Africa’s Liquid Asset

 Elton Economic Development & Policies, Investing

 

VENTURES AFRICA – There is no alternative for it – we have nothing we can use in its place. One billion people can’t get it. Every 20 seconds a child dies from a disease related to it and in 15 years 48 nations won’t have enough of it – WATER. Water, in some places in the world is also referred to as “Blue Gold”.
Is water the new oil? Not yet. But we can envision a time in the not too- distant future when water will be as avidly sought after, as important to economic development, and as intertwined with international and domestic policy as oil is today. To this date and for a long time sought daily in Africa by millions of its poor.
It is the one resource that we as humans take most for granted. In the US, California, the price of this resource is up 300% in the last ten years, but the price of avocados for this region has hardly inflated. This resource is in the midst of crises – it’s a renewable resource and we need to ensure that it does not go away.
Some of the major solutions implemented around the world have mere
ly been linked to infrastructure developments and water pricing mechanisms – they have failed.
The numbers of people who face a shortage of water around the world rank in the millions and grow daily. Agriculture consumes 80% of world usage. But expansion of human population has strained water supply, even to the extent of water droughts in Nevada, USA – only with 40% water supply.
In many regards we do not pay for water itself as it is a free resource – we pay for getting access to it. The reality of the challenge globally, specifically in Africa is the exporting of water in a manner that is safe and cost effective for an African economy.
For Africa it costs lots of money to transport water from one pace to another and then the cost of desalination – for which infrastructure and facilities are not available in most of Africa. According to a World Health Organisation and UNICEF, since 1990, 322 million Africans gained access to an improved drinking water source and 189 million gained access to an improved sanitation facility. Yet 65 million more people in Africa lacked access to an improved drinking water source in 2010 than did in 1990.

Water facts for Africa

• 322 million people in Africa gained access to an improved drinking water source since 1990
• The population that uses a piped drinking water source onto premises increased from 147 million in 1990, to 271 million in 2010
• To meet the MDG drinking water target 215 million people need to gain access over the period 2010 – 2015
• Despite an increase in drinking water coverage from 56 per cent in 1990, to 66 per cent in 2010, the population relying on unimproved drinking water source increased from 279 million in 1990, to 344 million in 2010
• In 2010, 115 million people directly draw on surface water to meet their drinking water needs

Development Facts for Africa’s Liquid Asset

• Africa has made limited progress in providing its people with access to basic sanitation. Coverage only increased from 35 per cent in 1990, to 40 per cent in 2010, equal to 189 million people gaining access.
• With a population growth of almost 400 million people since 1990, the population without an improved sanitation facility increased by almost 200 million people to 612 million in 2010.
• With a doubling of the urban population over the period 1990-2010, more than 1 in 4 people in urban areas rely on shared or public sanitation facilities.
• Little over 1 in 5 people in Africa still practise open defecation, down from 1 in 3 in 1990.

To paint a better picture of the 2013 WHO / UNICEF Report on Water and Sanitation indicates that, “By the end of 2011, there were 2.5 billion people who lacked access to an improved sanitation facility. Of these, 761 million use public or shared sanitation facilities and another 693 million use facilities that do not meet minimum standards of hygiene (unimproved).”
The next question to answer is: “What is the shape and form of how ownership of this resource will evolve?”