Water shortages have either created or exacerbated humanitarian crises in Africa, stalling economic development. Climate change, through worsening or causing droughts, has increased the pressure to secure reliable sources of water. As a result, new and sometimes large-scale water infrastructure projects are underway across the continent.

More than 300-million Africans, which is more than one out of five people living on the continent, do not have access to clean drinking water. Sub-Saharan Africa loses 5% of its combined regional GDP because of a lack of water, contaminated water, and poor water infrastructure, according to the International High-Level Panel on Water Investments for Africa (IHLPWIA). The body was launched in March 2022 during the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar to find a holistic and continent-wide solution to Africa’s perennial problem of water shortages. Run under the auspices of the African Union, the IHLPWIA found that African countries are losing over US$ 200-billion annually because of inadequate water infrastructure. The African Development Bank has also identified other economic consequences to the water insecurity situation. Every year, 40-billion hours of Africans’ time is used to collect water, with women and children being most burdened with the task – rural Ethiopians for example can spend as much as eight hours each day fetching water, and their Kenyan counterparts six.

If sustainable sources of water are not found, the economic and humanitarian consequences of water shortages will worsen year by year. By 2030, Africa’s population will stand at 1.6-billion people, whose survival will necessitate a boost in food production of at least 50%. Agriculture is a water-intensive industry, yet the IHLPWIA forecasts that water needed for energy production must be 10-times more than is currently available to meet African nations’ goals to industrialise and otherwise modernise their economics. Three out of four jobs are water dependent, and growing employment needs will increase water demands. Africa’s youth demographics will rise 42% by 2030, requiring yet more jobs.

According to a UN study of Africa’s water infrastructure, of the continent’s 54 countries, only 13 have achieved what the study considers a modest level of water security. The World Resources Institute forecasts that, by 2050, Africa’s water demand will be 163% higher than 2024’s levels, the highest rise of any continent. All these organisations agree to an important and hopeful point: Water security is attainable in Africa through the application of creative thinking, new technologies, political will and financial investment in water infrastructure.

Attaining necessary financing so the water might flow

Africa’s water infrastructures range from water purification plants to pipes that move water from riversides and lakesides to industrial, business, residential and other users, ending in ocean-side desalination plants. Projects to boost these systems will require African states to locate US$30-billion a year in financing. The IHLPWIA believes that, through local government financing alone, US$17.5-billion will be available for water infrastructure, calling for governments to allocate 5% of their national budgets for this purpose. Another US$11.5-billion is attainable by making existing water infrastructure more efficient by fixing old or leaking pipes, monitoring water use, and recycling wastewater. An additional US$4-billion can be procured by fining polluters, who would thus have a financial incentive to end water waste and pollution. Governments should also motivate the private sector with policies to invest more in water infrastructure. In 2024, private entities accounted for 87% of investment in Africa’s telecommunications sector and 45% in Africa’s energy sector, but only 9% of investment in the water sector.

A step toward procuring needed financing is through regional co-operation. Though marred by diplomatic rows the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project show that water infrastructure is a multinational and even sub-regional matter that needs to be tackled jointly. Within a year of the UN passing its 2023 Water Action Agenda, African Union member states teamed with foreign donors and civil society to implement the Agenda by agreeing upon the Africa Water Investment Action Plan. Already, governments and their development assistance partners are working to close Africa’s financing gap for water infrastructure development, estimated to be between US$45-billion to US$54-billion. An African Union study has indicated that every US$1 invested in climate-resilient water infrastructure will reap US$7 through improvements in food production, gender equality, education and health.

Water infrastructure improvements are taking off continent wide, propelled by governmental or multilateral partners. The Africa Water Infrastructure Development project, a platform to develop water infrastructure in Africa, was established by a partnership between Dubai’s private water infrastructure development firm Metito and the British International Investment initiative in 2023. The Africa Development Bank’s African Water Facility has given Burundi US$2.2-million to enact its Development of Water Resources project. More than a third of Burundians (37.6%) do not have access to potable water services (57.7% in rural areas, 90.7% in urban areas). The project will supply water to 270 000 rural households, 417 000 people in the urban areas and 84 000 people in peri-urban areas. It is estimated that half of the beneficiaries will be women, whose onerous task it has been to collect water from whatever sources are available in their communities, no matter how distant.

Further afield, in Zambia, the Minister of Water Development and Sanitation allocated the first US$1-billion towards the national water investment programme. Zambia’s government has boosted its budget allocation for water and sanitation by 27% since 2020. Meanwhile, in South Africa, 14 major national water infrastructure projects worth US$5.7-billion are in different stages of development. In 2023, the country’s parliament passed the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency Bill to locate funding for infrastructure projects. Several projects have been stalled for years and for various reasons. One example is the uMkhomazi Water Project that was delayed for nine years because its beneficiaries, the residents of eThekwini, would not afford the resultant higher water tariffs. The uMkhomazi and other stalled projects have been revived.

If financing of water infrastructure is the primary encumbrance to African water security, the perennial interest in developing water infrastructure by UN agencies like the UN’s International Children’s Emergency Fund and UN’s Development Programme has been matched by donor nations like Japan and the US.

The critical points:

• More than one in five Africans do not have access to clean drinking water, and in poor countries like Burundi, the figure rises to one in three
• Aside from humanitarian concerns about water shortages, economically, African countries lose US$200-billion annually because of inadequate water infrastructure
• New treaties and political will combine with international institutions dedicated to water infrastructure have risen to meet Africa’s enormous and growing water needs

Written by In On Africa