Water and sanitation in Africa.

Last week I spoke of the disparity in access to water and sanitation across the African Continent. In order to be more specific, this blog will analyse rural and urban divides.  When we think of "rural areas" in the UK, we think "escape to the country", and enjoy the peaceful views shown in Beatrix  Potter's  'Peter Rabbit' of the Lake District or strolling in Derbyshire as depicted in Jane  Austen's  'Sense and Sensibility'. We don't consider the infrastructural challenge of connecting these rural areas to municipal water networks in the UK let alone those larger  in land size  which many African countries are.  As early as 1977,   Dudley Seers   and   Michael Lipton   presented an urban bias to development. In both their accounts, they suggest that the greatest division we should be concerned with exists within countries themselves. Similarly,   Mellor (1976)   also illustrates the neglect of the rural sec...

What do you think about regarding water and sanitation in Africa? Let's start with water. Africa as a continent is often generalised as a place of water scarcity, however, there is a wide range in physical and human factors which has caused a differentiation in water access across the 46 countries.  For instance, the Congo region (central Africa) alone has more renewable freshwater resources per capita than the USA!  Moreover,  Fela Kuti , a Nigerian music legend has drawn attention to water access through his lyrics;  "there's water underground, water underground and water in the air... but look to your left, look to your right, you can't see it" .  Some of you might be confused, maybe even shocked by these mind- boggling  facts.  In order to understand this, let's dive into a few of the juicy specifics of the physical reasons for this; groundwater storage. First, we need to understand how and what stores this water. The term you're looking for is an...