Experts meet over looming water crisis in Africa

16 March 2010, Business Daily Africa
URL: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Company%20Industry/Experts%20meet%20over%20looming%20water%20crisis%20in%20Africa%20/-/539550/880020/-/view/printVersion/-/x1eovuz/-/index.html

Nairobi:  Players in the water sector from Africa meet in Kampala this week for talks on how to meet the continent’s needs as the commodity comes under renewed pressure from climate change and rising demand.

The 15th African International Water Congress and Exhibition, which started on Monday, comes at a time when most countries are struggling to meet demand because of climate change effects, lack of resources to repair water infrastructure, and poor planning by government-backed providers.

The more than 80 water companies from across Africa have their work cut out as they seek solutions to poor weather and look for private sector solutions to the burgeoning crisis.

Topping the agenda will be the sharing of Lake Victoria's waters, reversing the destruction of forests, and working out strategies that would attract private capital in the provision of the commodity to Africans, said William Tsimwa, the managing director of Uganda's National Water and Sewerage Corporation.

"Lake Victoria is a big resource that can be used to cater for arid areas in most parts of the East African region. The Kampala meeting will be a forum where ideas on how this water can be bulk-transmitted to disadvantaged areas come up," he said, adding that Egypt had been invited to present its case.

Tension has been rising between Egypt and Sudan, on the one hand, and other Nile basin countries including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, and Ethiopia on the other, over colonial agreements that favoured Egypt and Sudan in the exploitation of the Nile waters.

As part of the proposed Nile Water Basin Cooperative Framework, the countries are demanding an equitable water-sharing pact that would allow for bigger access to the resource.

But Egypt argues that the upstream countries have far greater rainfall than it has. Under a 1929 agreement between Britain and Egypt, the Nile basin countries are required to seek permission from Cairo before embarking on large-scale projects that could affect the level and flow of the river water, such as irrigation and power generation.

Potential conflict over the use of African rivers is heightened by the fact that more than 80 of Africa’s rivers and lake basins are shared by two or more countries and many states depend on water flowing from outside their national boundaries.

Some large-scale projects, including dams, may exacerbate the impact of flooding and drought threatening livelihoods and further reducing access to water.  This is fuelled by different policies and programmes applied on either side of the borders for the management of water resources.

Already, plans by Ethiopia to start a mega hydro-power plant along River Omo, which is the main tributary to Lake Turkana, has sparked controversy with environmentalists saying the project threatens the livelihoods of those depending on the lake.

Destruction of forests is also expected to get prominent mention since it has been identified to be behind the poor weather in a number of Africa countries, notably in East and Central Africa.

Fourteen countries in Africa are already experiencing water stress, another 11 are expected to join them by 2025 at which time nearly 50 per cent of the continent’s projected population of 1.45 billion will face water scarcity, according to the UN.

Nearly 51 per cent (300 million people) in sub-Saharan countries lack access to safe water, while 41 per cent lack adequate sanitation.  During the last 10 years, provision of sanitation in rural Africa has decreased by two per cent, while the low levels of urban water supply and sanitation have hardly improved.  Arid and semi-arid areas are likely to be the most affected by increased water stress. Underlying many of these problems is the fact that water is a finite resources.

In Kenya, for instance, poor weather has led to perennial shortages across most towns. Nairobi has been experiencing acute water shortage for the last three years, resorting to rationing.

Participants at the conference will deliberate on the best financing model for the water sector as governments - who account for the bulk of investors in the industry - have failed to guarantee water security.  The question on whether to open up the sector to private investors, without making the commodity pricier, is set to dominate the agenda of the talks.

"At the end of the day water is still a basic right, so policy makers must ensure that it's made available at an affordable cost," said Uganda's Water Services Regulatory Board CEO Robert Gakubia.

A recent policy shift to privatise water and sanitation services has in some countries, such as Kenya, unearthed inefficiency and prohibitively high prices for the precious commodity.

The destruction of the Mau, an important watershed for Lake Victoria and River Nile, will in the near future have grave consequences for water availability across many countries.

The issue will inevitably feature at the meeting organised by the African Water Association (AfWA), a grouping of 70 water utility companies, and the Uganda government.

In the past decade, significant changes in the climate have led to the deterioration of fresh water resources, a decrease in lake water tables and the flow of rivers.

Organisers said the conference would be the first large-scale and politically committed effort to bring water operators into full partnership with the African Ministers of Water Council (AMCOW) secretariat.

AMCOW is the official arm of the African Union on water and sanitation related issues.