Highlights the water resources management issues in Africa

1. D. Bashir
National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna, Nigeria
Presentation at the 3rd Annual International Conference of the
African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI III) on
“Water and Health” at Hotels Ngor Diarama, Dakar, Senegal on
November 12 - 14, 2007

2. Outline of Presentation
 The African Continent
 Characteristics of Water Resources in Africa
 Water Resources Utilization
 Water Resources Management Issues
 Conclusions
 Recommendations

3. The African Continent
a) Area = 30,065,000 km2
b) Population = 877,500,000 (2006 est.)
c) Fastest growing region on earth -
population is forecast to reach 2
billion by 2050
d) Faces severe water and food
shortages
e) Serious health problems (HIV/AIDS
pandemic)
f) Indebted countries with trade
imbalances: Average economic
growth of 3%
g) More than 3000 unique ethnic groups
– Many Conflicts
h) Low life expectancy < 50 yrs
Sahara Desert
Kalahari Desert
Namibia Desert

4. The African Continent
Water shortages may not be due to
lack or inadequacy of water
resources but lack of capacity and
capability to exploit and manage
the resources
Mean Annual Rainfall
Regions of Africa

5. Characteristics of Water Resources in Africa
‐ Mean annual rainfall = 670mm
‐ Wide temporal and spatial variability
‐ Highest rainfall in island countries (1,700 mm)
‐ Central Africa and Gulf of Guinea (1,400 mm)
‐ Lowest in North Africa (70 mm)
‐ 17 big rivers (catchment area > 105 km2)
‐ 160 large lakes (> 27 km2)
‐ Most of them in Central Africa and East Africa
(within the Rift Valley)
‐ Appreciable groundwater – important source
of drinking water (for 75% of population)
(Total Africa =
Distribution of IRWR (km3)
5,570.2 km3)
Source: WRI, 2007
Internal Renewable Water
Resources (km3)
Source: WRI, 2007

6. Characteristics of Water Resources in Africa
• Multitude of shared water courses
• Most countries share at least one water course with neighbors
• up to 14 shared watercourses in Guinea alone
• About 80 watershed basins in Africa
• 20 major river/lake basins
• Covering 60% (18,000,000 km2)
of land mass)
• About 395 m people (45 % of
population) live within the
catchments of the basins
Major Basins
Shared Watersheds

7. Water Resources Utilization
• Very low exploitation of available
water resources
• Only 3.84% of available water
withdrawn
• Physical resource base inadequate to
meet demand (North & Southern Africa)
• Abundant water but inadequate capacity
to withdraw (Central and parts of East &
West Africa)
• Both resource & capacity inadequate
(Sahelian countries)
% Water Withdrawals
% Regional Water Withdrawals
% Regional Utilization of Water Resources

8. Water Resources Utilization
• 67% of water withdrawn is used
for agriculture – 143.15 km3/yr
• Quantity very small for a large
continent with high ET
• May account for very small land
under irrigation (≈ 13.4 million ha);
just 6.2% of agric. Land and 0.44%
of land mass
• North African countries have largest
agricultural land under irrigation
• Egypt has 99.9% with Mauritius a
distant 2nd with about 20%
• Countries with insignificant (0%) land
under irrigation include Botswana, CAR,
Congo, Congo D.R., Mauritania & Namibia
Land under irrigated agriculture (103ha)
% of total agricultural land under irrigation
Agriculture

9. Water Resources Utilization
Community Water Supply
Ave. national access = 71%
Ave. access in urban areas = 86%
Ave. access in rural areas = 60%
Countries with highest access:
Mauritius (100%, 100%, 100%)
Egypt (98%, 99%, 97%)
Botswana (95%, 100%, 90%)
Countries with lowest access:
Ethiopia (22%, 81%, 11%)
Somalia (29%, 32%, 27%)
Cote d’Ivoire (42%, 41%, 43%)
Regional Access to Potable Water Supply (%)
Access to Potable Water Supply (%)

10. Water Resources Utilization
Hydropower
• Enormous potential
• Total tech. potential = 1,750 TWh
• 90% in 10 countries
• Congo D.R. accounts for about 50%
• Currently developed = 5%
• Tech. & econ. feasible now = 58%
• Eco. Viable in future = 37%
• Current installed cap. = 21 GW
• >50% in 5 countries (Congo D.R.,
Egypt, Mozambique, Nigeria and
ZambiaSource: Africa-EU Energy Cooperation of the German EU
Presidency (2007)
African hydropower potential in top 10 countries (TWh)
Electricity Generation from various sources (%)
Source: http://www.dams.org/kbase/thematic/tr31.htm

11. Water Resources Management Issues
 Water is scarce in Africa for socio-economic activities
and environmental sustainability
 Can be attributed to low technical and economic
capabilities, ineffective institutions and unstable
socio-political systems prevalent in the continent
 Water resources management issues would include:
 Growing water scarcity;
 Multiplicity of transboundary water basins;
 Inadequate institutional and financing arrangements;
 Inadequate data and human capacity;
 Insufficient access to water for human health, food and
energy security; and
 Threats to environmental stability.

12. Water Resources Management Issues
 Scarcity is meant lack of or difficulty to
access water
 Economic scarcity – water scarcity caused by
lack of investment in water and/or of human
capacity to access (Sub-Saharan countries)
 Physical scarcity – water scarcity when there
is not enough water to meet all demands
(Countries in arid regions)
Growing Water Scarcity

13. Water Resources Management Issues
 Other water stressed countries include:
 Burundi, Rwanda, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia,
Libya, Tunisia, Lesotho, Malawi, Burkina Faso, and Cape Verde.
Growing Water Scarcity
International Standard for Water Scarcity
(1,700 m3/per capita/yr)
 Water stressed countries
(below 1,700 m3/per
capita/year) include:
 Zimbabwe, South Africa,
Morocco, Kenya, Egypt,
and Algeria.

14. Water Resources Management Issues
 Many countries have dependency on external
contributions to their renewable water resources
 Highly dependant countries include:
 Egypt (97%), Mauritania (97%), Niger (90%), Botswana (80%),
Sudan (77%) and Congo (73%)
 Majority of the water basins are not jointly managed
 Major RBOs established include: Nile, Zambezi, Congo,
Niger, Senegal, Lake Victoria and Lake Chad
 Some bi-lateral agreements
 These organizations face multiple problems
 No country is yet a party to the 1997 UN Convention on
Non-navigational Uses of International Water courses
Multiplicity of Transboundary Water Basins

15. Water Resources Management Issues
 Most African countries unable to set up functional institutional
arrangements as well as provide adequate investment for the
water sector
 Increasing awareness of, and political commitment to, IWRM
 Continental and regional organizations coming up with and/or
supporting a number of water related initiatives, programs and
projects
 On-going water policy reforms in most countries with emphasis
on decentralization, stakeholder participation and (PPP)
 Increasing support and investment from Donors, multi-lateral
organizations and international development banks
 Need to emphasize on streamlining and development of synergies
between national, regional and continental initiatives and
programs, including donor coordination
Inadequate Institutional and Financing Arrangements

16. Water Resources Management Issues
 Paucity of accurate and reliable data
 Need for strong, effective and sustained advocacy for
proper investment in data collection and management
 Limited skills for IWRM in Africa
 Efforts of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) on
sensitization and awareness of IWRM principles
 Developing IWRM skills through the activities of its
regional and national partnerships as well as the
regional capacity building networks
 Organizations and initiatives at national, regional and
continental levels should join and support these
partnerships and networks
Inadequate Data and Human Capacity

17. Water Resources Management Issues
 increasing investment in water supply and sanitation is
imperative to break the vicious circle between poverty and
inadequate access to water supply and sanitation (a necessity for
attaining most of the MDGs)
 Most African countries have less than 5% of their cultivated lands
under irrigation
 In Sub-Saharan Africa , number of food-insecure people rose from
125m in 1980 to 200m in 2000 with average daily per capita food
supply at just 2,200 kcal (< world average of 2,800 kcal)
 To achieve the MDGs target on food security, it is necessary to
increase irrigated areas more than 5 folds
 > 90% of the people of Africa are without access to electricity.
Botswana has the highest per capita consumption with 950 kWh
per capita . This is far below the global weighted average of 2750
kWh per capita
Insufficient Access to Water for Various Purposes

18. Water Resources Management Issues
 Negative consequences of improperly developed and managed
water resources infrastructures include:
 loss of unique habitats and their biodiversity,
 reduced flood retention capacity,
 pollution of water sources, and
 changes in microclimate regulation
 Groundwater levels are declining rapidly in a number of places
 Large scale irrigation schemes are causing salinization of the soil
and creating water logged conditions, thereby reducing the
productive potentials of the soils
 capacities of the water management institutions have not been
sufficiently developed
 Application of IWRM principles will address and minimize the
problems
Threats to Environmental Stability

19. Conclusions
 Major challenges of water resources development and
management in Africa arise from inadequate catchment
management resulting in:
 Inadequate access,
 devastating erosion,
 perennial flooding,
 recurring drought, and
 increasing desertification;
 The challenges are caused mostly by:
 competing water uses,
 low capacity and inadequate investment,
 degrading watersheds and water courses,
 fragmented and uncoordinated water resources development,
 poor data, and
 lack of cooperation on co-riparian use of international waters.

20. Conclusions
 Sustainable water resources management demands:
 a well coordinated and decentralized management
structure,
 Involvement of all relevant stakeholders,
 institutional arrangement set up with the objective of
achieving efficiency and effectiveness through
decentralization of management functions and provision
of mechanisms for enhancing coordination, partnerships
and accountability

21. Recommendations
 To develop the framework for streamlining and development
of synergies between national, regional and continental
initiatives towards effective and sustainable exploitation of
the available water resources in Africa, the following are
recommended:
1. Slow down population growth, increase investment in the
water resources sector and reduce inefficiency and wastage
in water use through effective O&M and improved
technologies;
2. Earmark at least 25% of all donor support to capacity
building and data collection and management from now to
2015 and advocate for counterpart contribution of at least
10% of water resources sector budgets;
3. Promote partnerships and cooperation among and between
countries sharing water basins and strongly advocate for
ratification of the 1997 UN Convention on Non-navigational
Uses of International Watercourses by all countries in Africa;

22. Recommendations
4. All countries should finalize their IWRM plans and Water Safety
Plans by the end of 2008;
5. Develop synergies between national, regional and continental
initiatives, programs and projects;
6. Develop and implement appropriate framework for donor
coordination in all countries;
7. Promote public-private partnerships in the development and
management of water resources including the local manufacture
and distribution of water resources equipment and materials;
8. Support and involve NGOs in all aspects of water resources
development and management including advocacy, awareness
creation, capacity building and mobilization;
9. Develop rational and implementable energy strategies that
integrate various options with emphasis on hydropower and
energy efficiency