Kenya ranked among least water-secure countries in Africa
What you need to know:
- As the UN member countries commemorate World Water Day today, the new report shows a grim picture of Africa’s water security, indicating that only 13 of 54 countries achieved a modest level of water security in recent years.
- The report has highlighted 10 indicators that were looked at to determine the water situation in all the African countries.
Kenya is one of the 19 countries that have performed poorly in the latest water security report released by the United Nations.
Out of 54 countries, Kenya’s national water security score based on different indicators was position 46.
The United Nation’s –Water defines water security as ‘the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.’
As the UN member countries commemorate World Water Day today, the new report shows a grim picture of Africa’s water security, indicating that only 13 of 54 countries achieved a modest level of water security in recent years. The report has highlighted 10 indicators that were looked at to determine the water situation in all the African countries.
“Egypt, Botswana, Gabon, Mauritius and Tunisia are Africa’s top five most water-secure countries in Africa, yet with only modest absolute levels of water security achieved,” said the report
On the other hand, Somalia, Chad and Niger are the least water-secure countries in Africa. The indicators that were looked into include access to; drinking water, sanitation, hygiene facilities and practices, per capita water availability, water efficiency, water infrastructure, waste water treatment, water governance, disaster risk and water dependency on neighbouring nations and water resources variability.
The authors of the report ask African leaders to strive and achieve global standards of water security. They say that most African countries do not have data on water security, making it hard for governments to make strides based on the gaps.
Even as Kenya is not doing so well compared to other countries, data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2014) shows that about 71 per cent of Kenyan households can access an improved source of drinking water.
However, people living in the urban setup are likely to access safer water compared to their rural counterparts. “The most common source of drinking water in urban areas is water piped into the dwelling/yard/plot with almost half (46 per cent) of households using this source. In rural areas, the most common source of drinking water is surface water (24 per cent) followed by water piped into the dwelling/yard/plot (15 per cent),” indicated the report.
