Levels of water security in Africa ‘unacceptably low’, says UN report 

The levels of water security in Africa overall are unacceptably low, according to the United Nations’ first-ever such assessment released on the eve of World Water Day (March 22), 2022.

So far, just 29 of 54 African countries, including Mauritius have made some progress over the past three to five years, the assessment, published by the UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), said.

In fact, not a single country or sub-region – not even Mauritius – has yet achieved the highest level of ‘model’ or even the reasonably high ‘effective’ stages of national water security, the assessment said.

All country scores are below 70 (on a scale of 100) except for Egypt. Mauritius is among the 13 (out of 54) countries reached a modest level of water security in recent years.

This is considered as worrying since 19 countries of the continent below the threshold are home to half-a-billion people.

Egypt, Botswana, Gabon, Mauritius and Tunisia are Africa’s top five most water-secure countries, but with only modest absolute levels of water security achieved. Somalia, Chad and Niger are the least water-secure countries on the continent.

Africa’s average basic drinking water service is 71%, “leaving behind some 29% of the total population” or more than 353 million people. This translates to three out of every ten people without access to basic drinking water services.