**2.2 Factors favoring water shortages in SSA**

One of the factors that limit access of the community to safe water in Africa in general and in SSA, in particular, is poverty. The level of poverty is such that half of the extremely poor people live in SSA [10]. It is the main driving force behind the rural migration of the population into the big cities. Due to poverty, many youths back out of school earlier to embrace any money-earning activities in towns. Except, mismanagement and lack of policy prioritization, insufficient infrastructure limiting water supply in SSA has a direct link with the prevailing poverty [11]. Unfortunately 96% of the poorest countries in the world are located in SSA and poverty is projected to increase in this part of the world even in the next 10−12 years [12, 13]. On the other hand, anthropogenic factors including increasing water requirements resulting from irrigation, population growth, and increased urbanization have deepened the gap between the demand for water and available water supply in SSA [4, 14, 15]. The insufficient coverage of potable water in urban areas is particularly attributed to the population growth that has almost doubled over the past 10 years. Consequently, the demand for water supply equally increases. Therefore, the rapid demographic growth together with climate change constitutes a serious challenge for water authorities in SSA. Efforts put in place by the African government often do not yield appreciable outcomes to cope with the ever-growing population. Localities that experience water seizure for over many years rely on alternative sources for water supply. Common alternative water sources used by the population in SSA include wells, boreholes, streams and the rivers. While boreholes can be private or public, streams and rivers are open water sources and are thus owned by local authorities. The correlation between the rapid population growth and the demand for water supply will not be better in the near future as the population is expected to triple by the year 2050 and likely to reach 1.2 billion in SSA [4, 16]. As such, most countries in SSA will be in a state of water stress or scarcity [17]. Moreover, increased demand for water supply can also be induced by the growth of a middle class of citizens in large agglomerations with high water needs. However, the Africa Water Vision 2025 will be based on the principle of service differentiation. The growth of a middle class of citizens with greater water needs will be addressed following this aforementioned principle. Therefore, different socio-economic groups in different parts of an urban area or of a country in Africa will be able to obtain the types and levels of water services that they want and are willing to pay for [18]. Last but not the least, another contributing factor to water shortage in SSA is inadequate water-resources development. Despite a growing demand for water in response to population growth, water scarcity is partly due to low levels of exploitation of water resources. Presently, the entire sub-continent uses less than 2% of its renewable groundwater and irrigates less than 2 MHa (or about 1% of its cultivable land) of groundwater [19]. The current SSA land irrigation capacity is far less than that of the States of Texas in the US. SSA must use modern technologies as other regions such as India do to steer up its agricultural development based on sustainable groundwater development.

Some African towns such as Bamako (Mali), Kampala (Uganda), Lagos (Nigeria), Niamey (Niger), and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) will be the most affected by water stress due to their geographical locations coupled with their unprecedented urban growth [7, 20]. Another arising issue that complicates the water crisis in SSA is that the concentration and distribution of formal water outlets is a constant in relation to the consumer demand and the quality of supply that are variables. This phenomenon is most obvious in small towns and peri-urban areas [21].

The stress in the water supply-demand relationship is aggravated by insecurity or socio-political crisis that may cause a shift of a significant influx of the population from crisis areas to other localities. In this case, refugees and internally displaced people constitute the most vulnerable group experiencing water shortages. For example in Cameroon, since 2014 we have witnessed a significant influx of the population from the Far North and, a massive exodus of the population since 2016 from the northwest and southwest to other cities such as Yaoundé, Douala, Bafoussam, etc., because of the insecurity perpetrated by the Islamic sect Boko Haram and the Anglophone crisis. These phenomena have caused the swelling and concentration of populations in certain areas of Yaoundé such as Akok-Ndoe, located in the subdivision of Yaoundé 7. With a population of around 6000 people, this locality does not record any drilling or water supply provided by the public service. Similarly, Mayo-Tsanaga division, located 80 km away from Maroua has been experiencing a significant population growth resulting from the relocation of refugees and displaced persons from Boko Haram attacks. As direct consequences, the population of Mayo-Tsanaga must gather around a single water point to fetch water as seen in **Figure 1**.

On the other hand, the overpopulated area of Akok-Ndoe either dig wells on rocky soil or obtain water from the private water vendors at an exorbitant price (\$10 per m3 ). Sometimes, the quality of such water is doubtful and is unsafe for the consumers' health. Unfortunately, this situation may depict the reality of many other consumers throughout the sub-continent. The services of the private water providers may compromise the affordability and quality of water, two key criteria for water safety [22].
