Huge spend urged on African water

[XXPANTHAXX]

Africa's water systems need annual investments of about $20bn over the
next two decades, a United Nations report has concluded.

The African Development Bank (ADB) says that only 3.8% of the
continent's water resources are developed.

About 300 million Africans lack access to safe drinking water, and the
ADB says money also needs to be spent on irrigation and hydropower.

The report was presented at the World Water Forum in Mexico.

It calls for an improvement in governance, as well as finance.

"Transparent, open, accountable, gender-responsive, communicative and
effective water governance at all levels of water management is needed,"
said Kordjé Bedoumra, director of the ADB's African Water Facility.

At the opening of the Forum, the UN said that failed policies are the
main reason why about 20% of the world's population lacks access to
clean water.

Water power

The ADB says only about 3% of Africa's hydropower potential is tapped.

Observers are divided as to the best way of expanding hydropower, with
some urging the construction of major new dams on grounds of efficiency
while others promote smaller, community-level installations for social
and environmental reasons.

The ADB's figure for farming is not much higher, with only about 6% of
Africa's cultivated land under irrigation.

Across all sectors, demand for water is increasing, by around 3% per
year in southern Africa.

And over most of the continent, rainfall is projected to decrease over
the coming decades, a consequence of global climatic change.

But UN figures show investment in water infrastructure is falling, as
governments struggle to provide adequate health care and education
facilities.

Yet water and sanitation facilities are a key ingredient of social and
economic progress.

At the World Water Forum, the ADB, together with the UN's human
settlements agency UN-Habitat, announced a $550m loan programme aimed at
developing small-scale drinking water projects in urban areas.