Africa’s manmade water crisis

About a decade ago, at a meeting of South African mayors convened byLindiwe Hendricks, South Africa’s then-minister of water andenvironmental affairs, we predicted that an unprecedented water crisiswould hit one of the country’s main cities within 15 years, unlesswater-management practices were improved significantly. That predictionhas now come true, with Cape Town facing a shutdown of its piped waternetwork. The question now is whether African leaders will allow ourother projection – that, within the next 25-30 years, many more of thecontinent’s cities will be facing similar crises – to materialise.Africa has long struggled with urban water and wastewater management. Asthe continent’s population has swelled, from about 285mn in 1960 tonearly 1.3bn today, and urbanisation has progressed, the challenge hasbecome increasingly acute. And these trends are set to intensify: by2050, the continent’s total population is expected to exceed 2.5bn, with55% living in urban environments.The challenge African countries face may not be unique, but it is, insome ways, unprecedented. After all, in Western countries, urbanisationtook place over a much longer period, and against a background ofsteadily improving economic conditions. In building effective systemsfor water and wastewater management, cities had adequate investmentfunds and the relevant expertise.In Africa, cities’ financial and management capacities are alreadyoverwhelmed. As a result, water and wastewater management has oftenfallen by the wayside, with policymakers focusing on water-relatedissues only when droughts and floods occur. The Third World Centre forWater Management estimates that only about 10-12% of Africa’s populationhas access to adequate domestic and industrial wastewater collection,treatment, and disposal.Given that the construction of the infrastructure and systems requiredto meet African cities’ water needs is likely to take some 20-30 years,governments’ sustained commitment is essential. A key imperative is thedevelopment of more environmentally friendly systems for wastewaterdisposal, as is cleaning bodies of water within and around urban centresthat are already heavily contaminated.Such an effort must be based on a comprehensive approach to assessingwater quality that covers a wide range of pollutants – far more than the10-40 that most African utilities now monitor – with the expectationthat new pollutants will be added as they emerge. Cities like Singaporenow regularly monitor 336 water quality parameters to ensure watersafety. To that end, Africa will need access to the relevant expertise,adequate funding, and well-run laboratories – all of which are currentlyin short supply.Funding such efforts will not be easy. For one thing, officialcorruption has long undermined investment in the planning, design, andconstruction of water infrastructure, as well as the effectivemanagement of existing infrastructure. For another, the social value ofwater – including its central role in many African religions – has longlimited governments’ ability to create a viable funding model for waterutilities.Though countries are often eager to trade resources like oil, gas,minerals, timber, and agricultural products, no country in the worldsells its water to other countries. Canada approved the North AmericanFree Trade Agreement only after its parliament confirmed that theagreement would not apply to water in its natural state. In federalcountries like India and Pakistan, even individual provinces refuse toconsider giving water to their neighbours.Countries don’t make much money from water domestically, either. In2001, South Africa introduced a “Free Basic Water Policy,” according towhich all households, regardless of size or income, receive sixkilolitres (1,585 gallons) of water per month at no cost. One mightargue that this is because water is necessary for survival. But so isfood. And while both water and food are guaranteed in South Africa’sconstitution, only water is provided for free.And South Africa is no anomaly. In most urban centres worldwide, wateris free or highly subsidised, and politicians are reluctant to changethat. Singapore’s water price did not rise at all from 2000 to 2016, andHong Kong’s water prices haven’t changed since 1996, even as the priceof everything else has risen.While water obviously shouldn’t become an expensive luxury good,governments’ reluctance to charge appropriately for it has underminedtheir ability to invest in water utilities, including proper wastewatercollection and treatment. Far from levelling the playing field, this hasmade urban water management in most cities less equitable, because thestate is unable to provide the necessary services in an efficient,sustainable, or comprehensive way.When Cape Town’s water network is shut down because reservoirs havebecome dangerously low – probably on July 9 – residents will have tostand in line at one of 200 water-collection points, in order to collect25 litres per person per day. That task will be particularly hard onpoor and otherwise vulnerable people.As South Africa’s politicians and media debate the causes of thiscrisis, they often focus on climate change – a culprit that cannot talkback. But the fact is that the dismal state of urban water management –exemplified by the fact that 36% of the water in South African cities iseither lost due to leakage or not paid for, compared to 3.7% in Tokyoand 8% in Phnom Penh – remains a leading reason for the shutdown.Managing urban water is not rocket science. Solutions have been wellknown for decades, and the needed technology, expertise, and even fundsare available. What has been missing is political will, sustained publicdemand, and continuous media scrutiny. Cape Town’s crisis should serveas a wake-up call for all of Africa. Unfortunately, like Africa’s waterresources, it is most likely to be wasted. – Project Syndicate* Asit K Biswas is Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Lee Kuan YewSchool of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. CeciliaTortajada is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Water Policy,Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.