Africa is facing a severe water crisis due to various environmental factors such as pollution, increasing desertification, and water scarcity. Major sources of pollution include waste from households, cities, and industries which contaminates rivers and oceans. Most countries lack adequate water supplies to meet growing demand from both industry and population. If issues of pollution, sustainable water resource management, and improved access to clean water are not addressed, the water crisis across Africa will continue to worsen in the coming decades.

1. Latif Laari –Geography 102
Fall Semester VVC

2.  Africa , like numerous regions of the world is suffering through severe
environmental crisis.
 Water pollution is one major pollution problem in Africa
 Pollution usually occurs when waste from homes, cities and industry is
discarded illegally in tributaries , rivers & oceans.
 Trash disposal is particularly acute in Africa, trash usually contains harmful
chemicals , plastics and disease.

3.  Most countries in Africa cannot supply enough water to
their people
 The main reasons for this crisis are :
 Africa’s geography , huge regions of Africa are arid or semi
arid deserts
 Most countries are having an increasing challenge in
controlling pollution to rivers and drinking water.
 Every year , deserts claim more land.so desertification is a
becoming even more of a problem.
 The limited supply of water and the heavy demand from
both industry and people are making the problem even
more acute.

4.  Water scarcity was experienced in 10 African countries
in 1995: Algeria, Burundi, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Egypt,
Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Rwanda and Tunisia.
 Projections indicate that the situation will worsen by
2025, 14 countries will suffer water scarcity and a
further 11 countries will suffer water stress.
 In a few years, at the current rate of water demand,
almost all sub-Saharan African countries will be below
the level at which water supply is enough for all. Even
worse, most of them will be in a state of water-stress or
scarcity..

5.  Today Africa has big rivers but clean water is hard to come
by
 The Nile River is a typical example , it is the world longest
but the overpopulation and poor regulations is polluting it
everyday.
 Egyptians live along the Nile and are concerned about its
pollution and about drinking water contamination.
 The Nile is the life blood of most eastern countries located
in Africa

6.  Farmers in Egypt rely heavily on Chemical Fertilizers
 Run off from farms contribute to the Nile’s pollution
 Fertilizers also contribute to Total dissolved solids and contaminate
the land and make it less suitable from growing crops.

7.  The Niger River provides some relief to the people
living in the Sahel.
 The Niger is also a vital transportation route and an
economic lifeline
 When the Niger reaches the sea in the country of
Nigeria, it broadens into what is known as the “Oil
Delta.”
 This area is rich in petroleum.
 The silt from the river makes good soil for planting
crops, also.
 However, petroleum production has polluted this
once rich farmland.

8.  The Congo River provides water to villages and
towns, water for irrigation, and a fishing industry.
 It serves as a major transportation route for those
who need to go from the interior of Africa to the
Atlantic Ocean.
 Much of the timber from the rainforests is
transported down the river, and people travel the
river in search of work.

9.  Today the Congo River is becoming a trash dump .
 Nearly all of Kinshasa’s rivers have become health
hazards responsible for the occurrence of infectious
diseases
 Only 23% of people in DRC have access to safe
drinking water and at this rate of pollution that
percentage may go down. Communities and
government must unite to save their rivers.

10.  We need Clean water is needed for basic health and sanitation.
 People who are not able to have access to clean water are at risk for many
diseases.
 Africans are at higher risk for many water borne diseases
 The most vulnerable especially kids and the elderly are dying at an
alarming rate because of water borne diseases.

11. Waterborne diseases are caused by infections through fecal polluted water.
Their pathogens can - along with heavy precipitation, floods and climatic
changes – have a significant influence on the quality of drinking water.
Waterborne diseases are:
 Amebic dysentery
 Cholera
 Hepatitis A
 Typhoid

12.  Some countries in Africa have tried to improve their economies by
building huge industrial factories.
 Industrial factory wastes are not regulated and are dumped in rivers
and streams.
 Due to corruption , government officials ignore environmental problems
caused by industry.
 Waste from industry harms both workers and the people living
downstream of the factories

13.  As Africans population increases and nations try to
develop economically, deforestation becomes a growing
concern.
 Deforestation is the process of rainforests being
destroyed to make way for human development.
 As more of the Congo is cleared, trees and vegetation
are destroyed.
 Animals retreat further into the shrinking forest.
 Some species even become extinct (no longer exists)
 In addition, native peoples who have lived in and
depended on the rainforest for centuries find their way
of life disrupted forever.

14.  Desertification is happening in East Africa as well.
 In Ethiopia, people who have lived for generations by farming and
raising grazing animals like sheep and goats are finding they have
less and less land available to them.
 They have also been hit with long periods of drought or periods of
little rain.
 As cities grow, they expand into areas that were once used for
farming.
 This means those who farm have to reuse the same land.
 Animals overgrazed their fields and ate more grass than could be
grown before the next season.
 As the soil has worn out, the desert has crept in.

15.  Africa has plentiful water resources but these are unevenly distributed across the
continent; rainfall can also vary substantially from one year to the next. Pollution
industrial or otherwise needs to be seriously tackled through a fight against
corruption .
 A strong focus on developing and improving technologies to conserve and reuse
water for agriculture is required; including optimizing water use, treatment of
contaminated water, recycling water, desalinating water and harvesting water for
irrigation.
 Increase investment in public infrastructure like wastewater plants and water
treatment plants

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