Africa's Water and Sanitation Infrastructure

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) have called attention to deficiencies in the quantity and quality of water supply and sanitation (WSS) globally. Although most of the world is on track to meet the MDG drinking water target, Africa lags behind. Only 58 percent of the population enjoys access to safe drinking water. According to projections, 300 million more people—almost 38 percent of the region's population, or half the number of people who currently have access to improved water—will need to be covered to meet the MDG target. Similarly, more than 2.5 billion people remain without improved sanitation worldwide; of that total, 22 percent, corresponding to more than half a billion people, lives in Africa. With the MDG deadline fast approaching, it is essential to take stock of the WSS sectors in Africa, analyze their achievements and shortcomings, and identify the sector characteristics that either advance or inhibit the population's ability to access service.

Africa's Water and Sanitation Infrastructure—Access, Affordability, and Alternatives integrates a wealth of primary and secondary information to present a quantitative snapshot of the state of the WSS sectors in Africa. It explains the sectoral institutional structures and utility performance and articulates the volume and quality of financing available over time. The authors also evaluate the challenges to the WSS sectors and explore the factors that govern the expansion of coverage over time. Finally, the authors estimate spending needs for WSS, arriving at a funding gap for meeting the MDGs. The proposed directions for the future draw on lessons learned from best practices and present the menu of choices available to African countries, bearing in mind that the challenges differ to a significant extent among countries and solutions must be tailored to national or regional conditions.