Water, the Liquid Gold of Africa

We all know that water is vital to a healthy life; but most of us take it for granted. In the small mountainous kingdom nation of Lesotho though, people know the real value of water. The Basotho people of Lesotho use the greeting “Khoto pula nala” (peace, rain, prosperity), which is also the national motto.

In some African countries, less than 30% of the population has access to clean water sources. Often, access to clean water is precarious and there are 9 countries on the continent where the situation is exceptionally serious. Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Mali, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda all have populations who live on less than 10 liters of water per day--1/5th the amount needed per person, per day. According to the United Nations, each person needs 50 liters of water (13.6 gallons) each day for drinking, hygiene and food preparation.

Food security too is affected by water access. 70 percent of water is used for farming and 2000 to 5000 liters of water are needed daily to produce enough food for one person for one day. Currently, 200 million Africans are chronically malnourished, many due to drought.

In Africa, only 20 percent of the arable land currently uses irrigation techniques. Therefore, the other 80 percent depends completely on sufficient rainfall in order for crops to grow and flourish.

Due to the lack of technology transfer, African farmers most often do not have access to the technology needed to reduce water consumption in the fields, thus making more water available to people for other uses.

Another major issue concerning health is waterborne illness. Malaria, cholera and other diseases are considered waterborne illnesses because they are spread due to the use of contaminated water in many cases. When there is only one water source in a region, people are forced to use the river for their potable water needs or simply have no water at all.

In some cases the same water source (often river water) is used for bathing, cooking and drinking. This source is shared by many regions and peoples. Therefore if there is an outbreak of an illness in one region, it is simply carried to all of those using the water downstream. Cholera cases on the rise in Zimbabwe currently due to flooding, drought and the passing of Cyclone Japhet in early March 2003. Floods contaminate otherwise clean water by carrying debris from unclean sources.

Even when people have access to relatively clean water, there is much time lost in gathering water. Where it is necessary to ration water consumption for survival, it could not only lead to, but exacerbate mild cases of dehydration. Additionally water may be reused leading to contamination.

Naturally where water is not abundant, there is competition for water resources and mismanagement of water resources sometimes leads to conflict. Yet, the toughest competition moves around resources for farming. Therefore if water resources in a region or nation are not distributed fairly, it is easy to see the possibility to conflict.

In many regions of Africa, the problem of access to clean water is a directly caused by environmental abuse. Multinational companies come in to take oil and often cause horrible environmental disasters which they refuse to address because they see their business in the country in much the same way that colonialists viewed their living in Africa… as something they have a right to.

Further complicating the problem is the fact that some African governments are so happy to have large companies invest in their country that they do nothing to force the oil companies to clean up out of fear that they will instead invest elsewhere.

In Nigeria though, peoples living along the Niger River for centuries are now finding that their water is filled with petroleum spills and terribly dangerous pollution which Shell Oil Company refuses to clean. In many areas, small roads are completely impassable due to oil spills and water sources are completely polluted. Not to mention the illnesses caused by direct exposure to such an environment. In some regions of Nigeria, special names are being created for the combination of rashes and respiratory problems children and adults are getting due to pollution.

But, people there have had enough! So they are now taking to the streets and doing what their government will not do for them… fighting the big oil companies. Women have had sit ins, protests, and anything else they can think of in order to protest the treatment that they and their families are receiving in this whole ordeal. In some cases they have been successful of taking over treatment plants completely by going in very large groups and refusing to move until talks between them and the oil companies have taken place.

Thanks to international media attention, people are finally beginning to listen to the plight of African women who not only have no access to clean water for their families; but who know that the only reason they don’t is because large oil companies intentionally pollute their villages, rivers and forests with no regard to what affect that might have on local populations.

In Zimbabwe for example, in order to dam the Zambezi River, the government displaced an ethnic group who had been living along the river for hundreds of years. It wasn’t enough to have displaced them and flooded what had been their home and source of livelihood for generations. The government also split the group in two by building the dam. Even today, half of them live in the Binga region of Zimbabwe, and the other half in Zambia.

Water related issues such as: poverty, health, food security, financing, and shared water basins make dealing with the issue of access to clean, potable water a complicated one. But no matter how difficult it may be, the world must focus on long-term solutions.