cairo or al-Qāhirah is Africa’s largest city in terms of landmass. It is in the North-East of Egypt and is home to over 10 million people. Population is approximate as the next census is due to be carried out this year. However, the last census of 2006 stated that the population was 7,771,617 and using the annual population growth rates of Egypt, Cairo is estimated to have a population of 9.3 million (UNdata, 2014). However, population growth rates of Cairo are likely to be higher than Egypt, leading the World Population Review (2015) to estimate population at approximately 12 million.

As (Singaby, 2011) notes, like most megacities, Cairo has two faces. Singaby also draws on a study by the UN, revealing that 25-53% of Cairo’s inhabitants live in slums. As the city’s population began expanding exponentially in the 1960s, slums began to develop for those that could not afford housing in the affluent wards of the city. Singaby also exemplifies the inequality of Cairo in figure 1 below:

Examples of affluent areas include complexes such as ‘Nile City’, which receive a lot of investment. Sabry (2009) stipulates that the Cairo governorate hosts 81 slums, also referred to the ashwa'iyyat. Although Greater Cairo covers four other districts in Egypt as well, the ashwa'iyyat of Greater Cairo were thought to hold a population of 8.3 million people in 2000. The slums of Cairo, which are home to millions of people, include Ramlet Boulaq, Ezbet El Haggana and Manshiyat Naser (McGrath 2013; Elshamy 2012). Manshiyat Naser has in fact become known as Cairo’s ‘Garbage City’ and has no sewage system and water is riddled with pollution (Alpeyrie, 2013). Families in this particular slum, mostly work in the informal sector and black market of garbage collectors. The economy is not thriving and many can still not afford adequate water and sanitation systems. David Sims asserts that there are four types of slums within Cairo:

• Type A: Informal settlements on former agricultural land

• Type B: Informal settlements on former desert state land

• Type C: Deteriorated historic core

• Type D: Deteriorated urban pockets

The map below shows the distribution of each type (exc. Type D) within Cairo, exemplifying just how poverty-stricken areas of Cairo are:

The map excludes Type D settlements, as they cannot be delineated due to their very small size. Although these are arguably the most affected victims of the economic water crisis, the aim of the map here, is to simply show the unequal distribution of wealth and resources within Cairo.

Next post will address the inequalities of the water and sanitation supply within Cairo.

Lagos: Part 3

A lot of water is lost from direct groundwater and lagoon sources through leaking and illegal use (particularly in slums) in Lagos today. Coupled with the rapidly increasing population, and the low quality of water due to contamination from a lack of a sewage treatment system, the water supply is simply inadequate. UNICEF (1995) estimated that only 85% of households have access to safe water. Whilst this figure has significantly increased, water is a basic provision and 15% of the population in Lagos do not have access to it. Aina et al. (1994) estimated that 11% of the population had to walk over a kilometre to get water.

Harday et al. (2001) estimate that only 216,000 m³ of water is treated. Demand however, requires much more than this. The rich often have access to potable, treated drinking water; it is the poor that suffer. Slum residents and the urban poor of Lagos tend to have to buy water at prices with approximately a 400%-1000% mark-up on piped water supplies. Furthermore, slum settlements tend to emerge in areas which are the most prone to flooding. Combined with inadequate sewage treatment systems, sewage tends to flood the streets in slums, increasing the likelihood of disease and death to residents.

Kuvaja (2001) estimated that the infrastructural capacity of Lagos could fulfil needs of a maximum of 300,000 people. The population has however been approximated to be 70 times this.

In 1995, the UN estimated only a small percentage of wastewater was treated.  The only implemented sewage system is in the first commercial metropolitan area of Lagos: Victoria Island. Victoria Island even homes a Porsche showroom (McTernan, 2012)! Those that live in this area are obviously wealthy with assets such as land, cars and houses, thus once again illustrating the ignored needs of the poor. Sewage in less affluent areas of Lagos, tend to be disposed of by the drainage of rainwater through open ditches.

As the population continues to develop, so does the economy and its industries. Contamination of water sources originate from breweries, food industries, chemical industries, solid wastes from houses, sawmills and domestic sewage. Lagos also has major frequent floods, which sometimes carry sewage and industrial waste to groundwater sources. Piped water is also sometimes contaminated due to lack of effective treatment. Aina et al. (1994) asserts that Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Streptococcus and Bacillus are normal contaminants of piped water. These impurities lead to diarrhoea, guinea worm, cholera and typhoid. Malaria is also a huge issue in Lagos (Gandy, 2014)

More recently, the water sector has attempted to be privatised and certain schemes have been proposed and rejected. Fox (2013) posits that Lagos suffers from acute water infrastructure deficiencies. Municipal attempts to extend services have frequently been met by intimidation and outright sabotage by the informal providers who profit from the lack of water infrastructure in underserved areas (Gandy, 2006).

Parts of Lagos, such as Oshodi, have an improving water and sanitation situation due to development and projects to monitor variables such as refuse. However, new projects are giving rise to the demolition of homes, pushing people into slums and less affluent areas, which do not benefit from the projects. There are still entire sections of the city, which have been left behind, such as Ajegunle and Apapa. Whilst areas such as Oshodi and Victoria Island, continue to develop and leave behind the water and sanitation crisis with new projects, slum areas are increasing in Lagos and the water and sanitation is beginning to deteriorate once again (Ogunlesi, 2013). 

Unfortunately there is not much recent literature (within the past 5 years) at my disposal to tell you the current situation in Lagos and where it looks like it’s heading. However, from what is available, it is evident that inequalities are widening as metropolitan commercial areas continue to develop and give rise to the creation of more slums, which have deteriorating water and sanitation conditions.

Next stop… Cairo!!!

Aina T., Florence E., Cyril O. ( 1994 ). The Search For Sustainable Urban Development in Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria. In: Third World Planning Review 

Harday J., Mitlin D., Satterthwaite P.( 2001 ). Environmental Problems in the Home, Workplace and Neighbourhood. In: Environmental Problems in An Urbanizing World. Earthscan, London. p.37-113.

Kuvaja K.(2001). Low-income Housing in Lagos. In: Järvelä M., Korpela M., Kuvaja K. ( 2001 ): African Flows, Environment, Health and Information Activities for Communities in Africa. University Printing House, Jyväskylä.

UNICEF ( 1995 ). Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. Unicef, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

United Nations ( UN ) ( 1995 ). The Challenge of Urbanization: The world’s large cities, United Nations Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis Population Division, New York.