Environmental News from Africa

EarthWire Africa provides a daily overview of the environment in Africa as reported in the media. The web site is updated every day by a team of editors that reviews media sources for environmental news stories.

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Water Pollution

Rapid urbanisation in South Africa is affecting the water quality of the river (Radio).
ips.org | 01 Mar 2012
Rapid urbanisation in South Africa is affecting the water quality of the river systems.

AfDB supports waste water treatment project for agriculture in Tunisia
African Development Bank | 24 Jan 2012
a Banque africaine de développement (BAD) a approuvé, le 11 janvier 2012, un financement de 64,45 millions de dinars tunisiens (32,45 millions deuros) destiné à un projet de mise à niveau des infrastructures de traitement des eaux usées. Lobjectif de ce projet est daméliorer la qualité des eaux épurées qui serviront à lirrigation de 5000 hectares de terres agricoles. Lagriculture constitue une importante activité économique en Tunisie et contribue à la sécurité alimentaire du pays.

Tunisia | Agriculture | Waste Management | Water Pollution

SWAZILAND: Fledgling environmental authority up against big business
IRIN News | 18 Jan 2012
MBABANE 18 January 2012 (IRIN) - Recently hundreds of dead fish floated to the surface of a stream which was the only water source for a rural community in Swaziland's drought-prone eastern region. A local sugar processing plant admitted to accidentally discharging toxic effluent into the stream, and brought in water tanks to supply the community until clean-up operations could be completed.

Swaziland | Access to Freshwater | Water Pollution

Hold Shell accountable for Niger Delta pollution and human rights abuses
AfricaFiles | 07 Nov 2011
A recent UNEP study reported on the degree of contamination in communities of Ogoniland after 50 years of oil operations. When not obvious above ground, underground reservoirs of water were severely contaminated; drinking water in one community faced 900 times the levels of benezene permitted by the World Health Organization. Clean-up could take 30 years. Let's hold those that put these commnunities and the environment at risk accountable for their actions. CJW

Nigeria | Health and Environment | Pollution | Water Pollution

Brakpan water safe for drinking
Environment South Africa | 20 Oct 2011
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has assured Brakpan residents that the water quality in the area is safe for consumption. . This follows recent warnings on social media websites and emails circulating, saying that residents should not drink their tap water. This was after the area experienced water shortage on 9 October.

South Africa | Health and Environment | Water Pollution

KENYA: Disease concerns as flash floods hit coastal area
IRIN News | 17 Oct 2011
MOMBASA 17 October 2011 (IRIN) - Flash floods in coastal areas of Kenya have claimed several lives, damaged schools and destroyed sewage systems, leading to fears of disease outbreaks, according to officials and local residents.

Kenya | Floods | Water Pollution | Waterborne Diseases

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Assessing the True Value of Water
Inter Press Service | 03 Apr 2011
As water resources in Southern Africa come under pressure from growing population, climate change and increasing industrial and agricultural use, economic accounting for water is among the tools that could aid better management.

GHANA: Doctors fear coming rains will fuel cholera
IRIN News | 01 Apr 2011
Health officials in Ghana are worried the rainy season, due to start in April, will fuel the spread of cholera, which has killed at least 69 people and stricken more than 5,000 in the past few months. Five of Ghanas 10 regions are affected, with Accra seeing the highest number of deaths to date - 36.

Ghana | Freshwater | Health and Environment | Water Pollution | Waterborne Diseases

Namibia/State of emergency declared: VSO's Namibian volunteers on the front line
feedproxy.google.com | 31 Mar 2011
Floods and storms are threatening the homes and work of VSO's 54 international volunteers in Namibia including 22 volunteers from the UK. Half of VSO's international volunteers are located in the flood-affected north of the country, close to the borders with Zambia and Angola – where a State of Emergency has been declared. Access to clean drinking water is the immediate concern for the staff and the communities they live in.

Namibia | Access to Freshwater | Floods | Water Pollution | Waterborne Diseases

WATER: Optimism at World Water Day conference
IRIN News | 23 Mar 2011
Half the world's population now lives in cities, and this figure is expected to balloon to more than 70 percent by 2050, but in Africa, where the rate of urbanization is highest, the provision of clean drinking water has been shrinking steadily since 1990. "The ability of [African] governments to...

Africa: U.N. Water Conference Focuses on Cities
AllAfrica.com | 22 Mar 2011
Cape Town — As a U.N. conference on water opens in South Africa today, the country's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has repeated warnings that the country faces a water supply crisis. Experts attending the three-day conference will consider the challenges posed by growing demands, migration and water resources potentially limited by careless use and climate change.

Innovations in water management needed to sustain cities
feedproxy.google.com | 22 Mar 2011
"Within the next 20 years, 60 percent of the world's population will live in cities, with most urban expansion taking place in the developing world. Ensuring access to nutritious, affordable food for the poorer of these city-dwellers is emerging as a real challenge," said Alexander Mueller, FAO Assistant Director-General for Natural Resources.

Access to Freshwater | Urban Areas | Urban Planning | Water Pollution | Waterborne Diseases

Water Issues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Challenges and Opportunities - Technical Repor...
feedproxy.google.com | 22 Mar 2011
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) possesses over half of Africa's water reserves, yet 74 percent of its population - or approximately 51 million people - lack access to safe drinking water according to a new study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Green Hills, Blue Cities: An Ecosystems Approach to Water Resources Management for African Cities
feedproxy.google.com | 21 Mar 2011
UN Report Launched on World Water Day 2011 Outlines Actions Towards Reversing Unsustainable Path. Cape Town/Nairobi, 21 March 2011--Rapid urbanization over the last five decades is changing Africa's landscape and also generating formidable challenges for supplies of water and sanitation services...

KENYA: Community Turns Garbage Into Energy Source
Inter Press Service | 16 Mar 2011
A community-based organisation in the Kenyan slum area of Kibera set out to clean up garbage and deal with waste water; Ushiriki Wa Safi ended up creating a community cooker that turns waste into an energy source.

Regional Humanitarian Health Update Eastern and Southern Africa
feedproxy.google.com | 18 Feb 2011
Risk of flooding with potential damage to health facilities and equipment and epidemic outbreaks (especially of cholera) remains the most important health threats in the sub?region in the last couple of weeks. As predicted, Southern Africa continues to report heavy rains resulting in rising levels of rivers in January 2011. So far, nine 9 provinces of South Africa are affected with an estimated death toll of 70 and 8,000 persons displaced.

Health and Environment | Water Pollution | Waterborne Diseases | Weather Conditions

Lake Chad's receding water level heightens risks of malnutrition and disease
feedproxy.google.com | 10 Feb 2011
Yakowra Malloum commands respect as she enters the Sultan's compound in the centre of Bol. Covered in a bright coloured scarf, with an intricate floral henna design running down her arms, she looks like many of the other women who have gathered in the later hours of a hot sunny afternoon. But this trained pharmacist, who has spent the last 20 years working with the Ministry of Health, is different.

Chad | Access to Freshwater | Water Pollution | Waterborne Diseases

Chad | Water Pollution | Waterborne Diseases

COTE D'IVOIRE: Cholera claims eight lives in Abidjan
IRIN News | 02 Feb 2011
Health experts and residents say poor hygiene exacerbated by growing piles of rubbish is largely to blame for a dry-season cholera outbreak in Côte dIvoires main city of Abidjan, which has killed eight people of 61 infected. The diarrhoeal disease, contracted through contaminated food or water, generally occurs during the rainy season when flooding can contaminate water sources, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But outbreaks can also occur in the dry season, WHO says.

Côte d'Ivoire | Health and Environment | Water Pollution | Waterborne Diseases

'I don't want to die' in South Africa floods
BBC World Service | 31 Jan 2011
A thick stench fills the air, there is no proper sewage system in the South African township of Themba Khoza - heavy floods have destroyed all the make-shift drains and bacteria infected water is flowing through the tiny pathways between the shacks. Residents of the informal settlement north of Johannesburg are bracing themselves for more floods.

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