| Chapter 1: | Water Resources Development and Management in Sub-Saharan Africa |
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“the availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks to people, environments and economies” may be achieved in developing countries by pursuing the various approaches and activities mentioned above (Grey & Sadoff, 2007; Lenton & Muller, 2009). This includes access to water guaranteeing fundamental individual and national sovereignty rights over this resource (Wouter, 2005).
This tall order of measures may be implemented after diagnosing both physical and socioeconomic forms of water scarcity. Physical water scarcity, usually attributed to limited access to water resources due to either climatic conditions or unsustainable management of resources, is most often addressed by storage reservoir construction in Africa. Socioeconomic water scarcity, caused either by economic constraints to develop additional water resources or the lack of a society's capacity to adapt to the conditions related to physical scarcity, requires responses by policy makers and society at large that may involve the employment of innovative technology, policies, and management (Assimacopoulos, 2008). Appelgren and Klohn's (1999) study, which includes an examination of factors and conditions driving socioeconomic water scarcity, may lead to a better understanding of water governance and how science may inform policy makers and water resource managers.
Water Management in Sub-saharan Africa
Underutilization of Water
Sub-Saharan Africa's levels of water resources development and poverty are far different from the corresponding global conditions. These differences become immediately apparent when per capita water withdrawal is examined. Water withdrawal per capita in SSA ranks the lowest of any region in the world and is only one fourth of the global average (figure 1.2). The region with the second lowest water withdrawal per capita, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, uses approximately twice the water per person while wealthier regions such as North America, Europe, and even the water-scarce Arab states withdraw more than five times as much.