“Water is colorless and tasteless but you can live longer on it than eating food. An African proverb.

If the cliché “water is life” was a factual statement then it would be estimated that 40% of the 1.3 billion people in Africa today would be dead. It simple, Africa has a genuine water crisis, although the continent can boast of having various natural water sources, for example, lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, springs, rainwater, aquifers, and sea waters. The World Health Organization (WHO) assesses that over 40% of Africa's Sub-Saharan populace lacks access to clean and potable drinking water. These are the reasons why.

Global Warming

Unfortunately abandoned and semi-abandoned parts of the continent are woefully affected by global warming. It makes the air temperature rise and influences the density and chances of rain. In certain regions, the frequency of precipitation has diminished by up to 25% because of an Earth-wide temperature increase. This has affected Africa the most as they do not possess the technological tools to turn around their misfortune and continue to wallow in the depreciating conditions. It must also be noted that certain economic and household activities carried out in Africa are also contributors to the depreciating climate that is affecting their chances of raining to acquire clean water.

Bad Climate

Probably the greatest reason for water shortage is the sub-Saharan climate, identified basically by desert, semi-forested areas, and subtropics. While residents in tropical grounds don't face a lack of drinking water, the circumstance of the desert and semi-desert territories are bad. The huge river that carries tons of water to these dry zones is the Nile. Just 10% of the all-out African populace lives in the valley of the second-longest African waterway - Congo. It is the most significant source of water on the continent. Due to the unfortunate sitting of most parts of Africa in this atmosphere, it adds to the shortage of clean drinking water.

Politics and conflict

This is a very worrying situation in Africa. Due to the struggle for authority by power-thirsty politicians, conflicts arise and during these times all sorts of natural resources, vegetation, and properties ad life are left exposed. The chemicals from weapons used in warfare are dangerous. They affect the water bodies and render them poisonous. Thereby rendering the little amount of water they have also unsafe for the usage of any sort.

The place where people live

Though this might not seem like an important factor, it plays and major role in the difficulty of accessing clean water in Africa. Access to water varies depending on where one lives. Someone who resides in a city is more likely to access clean and potable drinking water as compared to someone in the village. In the rest parts of the world, people reside mostly in bigger towns and cities but this is not in the case of Africa. Most people here reside in smaller towns and this contributes to difficulty in accessing clean water.

With the problem of shortage of water over hundreds of millions of Africans are struck daily. This is a result of political conflicts, lack of finance, and lack of support from outsiders, and a bad climate.

This cannot be solved within a day but with the help from other countries, investments in the betterment of society and wise government policies, a way can be found.