Urban Africa's Sanitation Crisis

More often than not, the poor quality of water in Africa can be attributed to either sanitation or waste management (including that of companies).

Last post I explored an article written by Kate Showers on the quality and quantity of water supply in Urban Africa. Today I would like to focus more on the quality of water. The table below from Showers (2002) shows the domestic waste management in some Urban African areas.

As you can see, most of the urban areas shown have few sewage treatment plants. Latrines are mostly used for household sanitation with the expectation that the surrounding soil will purify it. Some few households use septic systems and even fewer use water-borne sanitation. According to Showers, in 2002, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe were the only African countries to have treatment for industrial waste such as, acids, chemicals and heavy metals. Most sewage, treated/untreated end up in streams or oceans. This gives rise to the pollution of groundwater, streams and coastal regions.

The main source of contamination of key groundwater sources includes latrines, soils, climates, and industrial and mining waste leading to increased levels of nitrates and leachates. Due to this, streams can become so polluted that they cannot be used as potable water sources; this is the case in Addis Abba. Industrial waste in the Peleng River near Lobatse contributed to the Nairobi River being described as an open sewer. Furthermore, contamination of the lower River Nile, has led to a decline in freshwater availability in Cairo (Myllala, 1995) and Alexandria, thus contributing to the water crisis in such locations. These are just a few examples of the extent of water contamination in Urban Africa that can be attributed to sanitation and waste treatment. More examples can be seen in the figure below (Showers, 2002), which also appeared in my last post:

More often than not, people do not have a full understanding of the extent to which sanitation and waste treatment affects the water supply. Water must be clean to be considered as part of the potable water supply! Sanitation is integral to the water supply and it is for this reason that we study the water and sanitation crisis in tandem. Next post we will begin to hone further in on the focus of my blog: Megacities!!!