DAKAR, March 29, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Many residents of the Senegalese
metropolis Dakar get up in the middle of the night hoping to collect water
from their taps, which mostly run dry.
"We wake up at 4 or 5 am to get water, says Sidy Fall, 44, in her kitchen
in a working-class neighbourhood, filled with large bottles of stored water.
If she doesn't get up in time, the water often runs out by 5:30 am. Fall's
taps are sometimes dry for two or three days at a time.
A population boom in Senegal is intensifying pressure on scarce water
resources in its semi-arid capital of five million people, with problems set
to increase over the coming decades.
This is common to many African cities, where infrastructure investments
have lagged behind strong demographics and demand for water from industry and
agriculture.
In Dakar, a recent World Bank report pointed to poor water management as
part of the reason for shortages, along with overexploitation and groundwater
pollution.
But demand for water has kept increasing too, sending municipal officials
racing to improve infrastructure to secure supply.
"Water is a source of life, but here water is a source of problems," said
Khadija Mahecor Diouf, the mayor of the Dakar suburb Golf Sud, at a public
meeting last week.
- Population explosion -
Golf Sud's population has risen from 70,000 to 125,000 people in 10 years,
Diouf told AFP, and is predicted to double in the next decade.
Half of all households in the suburb have problems with water, she said.
"We have a population that has exploded, urban planning schemes that have
not been respected," Diouf added, predicting that the problem would get
worse.
About a third of Senegal's population of 17 million people lives in the
Dakar region, which is also the country's economic nerve centre.
But there are myriad complications tied to the runaway expansion. The
sewage system is often lacking, and parts of Dakar routinely flood during the
rainy season.
Diouf said water cuts are a problem "all year round".
Senegal's government, for its part, said 99 percent of urbanites and 91
percent of rural dwellers had access to water.
- Supply remedies -
The authorities are pushing to remedy supply issues in the capital and the
government says it has made considerable infrastructure investments.
Babou Ngom, from the state water company Sones, said new investments meant
that supply would soon match demand.
Dakar is supplied by four plants that pump water from a lake some 250
kilometres (155 miles) north of the city -- as well as from over-exploited
aquifers.
The fourth plant came online last year: Ngom said it would produce 200,000
cubic metres per day by the end of 2022 -- which would guarantee Dakar's
water supply until 2026.
Sones is also building a desalination plant on the Dakar coastline, due to
open in 2024.
While Dakar residents are quick to blame the government, national consumer
association president Momar Ndao concedes there have been improvements.
Often water is only available on ground floors, however, and consumers are
increasingly complaining about exorbitant prices, he added.
- More water -
Sen'eau, a private firm that has managed Dakar's water on behalf of the
state since 2020, argues it is not to blame for recurrent shortages.
The firm -- in which French utility company Suez has a 45-percent stake --
is the target of broad popular frustration.
But Diery Ba, a Sen'eau director, said the company had inherited crumbling
water infrastructure, which it has set about improving.
"Almost no neighbourhood had water 24 hours a day," he said.
While upgrades to the network had led to water cuts, this "adjustment
period" was coming to an end, he added.
Higher bills were also a result of consumers simply consuming more water
than they once did, he said.
Despite improvements, a question mark still hangs over Dakar's future water
supply.
According to the World Bank, Senegalese water consumption is due to
increase between 30 and 60 percent by 2035.
The country "urgently needs to prioritise water security," the bank said.
