Africa Losing Safe Water Despite Aid Project

Access to safe drinking water is drying up in Africa even though almost $5 billion has been spent on improving water supply and sanitation services in the continent over the last 15 years.

One problem is that most of this money has been poured into urban regions rather than the rural areas where three-quarters of the population lives. But now, rapid population growth coupled with lack of maintenance means that even in towns the number of people with access to safe drinking water is shrinking.

The World Bank and African Development Bank have supplied over half the funds for water and sanitation projects, while West Germany has been the most important bilateral donor, providing about $750 million between 1970 and 1984.

But at a recent meeting in Abidjan, aid donors voiced concerns about slow progress on the water problem in Africa, especially south of the Sahara.

A more cost-conscious approach, with greater emphasis on rehabilitating and maintaining existing schemes is needed, says Ingvar Ahman, of the World Health Organization’s Environmental Health Division.

Greater effort should also be made to design less costly schemes using appropriate technology, the African Development Bank’s W.M. Gorma said.

“Many water schemes have been expensive and inefficient with European consultants imposing ill-adapted European solutions,” he explained.