Reflections on a Range of Social Inequalities Surfaced from Water Supply System

This blog will be focusing on social inequalities - the idea sparked when I was exploring the current situation of water and sanitation in Africa. I will be drawing on several examples in order to illustrate the huge gaps in the accessibility to clean water and improved sanitation between poor people and the middle class. To do so, I am going to start this blog by talking about the consequences of the absence of basic sanitation, followed by what the differences are between different groups of people in terms of the accessibility to clean water supplies and hygiene facilities.

Fig.1: Water should be the human right for all

Buea is a small town in Cameroon, which could largely represent water demands and supplies in Africa (Adamu and Ndi, 2018). It is observed that, the deficit of water left by the national monopoly of water treatment company is filled by a range of sources such as hand-pumped well, boreholes, streams, springs, and rivers (Adamu and Ndi, 2018). However, these unprotected sources of water might lead to dire health problems. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the diseases caused by poor treatment led to the loss of work hours totaling $ 28.4 billion in a year, which is 5% of the region's GDP annually (USAID 2008). In addition, Ochieng et al. (2011) noted that roughly 80% of health problems such as skin rashes, typhoid, and dysentery are resulted from water contamination.

This week of my exploration also let me understand more about the complexity of water and sanitation issues in Africa as there is not only the problem of lack of sustainable water sources and networks as I have understood in week one, but also lack of innovative and reliable regulations and enforcement/monitoring institutions, that make the problem of water stress and poor sanitation more difficult to tackle. In addition, political/economic voice of low-income group and other vulnerable groups in the society such as women are always sidelined in the society.

In Africa, data has shown that there is a tendency for poor people to reside in low-lying areas. In this case, when in flooding, increased water levels would drain the shallow subsurface waste disposal where faecal matter is deposited, causing severe contamination. In addition, the incidence of flooding would even cause deaths. When the water level increases, on-site water and sanitation facilities which are the repository of both faecal matter and s source of safe drinking water would be drained, causing severe contamination, as evidenced by Lukaya, Uganda. 

 

Fig.1:  Flooding in Lukaya, Uganda

According to the study conducted by Thompson et al. (2000) on domestic water use and environmental health in East Africa, while large improvements have been recorded in some quarters, significant declines are observed in others. In three decades, although the whole study areas experienced a decline in water use, water per capita in affluent areas still remained largely above the national average, leaving those areas with high population concentration, high housing density and low household incomes suffering significant declines in water use (Thompson et al. 2000). Other metrics of water consumption have also been noted including the time of water delivery - people living in affluent areas are free to use 24-hour water supply while people living in high-density, low-income areas are limited to use water in only 5 hours per day (Thompson et al. 2000). 

Another study also revealed the quite similar problem - the case of Lilongwe, Malawi. The development, operation and maintenance of water supply network are different in high- and low-income areas (Boakye-Ansah et al., 2016). Whereas there are larger and better-quality pipes in the high-income areas, the water pipes in low-income areas are scattered, smaller and of worse quality (Boakye-Ansah et al., 2016). In addition, it is noted by Boakye-Ansha et al. (2016) that, monitoring activities are also more frequent in high-income areas compared to low-income areas. With the lack of enforcement of water regulations in the locale, the quality of water enjoyed by the working class continues worsening (Boakye-Ansah et al., 2016). 

This week of study not only taught me the value of clean water, the importance of sanitation and hygiene, but also the inequalities involved in water delivery. This blog will be exploring inequalities further in the future. Stay tuned!