I’ve been to Africa five times to work on water projects, and visited four countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania. All of these countries have a universal need for more clean water, but the challenge in providing it varies between country, climate, and village.
The United Nations states that access to water is a human right.
“The water supply for each person must be sufficient and continuous for personal and domestic uses. These uses ordinarily include drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, personal and household hygiene.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) research shows that depending on the climate and living conditions, a person needs between 50 and 100 litres of water each day to ensure most basic needs are met and few health concerns arise.
The international standard is that water should be available within 500 meters of each dwelling, and that no more than 300 individuals should have to rely on water coming from a single tap.
The demand for clean water is rarely met in Africa.
- In Ghana, I saw women dropping buckets down open wells to obtain water contaminated by rotting coconuts and other debris. Others selected to walk to a nearby stream that was slightly less polluted. The challenge is to make the water that is available clean, and to equip existing wells with covers and sanitary pumping equipment.
- In Nigeria women filled their buckets with water scooped from a pond they shared with cattle that also needed the water. More water was needed closer to the village, and the villagers needed a way to purify the water.
- In Kenya I saw women fetching water alongside other women who were bathing their children and washing their clothes. Basic education about water and sanitation would significantly improve the lives of citizens, and simple water filtration systems would help reduce disease.
- In Tanzania, women told their stories of leaving their homes at four in the afternoon, walking eight kilometers (five miles) to a water source, standing in line for several hours with other women, and walking home with a 20 kilogram (45 pound) water container on their heads, arriving at 8:00 in the morning. At this village, water is probably too deep to obtain from shallow wells. A deep mechanically-drilled well is needed for this village.
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Daily life in Africa is significantly influenced by the availability, procurement, and quality of water. When it is scarce, significant time, effort and financial resources are expended getting it. Everyone suffers other than the water merchants.
The lack of clean water contributes to high childhood mortality rates, lowered education levels, low life expectancies for those surviving childhood, and significant economic hardship and poverty.
What can be done to help address the challenges of providing clean water to Africa?
- Teach community members how they can create sustainable water supply projects. (I will discuss sustainability in another posting.)
- Teach techniques for installing shallow water wells without a drilling rig.
- Provide the funds needed to install deep water wells where shallow wells can’t be installed.
- Where groundwater cannot be obtained or where the groundwater quality is poor, provide the funds needed to install durable, piping systems to bring water into the area for alternative sources.
- Provide more opportunities for Africans to learn about hydrology, hydrogeology and the environment.
- Teach individuals about sanitation.
- Identify how unsafe water can be purified, and provide the resources needed to create sustainable water purification systems at either the community- or family-based level.
All of these solutions require not just the commitment of people in the developed world to provide financial support, but also a commitment of people in the communities to be served to provide the needed leadership and resources to make these projects sustainable. With commitment, the challenge of providing clean water and improved sanitation in Africa can be me.
What do you think?