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Communal tap (standpost) for drinking water in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. May 2005. Groundwater plays a key role in sustaining water supplies and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa especially due to its widespread availability, generally high quality, and intrinsic ability to buffer episodes of drought and increasing climate variability.
For example, in the case of Africa, investments into groundwater use is an option to increase water security and for climate change adaptation. [76] Water security in African countries could benefit from the distribution of groundwater storage and recharge on the continent. Recharge is a process where water moves to groundwater.
Groundwater pollution (also called groundwater contamination) occurs when pollutants are released to the ground and make their way into groundwater.This type of water pollution can also occur naturally due to the presence of a minor and unwanted constituent, contaminant, or impurity in the groundwater, in which case it is more likely referred to as contamination rather than pollution.
Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, with a negative impact on their uses. [31]: 6 It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Water pollution results when contaminants mix with these water bodies. Contaminants can come from ...
Groundwater is also used by farmers to irrigate crops and by industries to produce everyday goods. Most groundwater is clean, but groundwater can become polluted, or contaminated as a result of human activities or as a result of natural conditions. The many and diverse activities of humans produce innumerable waste materials and by-products ...
The main objectives of ecological sanitation are to reduce the health risks related to sanitation, contaminated water and waste; to prevent groundwater pollution and surface water pollution; and to reuse nutrients or energy contained within wastes. [1]
Climate-driven extreme weather conditions, such as droughts and intense precipitation, may be accelerating the pace at which toxic nitrates are polluting groundwater, a recent study has found.
Northern Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa are progressing towards the Millennium Development Goal on water at different paces. [2] While Northern Africa has 92% safe water coverage, Sub-Saharan Africa remains at a low 60% of coverage – leaving 40% of the 783 million people in that region without access to clean drinking water. [2]