Water Issues in Africa

in Conservation by Araneta&Tan — October 15, 2009 at 2:43 pm | 0 comments

According to major water charities, one in every six people on earth don’t have access to clean water. Making sure everyone in the world has access to clean water is surely one of the most important things that can be done in this day and age, and luckily there are some big water charities doing just that.

Africa Water Problems

The Water Project

The Water Project is one of the largest charities working exclusively to provide clean, safe drinking water to people across the developing world. According to the charity, about 80% of illnesses in the developing world are linked to water and sanitation, and one in every four deaths in children under the age of five are due to a water-based disease.

As well as raising money for projects across the developing world, it also runs a campaign to get people to stop drinking bottled water. It says that this is a luxury and not a necessity, and it encourages drinking from the tap at all times.

The charity runs a number of projects to help those most in need, including:

Weirs (Sand Dams) – these are built to store the tropical rains that fall in Sub-Saharan Africa. They create reservoirs without affecting downstream areas, and the water can then be used for agriculture and drinking. As the water seeps into the ground, it also helps to replenish supplies which are good for crops.

Rain Catchment – these very simple tanks can hold more than 100,000 litres of rainwater. The problem in Africa is that when it rains most of the water is lost. Storing the water is essential to reusing it over longer periods of time.

Sand Filters – these can be built using local materials, so as well as providing clean water they also provide local jobs. A simple sand filter removes up to 90% of bacteria and 100% of parasites in the water, making it a cheap and highly effective way of preventing disease.

Water in the News

You don’t have to look far to see how communities and populations are being devastated by issues relating to water. Take Kenya, for example. Kenya is particularly affected by a lack of water due to the lack of water resources, and the fact that the water basins don’t reach large proportions of the population. Water pathogens, parasitic worms and cholera are all serious issues for the population.

This year the rainy season has failed yet again, and the country is seeing the worst drought in ten years. People are losing their livestock because don’t have any water. Oxfam has recently warned that up to 23 million people could face famine across East Africa due to the drought that has been inflicted by climate change. There are also reports that elephants, crocodiles, lions and zebra are suffering and dying due to a lack of water.

To make matters worse in Kenya, social tensions are increasing due to lack of water in certain regions. In the Mau Forest, a large number of foreign settlers have arrived in recent years, and the destruction to the habitat is having a terrible impact on a large proportion of the country. There are fears that this could escalate into conflicts between groups, further exacerbating the problem.

Help

Donating to a water charity is one of the best things that you can do to help those affected by a lack of water and water-bourn diseases. The Water Project, Charity:Water and Water Aid are just a few of the charities that you can donate to, so visit their websites and find out more about how you can support them.