Africa’s demand for water climbed by 26 percent between 2010 and 2020, reaching roughly 347 cubic kilometres a year in 2020, up from about 274 cubic kilometres a decade earlier, according to a new study published in the journal Nature on 28 October.
Whether water demands can actually be met depends on a detailed assessment of both availability and usage, and in Africa availability varies sharply from one region to another. Demand goes unmet in many areas, yet the variation in supply and demand has never been well characterised, which makes informed water management decisions difficult to implement. To address that shortfall, the research team assembled a detailed continent-wide estimate of water demand for the year 2020, breaking consumption down by location and by sector.
Six sectors were included in the accounting: municipal supply, irrigation, livestock, manufacturing, power plants and mining. The manufacturing category covered subsectors such as food, clothing and industrial materials. Data were collected across 49 countries, drawing on national statistics, records from more than 450 water companies, 2,534 power plants and 682 mines, and maps of crops and livestock. Santiago Va...