Thirst for water becomes acute

Chinese govt and private companies are playing a key role in conservancy efforts

Africa's freshwater reserves account for 10 percent of the world's total, and the world's second-largest freshwater lake, Victoria, lies on the continent. However, the distribution of rainfall across the continent, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is far from uniform, for reasons such as global warming, desertification, falling lake and river levels, and reduced rainfall.

A lack of economic development and of water sources protection are also hampering efforts to increase water supply in Africa. As the continent's growing economies thirst for large amounts of water for farming and industry, its shortage has become acute, particularly given that the lack of infrastructure is placing a huge drag on development and urbanization.

The Chinese government has been building water supply infrastructure in Africa since 1960, and over the past three years, Chinese companies have worked on 64 water projects, drilled 2,300 wells in 27 African countries, including Chad, Ghana, Kenya, Niger and Tanzania.

The Chinese government has promised to increase its help with water conservancy facilities, sewage treatment and water protection, and its research institutions have worked on water conservancy dams and ecological projects on the Congo, Limpopo, Niger, Nile and Zambezi rivers, and Lake Victoria.

Big Chinese enterprises such as China Gezhouba Group, Sinohydro Corporation and China Geo-Engineering Corporation have also upgraded their projects in Africa from drilling wells and building roads to large water conservancy and hydropower construction. Today they have 60 percent of market share in Africa. Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia and Liberia are the biggest markets for Chinese companies.

Based on current growth, it would take at least 100 years for sub-Saharan African countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals that set the health standards for drinking water. Only 20 countries in the region can achieve the basic standard requirements by next year, and that will lead directly to a high child mortality rate due to diarrhea and other types of infectious diseases.

To change this, the Chinese government is encouraging the country's universities, research institutions and businesses to take part in water resources cooperation projects in Africa. Over the past five years, Tongji University in Shanghai and the Hydraulic Research Institute in Gansu province have done extensive research on drinking water, sewage treatment and rainwater harvesting technologies in Africa and have set up water resources technology consultation and maintenance service stations.

In addition, Chinese scientists and engineers have taught rural residents to dig wells, install pumps, test water and other techniques. The habit of drinking boiled water has formed and proved to be very effective in reducing the spread of water dysentery and guinea worm diseases. At the same time, people's living standards have improved, which also promotes agricultural production, effectively driving up the local economy.

Due to the lack of funding, many African cities are incapable of investing in water supply and water distribution network renovation projects. In some African cities, dilapidated water supply networks result in half the piped water being washed away. In collaboration with Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, Chinese businesses have built larger sewage treatment plants, worked on upgrading sewerage and built rainwater harvesting facilities.

Good storage of annual monsoon rains can help relieve the low level of water in Africa. The North China Engineering Investigation Institute and Sinohydro are sparing no effort in promoting water recycling projects, building eco-friendly rainwater collection circulatory systems and upgrading water supply pipe networks. They are also providing wastewater treatment operations and management support and training.

However, as the international charity organization WaterAid has said, if sub-Saharan African countries are to improve water and sanitation and achieve several basic indicators by next year, they need to devote at least 3.5 percent of their annual GDP to doing so.

WaterAid has also called on the world to provide the annual $10 billion additional aid for water conservancy, sanitation and hygiene. In response to these problems, in recent years the Chinese government has provided credit guarantees for major water conservancy projects in Africa through the National Development Bank and China Export-Import Bank. They provide funding and policy support for Chinese companies to broaden their horizon in the water and agricultural irrigation market in Africa.

Africa has developed only 20 percent of its irrigation capacity and 6 percent of its hydroelectric capacity. In the face of that grim situation, many sub-Saharan countries have already taken action to rationalize the use of water resources. As a lot of precious irrigation water is wasted, another of China's priorities is to provide water-saving irrigation farming techniques.

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has been promoting pedal pumps for irrigation in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Ghana. This tool has been widely used in China's Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces at low cost, usually between $50 and $80. This pump is simple to use, farmers needing just to keep pushing the pedal to get pumping work done. China's small-scale irrigation techniques and pond building methods can efficiently collect rainfall. China's Ministry of Agriculture has also held water management seminars for African officials.

The author is a researcher at the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/30/2014 page8)