What Next?

Sadly, today will be last post and will therefore aim to conclude the eye-opening topic of water and sanitation quality.

Many people are already aware that water distribution is uneven globally. However, many people do not know, that it is also uneven on a smaller scale, within regions. Particularly in megacities, extreme ends of the spectrum of water supply tend to mean that when an average is taken, inequality is unaccounted for.

Constative, an Internet based news and information website, claim that the following are the top ten most developed African cities:

1. Cape Town, South Africa
2. Abuja, Nigeria
3. Johannesburg, South Africa
4. Gaborone, Botswana
5. Nairobi, Kenya
6. Lagos, Nigeria
7. Addis Abba, Ethiopia
8. Tunis, Tunisia
9. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
10. Abidjan, Ivory Coast

From my research, I know that parts of these cities, particularly, Abuja, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lagos and Dar es Salaam, are also home to some of the most undeveloped, neglected wards of Africa.

The Population Reference Bureau (2013) predicts that by 2050, World population will be at 9.7 billion. The PRB also predicts that Africa’s population will be 2.4 billion; if this situation manifests itself, almost 25% of the entire world will be living on one continent – 30.65million km² (Shahin, 2003).

The African population has grown at an average rate of 2.55% per annum for the past 5 years. With this insurmountably increasing population, more megacities are bound to begin to pop up. Whilst naturally, a higher population leads to greater wealth and thus can lead to greater investment, it also creates an increasing emergence of unplanned settlements. These slums are often the construction of the poor, who have little money to invest in even the most basic of services such as water and sanitation.

Industrialisation is a product of the development of cities. However, due to lack of regulation, industrial chemicals and waste tend to contaminate the water supply through dumping. Variables such as climate change, are also affecting the natural physical freshwater supply globally. All of this, compounded with an exponentially increasing population to distribute water amongst, means less water for everybody. Unfortunately, it will be the poor, in the slums, who are affected most, as their economic position also inhibits their ability to access clean, safe, potable drinking water. Perhaps virtual water trading is the true solution; who knows? We’ll just have to wait and see how we manage this population-attributed problem! I hope this blog has been as intriguing for you as it has for me. Thank you for joining me on this wonderful journey.

Amber