Newsletter and Technical Publications
<International Source Book On Environmentally Sound Technologies
for Wastewater and Stormwater Management>
Regional Overviews and Information Sources
There has been an increased emphasis on urban environmental management to
meet the demands of a rapidly growing urban population for safe water supply,
solid waste, wastewater and stormwater management services. The demand for these
services has been consistently higher than their supply in Africa; resulting in
a huge unmet demand. It is now well known that integrated water management is
imperative for the stability and sustainable development of cities. Examples
from Africa illustrate clearly that unless adequate water supply and solid waste
disposal are ensured, not much progress can be made in the provision of high
standard wastewater and stormwater management. Table 1.1 illustrates the point
more clearly. It shows that the method used and quantity of water supplied to an
area or a house reflects the kind of waste disposal system it receives. A simple
water supply system is linked to basic waste removal systems. As water service
improves from minimum through basic and intermediate to full service levels it
is accompanied by more sophisticated waste disposal services.
|Table 1.1: Relationship between water supply and
sanitation systems in Africa
||Water supply system
(typical water supply, litres/person/day)
||- Water vendors (5-50)
- Tanker supply (5-50)
- Water kiosks (5-20)
- Public (communal) standpipes or fountains more than 100 m from house
|- Pit latrines
- Bucket/Pan sanitation
||- Public (communal) standpipes less
than 100 m from house (20-50)
||- Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP)
||- Yard tank (50)
- Yard tap (50-100)
|- Aqua-privy with solid free
- Septic tank system
- Intermediate flush toilet
|| - House connections (>100)
||- Full flush sewered sanitation
We cannot assume that the Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade
in Africa has solved all of Africa’s water and waste management problems.
Evaluation of the achievements at the end of the decade shows that the
percentage of water supply coverage increased to 41%. In the urban sector, the
coverage increased from 66% in 1980 to 77% in 1990. In the rural sector,
however, the coverage increased from 22% to just 26%. In the sanitation sector,
the 1990 increases in coverage are from 22 to 34% for the total African
population, from 57 to 80% in the urban sector, but a decrease from 20 to 16% in
the rural sector. Unfortunately, the situation instead of getting better, has
actually become worse in a number of the countries in the region.
|Table 1.2: Urban populations in selected African
||Urban Population (%) 1995
||Total Population million ,1996
||GNP per capita 1996
|Central African Rep.
|Congo, Dem. Rep.
||Indian Ocean islands
||Indian Ocean islands
| African Development bank
(1998),# Statistics South Africa (1998), World Bank (1996).
* DRC has been recently admitted into SADC, thus
becoming part of southern Africa economically while remaining
geographically in Central Africa.
**The sanitation situation in the city state of Djibouti is unique in
Africa. It is a best practice example; the problem in showing it off being
the incomparably small scale of its operation.
It is convenient and helpful to divide Africa into sub-regions for the
purpose of considering wastewater and stormwater management. The six sub-regions
are Southern Africa, Sudano-sahelian zone, humid Western Africa, Central Africa,
Eastern Africa, and the Islands of the Indian Ocean. Urban transition is under
way in Gabon, South Africa and Mauritania where 50-54 % of the total population
lives in urban areas; and in the Congo with 59 % urbanization. Table 1.2 shows
the percentage of urbanization for other selected countries. It also shows the
total populations and gross national product (GNP) which when used in
combination provides at least indicative information about how many people need
to be served ultimately as well as the internal resources available for doing so
in a sustainable manner.
It is also important to look ahead a couple of decades with regard to
urbanization in the sub-region. The number of small towns (population
<100,000) is expected to grow from 3,000 in 1990 to 9,000 in 2020. Almost
one-third of Africa's urban population will live in such towns. The number of
medium towns (population 100,000 - 1 million) will likely reach 660 in number by
2020 and house 30% or about 175 million of the region’s urban inhabitants.
Large cities (population >1 million) are expected to be about 70 in number by
2020 and will house some 40% of Africa’s urban population.