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November 13, 2006
UN: Rainwater could end much of
Africa’s water problems
Accra, Nov. 14, GNA - African countries suffering or facing
water shortages as a result of climate change have a massive
potential in rainwater harvesting, with nations like
Ethiopia and Kenya capable of meeting the needs of six to
seven times their current populations, according to a United
Nations’ study.
“The figures are astonishing and will surprise many,” UN
Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim
Steiner said of the study, compiled by his agency and the
World Agroforestry Centre, which urges governments and
donors to invest more widely in a technology that is low
cost, simple to deploy and maintain, and able to transform
the lives of households, communities and countries
Africa-wide.
A statement released in Accra on Tuesday says overall the
quantity of rain falling across the Continent is equivalent
to the needs of nine billion people, one and half times the
current global population. About a third of Africa is deemed
suitable for rainwater harvesting if a threshold of 200
millimetres of arrival rainfall, considered to be at the
lower end of the scale, is used.
“Although not all rainfall can or should be harvested for
drinking and agricultural uses, with over a third needed to
sustain the wider environment including forests, grasslands
and healthy river flows, the harvesting potential is still
much more than adequate to meet a significant slice of human
needs,” the study notes.
“Africa is not water scarce,” it concludes. “The rainfall
contribution is more than adequate to meet the needs of the
current population several times over. For example Kenya
would not be categorized as a ‘water stressed country’ if
rainwater harvesting is considered. The water crisis in
Africa is more of an economic problem from lack of
investment, and not a matter of physical scarcity.”
Until recently the importance of such harvesting as a buffer
against climate-linked extreme weather has been almost
invisible in water planning with countries relying almost
exclusively on rivers and underground supplies, the study
notes.
Unlike big dams, which collect and store water over large
areas, small-scale rainwater harvesting projects lose less
water to evaporation because the rain or run-off is
collected locally and can be stored in a variety of ways.
“Over the coming years we are going to need a range of
measures and technologies to capture water and bolster
supplies,” Mr Steiner said.
“Conserving and rehabilitating lakes, wetlands and other
freshwater ecosystems will be vital and big dams, if
sensibly and properly designed and constructed, may be part
of the equation too.
“However, large-scale infrastructure can often by-pass the
needs of poor and dispersed populations. Widely deployed,
rainwater harvesting can act as a buffer against drought
events for these people while also significantly
supplementing supplies in cities and areas connected to the
water grid,” he said.
The study mapped the rainwater harvesting potential of nine
countries in Africa – Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi,
Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Kenya, with a population of somewhere under 40 million
people, has enough rainfall to supply the needs of six to
seven times its current population, according to the study.
Ethiopia, where just over a fifth of the population is
covered by domestic water supply and an estimated 46 per
cent of the population suffer hunger, has a potential
rainwater harvest equivalent to the needs of over 520
million people.
GNA
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