But first, water scarcity

 

Following from my introduction on the gender disparities of water in Africa, I want to use this second post to illuminate the various ways in which Africa encounters water scarcity. As I was recently drawn to the compelling letter a young Tanzanian girl, Eva, wrote to former President Barrack Obama in January 2015, I will delve into the case study of Tanzania to further highlight the difficulties of safe water provision and extraction. Water inaccessibility in Africa greatly enhances and reinforces deep inequalities in regards to gender divides, which may only be exacerbated by climate change. It is, therefore, crucial to understand both the interactions of human and physical landscapes on multiple scales, where it be urban and rural. In doing so, a critical approach is required in examining why countries and regions are termed as water scarce, in order to foster future water projects as adaptation strategies in changing landscapes for rural and urban communities. 

Before studying the physical landscape's role in restricting water availability, the metrics for characterising 'water scarcity' must be observed closely. Water scarce nations, such as Uganda and Malawi, have been defined as those who have less than 1000m3/capita/year of water. However, this definition has been viewed under a critical lens, looking deeper into whether it is a useful characterisation. Whilst the Water Stress Index was formulated for ease of calculation and assessment, its failure to account for river runoff, groundwater and reservoir stores may lead to misrepresentations of water availability in many countries.  Groundwater stores especially have had a rich contribution of almost 40% to freshwater provision for irrigation globally. More so in Tanzania, groundwater is a vital source for almost 50% of rural supply as well as urban supply, with areas such as Dar es Salaam and Arusha depending greatly on groundwater for public water. But despite arguments surrounding water scarcity metrics in Africa, water inaccessibility and poor sanitation is yet rather apparent. 

                     A young Tanzanian girl on her journey collecting water from a pond near her village.                              

In order to help better put into context the uprisen gender disparities centred around water provision, I will now focus on the study of contributing physical landscape factors in Africa. Beginning with rainfall, the Africa continent encounters a high variability of rainfall subject to the seasonal movement of the Inter Tropical Convergent Zone (ITCZ). This is turn naturally determines the presence of surface water, which is highly influenced by drainage associated with topography, and more critically, rates of evapotranspiration. In Southern Africa, river flow experiences the most variable patterns, with one of the highest co-efficients of variation (SD/Mean) in river discharge. In Tanzania, seasonal variability in river discharge is quite substantial, with catchments such as the Great Rauha River Catchment located in the southwest, comprised of a short wet season and a long dry season where the river may not flow at all. Often, non-linearities in how climate impacts river discharge occurs, where 10% reductions in precipitation may lead to decreasing river discharge by up to 17-50%, thus highlighting the rather disproportionate impacts of water availability in these regions. 

 Clips a) and c) displaying the wet season river flow of the Great Rauha River. Clips b) and d) showing the contrasted dry season when river flow ceases. Source: Stears et al., 2019

However, with the heightened variability illustrated, groundwater resources have been heavily referred to in adaptation to the inadequate freshwater supply, as it provides an inter-annual storage, often far greater than annual river discharge. Nonetheless, several complications and concerns arise when it comes to groundwater quality. Even though insufficient data for the major aquifers in Tanzania exists currently, key issues around the effects of pollution and potential contamination from human activities lies prominent. Coupled with the lack of public awareness, polluting activities are trespassing into vital recharge areas as a result, eventually exacerbating water supply insecurity for many rural populations. Additionally, increasing rates of overexploitation has not only resulted in deteriorating borehole yields, but has also led to saline intrusion particularly in coastal areas. 

From this account, the inadequate supply of clean, safe water driven by elements of the physical landscape are coherent, and help better explain the almost 43% involved in the WASH crisis in Tanzania as well as the almost 70% without access to safe drinking water in Sub-Saharan Africa.  In particular, this is imperative in beginning to address the coexisting gender disparities that arise, requiring largely the female population to fetch long distances for water from wells, ponds and springs in households lacking direct safe water supply. But what about the human landscape, and more importantly, what roles do piped water systems play in tackling water access and the gender gap? How do these systems run, who runs them, and how effective are they in their operations? Next, I am going to explore more of the human elements: water management systems within communities, outlining their structures and the roles of women in their management to assess their success.

Till next time!