African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

African Water Development Report 2006Table 4.16: Waste Water Re-Use Capacities in Northern Sub regionTreatmentCapacityof production(Mm3)Freshwater CrisisFor example, the Congo River watershed contains10 per cent of Africa’s population but ac-MauritaniaMoroccoWhile Africa uses only about 4 per cent of itsrenewable freshwater resources (WRI, UNEP,UNDP and WB, 1998), water is becoming oneof the most critical natural resource issues. Thecontinent is one of the two regions in the worldfacing serious water shortages ( Johns Hopkins1998). Although it has abundant freshwaterresources, there are great disparities in wateravailability and use within and between Africancountries because the water resources are so unevenlydistributed.Algeria Tunisia Libya Egypt Sudan Total0 70 (70) 30 100 700 1 971% 0 7 7 3 10 72 0.1 100Source: Draft Sub Regional Synthesis of AWDR National Reports, 2005counts for about 30 per cent of the continent’sannual run-off (GEO-2000). Other contributingfactors are the inadequate assessment andunderdevelopment of water resources, the lackof technical and institutional infrastructure aswell as the lack of investment in water resourcedevelopment. While the Sahelian countries havelimited supplies of freshwater, most countriesin the humid tropical zone have abundant water.The availability of water varies considerably,even within countries, and the situation is furthercomplicated by frequent droughts as well asinappropriate water management programmes.The demand for water is increasing rapidly inmost countries due to population growth andeconomic development.Figure 4.13: Water Stress and Water Scarcity in the year 2025Source: Johns Hopkins 199872