Out of the 159 million people in the world that still fetch drinking water from surface water sources, 58 per cent live in Africa (World Health Organization [WHO] and United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF] 2017). In addition, only 15 per cent of people in sub- Saharan Africa have access to handwashing facilities with soap (WHO and UNICEF 2017). This could be due to different constraints, such as lack of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) education and awareness, socio-economic factors, poor governance and lack of adequate policy frameworks. Improving WASH facilities
will not only improve human health, but also enhance economic growth and create sustainable livelihoods. For instance, Community Cleaning Services (CSS), a social enterprise focused on improving urban sanitation in Kenya, has created profitable entrepreneurial opportunities for youth from low-income communities especially in Nairobi (Thieme et al. 2012). It provides sanitation services that include: selling cleaning products, creating awareness and training, quality assurance, product supply, and marketing support to sanitation service providers.
Food for thought
• Youth can play an important role in improving water use efficiency. Youth organizations can mobilize young people to have a sense of ownership and awareness about water use efficiency. They could also encourage collective actions and attitude changes related to water use through participatory approaches.
• Although wastewater is not pleasant to deal with, the economic and environmental potential of recycling it is immense. Wastewater can be a resource in different sectors, such as agriculture, fisheries, and power generation. Wastewater has been reused for centuries, especially for irrigation purposes due to the freshwater shortage in arid and semi-arid parts of Africa.
• African youth need to be empowered so that they can be heard at, and take part in international dialogues and debates about transboundary water resources.
Simple solutions for drinking water problems
In Sudanese villages on the banks of the Nile, most of the houses have clay pots that are known as a “zeer”. In this hot place, these clay pots work as simple refrigerators to cool water. Unfortunately, these Zeers are usually not covered, which exposes the water to contamination. The Zeers themselves look old and they are dirty inside due to the absence of regular cleaning. Many studies (e.g., Abdel-Magid et al. 2017; Ahmed 2017) showed that water stored in Zeers is highly contaminated (biologically and chemically), especially if it is stored for a long period.
This is a typical situation in rural areas throughout the continent of Africa; water is contaminated from the source, from transporting it, or from storage facilities (Pan African Chemistry Network 2010). Water should be filtered to an adequate level in order to be suitable for drinking. However, water-filtering systems are usually costly and of high technology, which makes them impractical solutions for rural regions.
Examples of low-tech/cost filtration systems/measures include: ceramic filters, activated carbon filters, sand filtration, solar sterilization, solar distillation and bottle filters. In addition, many natural materials can be used to purify water. They include: seeds of Moringa olifera, raw bauxite, and fishbone (Pan African Chemistry Network 2010).
Some simple changes in traditional forms of water storage could enhance water quality. For instance, a simple solution entails drinking water that has been filtered through customised clay pots instead of drinking water stored in the pots themselves (Mohammed et al. 2011; Zereffa et al. 2017).
45
Our Water, Our Life Force
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
