**8. Conclusion**

Water is the most vital natural resource on the planet that many life forms depend on for survival. This chapter has shown how population growth, competition for water across sectors, and the exposure to infectious agents or toxic chemicals pose a serious threat to water security, food security, and human existence. There is increased pressure on all sectors to minimize water use by considering more efficient use of water and alternative sources of water. This is only possible if the normative criteria of the human right to safe drinking water which are accessibility, availability, and quality are enforced to ensure that all current and foreseeable water demands highlighted under SDG 6 are met. Little promising progress has been achieved, but much work still has to be done to make water sustainability a reality before the SDG target date of 2030. The present status of water potential in Africa suggests that synergies that adopt sharing of expertise, experiences, knowledge, analytical capabilities, and optimizing mechanisms for greater food safety assurance and awareness by looking at both chemical and microbial hazards in foods should be promoted in the continent.

**49**

**Author details**

Nokuthula Vilakazi1

Technology, Limbe, Malawi

provided the original work is properly cited.

1 Future Africa, University of Pretoria, South Africa

2 College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi

\*Address all correspondence to: nokuthula.vilakazi@fabi.up.ac.za

\*, Kumbukani Nyirenda1,2 and Emmanuel Vellemu1,3

3 Department of Water Resources Management, Malawi University of Science and

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

*Unlocking Water Issues Towards Food Security in Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86788*

*Unlocking Water Issues Towards Food Security in Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86788*

*Food Security in Africa*

**Figure 1.**

a major health risk and has received the attention of national and international environmentalists [47]. Rapid population growth, increasing urbanization, and the increasing appearance of slums and townships as a consequence of poor planning coupled with increasing industrial activities are some of the major factors that have contributed to the accumulation of heavy metals in food products. Africa has large deposits of mineral resources, and mining activities have increased with poor environmental regulations and compliance. Thus, heavy metals have constituted

An environmental assessment report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released in 2011, showed that drinking water, air, and agricultural soil in 10 communities from southeastern Nigeria contained over 900 times permissible levels of hydrocarbon and heavy metals [47]. The report further indicated that heavy metal pollution is a continental public health challenge in the sub-Saharan African region. Another study conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo showed a 43-fold increase in the urinary concentration of cadmium, cobalt, lead, and uranium in human subjects including children living in mining areas compared to controls [56]. The increase in the levels of the heavy metals was largely attributed to ingestion of contaminated food products and water with toxic chemical compounds. The increasing negative effects on food safety from water and soil pollution have, therefore, potentially put more people at risk of carcinogenic

Water is the most vital natural resource on the planet that many life forms depend on for survival. This chapter has shown how population growth, competition for water across sectors, and the exposure to infectious agents or toxic chemicals pose a serious threat to water security, food security, and human existence. There is increased pressure on all sectors to minimize water use by considering more efficient use of water and alternative sources of water. This is only possible if the normative criteria of the human right to safe drinking water which are accessibility, availability, and quality are enforced to ensure that all current and foreseeable water demands highlighted under SDG 6 are met. Little promising progress has been achieved, but much work still has to be done to make water sustainability a reality before the SDG target date of 2030. The present status of water potential in Africa suggests that synergies that adopt sharing of expertise, experiences, knowledge, analytical capabilities, and optimizing mechanisms for greater food safety assurance and awareness by looking at both chemical and microbial hazards

agents of toxic pollution of water, air, soil, and food products.

*Chemical structures of aflatoxins prevalent in African countries.*

diseases, particularly in food producing areas.

in foods should be promoted in the continent.

**8. Conclusion**

**48**
