Urban Growth and Water Sanitation in African Cities

In this blog, let’s focus on the relationship between sanitation conditions and urban development. 

As many developing countries in Africa have a rapid urbanisation process, urban policy becomes an important tool for achieving sustainable development and has a close impact on the health conditions of citizens. The rapid growth and expansion of the urban population pose health conditions and challenges. The public administrations and governments of cities failed to manage the rapid population growth and provide the services they needed. The demand for housing, infrastructure, water sources, and environmental sanitation is continuously increasing. Among them, water supply is the backbone of the settlement of every city (Wamuchiru et al., 2017). Since the construction of water supply and drainage pipelines is mainly for the wealthier classes, poor water conditions occur. As a symbol of control during the colonial period, only a few privileged classes could have better sanitation services ( Braadbaart., 2012). 

 

Consider Kariakoo, the bustling heart of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Here, The water supply and drainage system consists of old pipes dating back to colonial times. Over the past decades, population growth has resulted in an unstable infrastructure that cannot meet the increasing demand for water supply and drainage. Problems such as insufficient pipe capacity, overloaded sewerage systems, and accumulation of rainwater in drains all point to a huge gap between water demand and population growth. There is, therefore, a need for the Government to work towards improving sanitation along with urbanisation.

Picture of Storm water drainage system in Kariakoo

 

Recognising these issues, African governments have introduced various urban policies to enhance urban sanitation (Jenkins et al., 2014). These include increasing investment in infrastructure construction and improving urban water supply, drainage systems, and waste disposal facilities. Although the implementation of the policy has achieved certain goals, some factors still hinder the improvement of sanitation conditions. For example, insufficient funding has made it difficult for urban infrastructure development to keep pace with urbanisation. In some cities, poor urban planning and management have led to disorder in the urban environment, further affecting the improvement of sanitation conditions (Hyman et al., 2017). For instance, in Kroo Bay, Sierra Leone, the surge of informal settlements housing over half the urban population is a testament to these challenges, where basic amenities like health centres, piped water, and safe sanitation remain a distant dream for many.

 

Picture of Kroo Bay informal settlements, Sierra Leone.

 

There is a strong need for urban development strategies, particularly for the distribution of water and sanitation facilities. One possible solution is to have different systems for different types of settlements, taking into account several factors, such as the distance between mains, the possible extent of development in the urban area, the topography and the distance from streams and rivers. The uniqueness of the site must also be taken into account in order to implement better solutions in terms of future development. (Pastore., 2015).