Water shortages, polluted water, improper waste disposal and poor water management cause serious public health problems in Africa today. Water-related diseases such as malaria, cholera, typhoid and schistosomiasis harm or kill millions of people every year. Overuse and pollution of water supplies are also taking a heavy toll on the natural environment and pose increasing risks for many species of life.
The current level of investment for water supply and sanitization in the African region, estimated at $1.3 billion a year, remains totally inadequate to meet the sector's needs and has resulted in the poorest service coverage yet.

A World Health Organization report called "Year 2000 Progress Report" says that funds required annually for water supply and sanitation just to cope with the current rate of population growth are estimated at $2.2 billion. According to the report, over half of the population in Africa today lack safe drinking water while two-thirds lack a sanitary means of human waste disposal.

A look at Malawi, Chad and Kenya give a rough idea of the situation of water in Africa. David Mhango of the University of Malawi says that the current scarcity of water resources has partly been due to the rapid population growth and urbanization, meteorological and hydrological droughts and rainfall variability, water wastage and mismanagement, water supply system problems (inadequate design criteria, leakages, poor maintenance), insufficient boreholes and wells, deforestation, improper cultivation practices and uncontrolled bush fires. Another reason is water quality deterioration due to the high sediment loads in rivers, highly mineralized and salty aquifers, waste effluent discharges and solid waste dumping in rivers, sanitary problems, agrochemical pollution and microbiological contamination. Limited financial resources, poor institutional structures and implementation of environmental regulations, insufficient and unaffordable electricity supply, high unemployment and insufficient public education and awareness have great influence on the scarcity of water resources in Malawi.  In Chad, Lake Chad, which is widely regarded as the world's third largest lake and the world's largest freshwater lake, has become an endangered water source to the people in the country due to natural (drought, desertification, high evapotranspiration rates and possible river capture) and man-made causes (forest over-exploitation, bush burning, tree cutting etc.), according to Abubakar Jauro, executive secretary, Lake Chad Basin Commission. 

Jauro says that since these natural phenomena cannot easily be predicted and contained, new systems of water resources management and planning have to be devised through water conservation and management techniques. Such techniques would include the improvement of the efficiency of current water uses particularly large scale irrigation projects, as well as such water conservation measures as improving soil texture to reduce evaporation, adopting proper operation rules for upstream dams and intra and inter-basin water transfer options within the basin. Integrated planning and management, which considers the basin as a whole in terms of the interdependence between upstream and downstream uses, are equally important for sustainable development. 

In Kenya, the national water and sanitation supply coverage is 45 percent and 40 percent respectively. UNESCO recently reminded us: "Safe water and adequate sanitation are not only the basis of life and health but are also essential factors which can contribute to economic growth, poverty alleviation and human dignity. Disease and death, the report notes, are the constant bane of people who are unable to maintain a minimum standard of personal hygiene and are forced out of necessity to drink water contaminated by human, animal, commercial or industrial wastes. The countless hours spent mainly by women and female children hauling water from distant, often polluted sources represent an enormous waste of time and effort that could be gainfully used for child care, education and more fulfilling activities."

The situation is so sad that according to an American scientist, J.W.N Riviere, in a publication called Threats to the World's Waters, women and girls in Africa spend 40 billion person hours a year hauling water. 

According to a recent issue of the East and Southern Africa Geographical Journal, there is an urgent need to formulate a management system and make agreements between upstream and downstream users to guarantee minimum flows in rivers during dry seasons to minimize conflicts. The issue says that research has shown that dry season river flows have remarkably declined, though rainfall trends have not changed. This is attributed to high levels of irrigation abstraction in dry seasons, and water demand that has over stretched supply especially in the lower reaches of the river. High agricultural activities in mountain slopes and adjoining savanna areas also means abstraction of more than 60 percent of river flow for agriculture. According to the journal, abstractions over 80 percent are illegal.