African Water Digest (July 2019)
The Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI) is an Africa-wide initiative managed by the African Development Bank (AfDB). RWSSI supports rural water and sanitation projects and programmes with funding for investment operations, strengthening of sector processes and systems, as well as through advocacy and knowledge building. RWSSI is one of the Department’s flagship initiatives, whose overall objective is to accelerate access to drinking water supply and sanitation in rural Africa in order to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2015 and the African Water Vision targets of 2025.
To find out more about the RWSSI programme, visit the AfDB website.
RWSSI regularly publishes the African Water Digest newsletter, which features a selection of water-related news stories from across African media outlets. To sign up for African Water Digest, please see here: http://eepurl.com/gwkRI1
Read the featured news items from the July newsletter here:
Myths undermine water, sanitation provision in African cities: report
Myths are holding back universal access to water and sanitation in cities in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia, a policy brief by Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) revealed on Tuesday. Neil Jeffery, chief executive of WSUP, said that the organization has identified five myths which are stopping investors, agencies and policymakers from properly addressing the inadequate access to essential water and sanitation services in cities across SSA. Read more
Dedicate #MandelaDay to addressing water security
The late Nelson Mandela said the water sector had made good progress in co-operation towards the objective of making the life-sustaining liquid accessible to all. “We are here together under one roof, the biggest free-standing structure in Africa, promoting stakeholder dialogue and co-operation,” Mandela said during an address at the opening of the Water Dome in Joburg during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2002. Read more
Uganda: Kampala Gets New Sewerage Network
National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) has asked property owners whose buildings are not connected to its network to apply for connection to the new sewerage line. Mr Christopher Ebal, the NWSC board chairman, said the new plant will serve the eastern part of Kampala before pumping back the sewage to the Bugolobi main plant for natural bio-treatment. Read more
Africa: $310 million from DFID’s UK fund, for climate change issues
The Department for International Development (DFID), a UK government development finance institution, has announced that it will invest £250 million (more than $310 million) to tackle climate change in Africa over the next five years. Global warming is a phenomenon with serious repercussions in Africa. Read more
Liberia: 'Liberia Risks Disease Outbreaks Amid Sanitation Problem'
Prominent biomedical scientist and social activist, Dr. Dougbeh Christopher Nyan, has said that, "a major outbreak of Cholera and Hepatitis A infection may be looming over Liberia, if the government does not urgently address the proper disposal of mountains of garbage and solid wastes that has accumulated and sits in and around the Capital, Monrovia and its environs." Read more
Zambia: Crises Looming in Zambia's Drought-Affected Areas
Major health, protection and education crises are unfolding in the southern and western parts of Zambia that are bearing the brunt of a prolonged drought battering the country. The country of some 17 million people is grappling with protracted drought as a consequence of significant rainfall deficit in the November-March season. Read more
Making fish farming in eastern Africa's Lake Victoria sustainable
Overfishing, water shortages and pollution—these are just some of the environmental problems Lake Victoria has been facing over the last few decades. Bordered by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the world's second largest freshwater lake provides the main source of income for the populations living around the Lake Victoria basin. Read more