The Our Water, Our Rights Africa Coalition (OWORAC) has known as on African governments to reject the privatisation of public water programs and prioritise funding in publicly controlled water products and services to ensure common get entry to to protected, inexpensive and dependable water.
The coalition made the decision at a press convention in Lagos to mark the 2026 Africa Week of Motion Towards Water Privatisation, scheduled for October 12–18, beneath the theme, “Reclaiming Africa’s Water Long run: Public Water for All.”
The coalition comprises civil society organisations, staff, neighborhood teams and water justice actions throughout Africa, together with Company Responsibility and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) in Nigeria.
OWORAC warned that business preparations, together with public-private partnerships, concessions, business price lists and pay as you go water-meter programs, may deepen inequality and make get entry to to an very important carrier an increasing number of depending on other folks’s skill to pay.
The coalition stated years of insufficient public funding, susceptible water utilities, fast urbanisation, inhabitants expansion and aggravating local weather pressures had contributed to chronic water provide demanding situations around the continent.
Talking on behalf of the coalition, Convenor of Water Voters Community Ghana, Geoffrey Occansey, stated the size of the disaster remained alarming, bringing up figures appearing that 2.1 billion other folks globally lacked safely controlled ingesting water in 2024, whilst 3.4 billion lacked safely controlled sanitation.
He added that 167 million other folks in sub-Saharan Africa trusted restricted drinking-water products and services all the way through the similar length, representing greater than part of the worldwide inhabitants the use of products and services at that degree.
Consistent with the coalition, unreliable public water provides drive many families, in particular low-income households and underserved communities, to rely on doubtlessly unsafe resources or acquire water from distributors, tankers, deepest boreholes and packaged-water providers.
Occansey cited analysis indicating that low-income families depending on water distributors in sub-Saharan African towns may pay between 10 and 20 instances extra consistent with unit of water than wealthier families attached to public networks.
He described the location as a poverty penalty, arguing that individuals with the least monetary sources steadily pay the very best costs for very important products and services.
The coalition stated the pressing want for funding in water and sanitation infrastructure however insisted that financing preparations will have to offer protection to public get entry to quite than prioritise business returns.
It warned that moving public tasks to personal operators may lead to unaffordable products and services, left out infrastructure, labour abuses and environmental degradation.
OWORAC additionally raised considerations about deficient sanitation, insufficient wastewater control and unmanaged cast waste, which proceed to infect water our bodies, threaten public well being and aggravate flooding in African towns.
Bringing up company responsibility considerations, the coalition referenced a 2025 World Witness investigation that reported alleged environmental air pollution connected to a Veolia-managed landfill in Colombia. It additionally cited allegations by way of the Gabonese state relating to petroleum waste at pumping stations following Veolia’s operations, along allegations of economic mismanagement involving Suez’s operations in Senegal.
The coalition prompt governments to give a boost to public water establishments, build up investment for infrastructure and staff, give a boost to making plans programs and make sure significant neighborhood participation in water governance.
It also known as for clear disclosure of water contracts, price lists and financing preparations, along measurable nationwide and regional investment commitments.
Occansey stated the African Union’s designation of 2026 because the 12 months of “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Secure Sanitation Methods to Reach the Objectives of Time table 2063” introduced a chance to advance water justice.
He prompt African governments to make use of the Africa Water Imaginative and prescient 2063 and the 2026 United International locations Water Convention to give a boost to commitments to public financing, responsibility and common get entry to.
“Africa’s water long term can not hinge on attracting extra deepest funding. It will have to be constructed on functioning public water programs that individuals can depend on,” he stated.
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