Africa's water availability sometimes goes untapped

Water demand in Africa grew by around 26% between 2010 and 2020, yet around 717 million people lacked a piped water supply in 2020, according to research published in Nature. The findings indicate that water scarcity in some parts of Africa may be due to a lack of infrastructure, rather than a lack of available water. The work provides a comprehensive map for water demand in different sectors, highlighting issues that need to be addressed to increase the availability of water in Africa, which forms part of Sustainable Development Goal 6.