Water and Development in Africa: A starting point

How does one start this blog? Honestly I have no idea. A long reflection of the colonial history of Africa? Some funny personal anecdotes?

I'm going to start by addressing why I have taken this module. Coming from the department of the Built Environment the notion in my mind of water and development in Africa was one of pollution and contamination due to expanding urbanisation. An exploration into current and future infrastructures in developing areas of the African continent. I am however aware that as a white European my interest is not to become a saviour, to solve everyone's problems with European ways of doing things or European mind sets. I have experienced, whilst volunteering on a construction site in Fiji, how unsuccessful this can be; a process that works in one region of the world is not necessarily designed for another. Instead I hope to learn more about individual countries, regions, cities throughout the African continent which are evolving new processes concerning water.

There seems to be a theme, within pieces written by Europeans, of addressing issues within the African continent without specificity and through rose tinted glasses, romanticising the notion of this wild land and the people who inhabit it. Wainaina addresses this satirically in his piece 'How to Write About Africa', which to begin with I thought was a serious piece, it wasn't until I'd read a couple of sentences that I understood his satirical point of view. Whilst reading I found myself drawing parallels with a previous paper I had read on the European romanticism of Africa; 'Europeans (...)sort to impose on Africans a particular way of seeing and being.' Writing about a topic based in the African continent should be as specific and respectful as writing about Australia or America instead of treating 'Africa as if it were one country', instead of a continent.

Figure 1: UN Sustainable Development Goals

So with that in mind, I will be focusing on one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, originally conceived in 2015. Specifically goal 6.1; 'By 2030 to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all', and 6.2 'By 2030, to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all', and its implementation in low income urban environments in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sanitation is a word used regularly but I must admit that I did not know its exact definition, I will be taking the definition as 'the safe disposal of human excreta'. Living in a city like London I take for granted my access to water and sanitation. At any point I will be able to find clean drinking water and a toilet, I do not have to worry about walking miles to find a small spring or defecating near my water source. I do not need to know if my water is safe before drinking, which is a privilege. I was aware that a large portion of the global population lacked 'adequate sanitation' but the reality of '2.6 billion people' being in that position is something that I find quite overwhelming, focusing in on Sub-Saharan Africa, 42% of people are without a basic water supply, and 72% without basic sanitation. 

Figure 2: Map of Sub-Saharan Africa

I hope to educate myself and readers alike in the following weeks discovering the current situation and future possibilities for water and sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa.