II International Scientific Conference of Students and Young Scientists
RU EN FR

Clean Water and Sanitation

SDG 6

About the Session

It is necessary to improve integrated water management in Africa and access to water and sanitation services to address the issues related to social and economic inequalities. This refers to putting into practice the ‘leaving no one behind’ principle in relation to many benefits and opportunities water provides.

Since the 1980s, global water use has increased on average by about 1% per year due to the combined effects of such factors as demographic growth, socio-economic development and changing consumption patterns. Global demand for water resources is expected to increase at about the same rate until 2050. This will lead to an increase in water consumption by 20-30% compared to today. Over 1.4 billion people live in Africa, a region of high water vulnerability. More than one billion people are facing severe water shortages. Water stress is likely to rise due to increasing demand for water and exacerbated effects of climate change.

The lack of proper water management (storage and provision) infrastructure and inadequate drinking water and sanitation services are direct causes of persistent poverty in Sub-Saharan African countries. Approximately 60% of the total population of these countries, many of whom still live in poverty, is rural. Approximately 10% of the population still drink unimproved surface water, and many rural residents, especially women and girls, spend a lot of time fetching water. The situation is even more dramatic when you consider that Africa will account for more than half of the demographic growth expected by 2050 (more than 1.4 billion people out of a global increase of 2.2 billion).

Figures and Facts

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 71% of the burden of collecting drinking water falls on women and children.
All women in this part of Africa spend an average of 200 million hours a day fetching drinking water, which is equivalent to 40 billion hours a year.
In some African schools, girls’ attendance is 15% higher if the source of drinking water is 15 minutes from their home or less, if the source is an hour’s walk from their home.
In communities (villages) which suffer from a significant shortage of drinking water, women and children spend about 6 hours a day collecting water.
There is a correlation between decreased time to fetch clean water and increased school attendance.
Women and children walk an average of 3.7 kilometers a day to a water source in some parts of Africa and Asia.

Discussion Issues

The following issues will be discussed at the Clean Water and Sanitation session:

  • Integrated resource management.
  • Scarcity of drinking water in the arid and semi-arid regions of Africa, water treatment technologies.
  • Waste accumulation and its impact on the quality of surface and groundwater in Africa.

The results of research into diseases associated with poor drinking water quality and insufficient access to sanitation in Africa will be presented. The issues related to training personnel to work in water supply and sanitation in the African region will be separately considered.

Opening Remarks

  • Anna Kurbatova (Russia)
    Institute of Environmental Engineering, RUDN University
    Associate Professor
    Loubna El Fels (Morocco)
    University Cadi Ayyad
    Professor

Invited Speakers

  • Report
    Wastewater treatment, state of the art in North of Africa – case of Morocco
    Loubna El Fels (Morocco)
    University Cadi Ayyad
    Professor
  • Report
    Presentation of WtERT & Possibilities of developing Waste-to-Energy technologies in African context
    Reda Kabbaj (Morocco)
    Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WtERT)
    Vice President
  • Report
    Impact of industrialization on Water and Sanitation
    Nkandu Luo (Zambia)
    Former Minister of Health and Minister of Higher Education of Zambia
    Professor
  • Report
    Microplastics as a new class of emerging contaminants: present and future
    Luque Alvarez de Sotomayor Rafael (Spain)
    Centre for Modern Organic Chemistry and Innovative compounds for the Medicinal Industry, RUDN University
    Director
  • Report
    Russia’s transboundary water partnership. Experience and strategic orientations
    Tatyana Bokova (Russia)
    Federal Agency for Water Resources
    Deputy Head
  • Report
    From high moisture organic waste to energy
    Mikhail Vlaskin (Russia)
    Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences
    Head of the Laboratory of Energy Storage Substances
  • Report
    Increasing access to water and improving hygiene and sanitation in Chipata, Eastern Province, Zambia by Living Water International.
    Christabel Nachizya Mateyo (Zambia)
    Regional Evaluation Monitoring and Learning Specialist (Zambia)

  • Reports by young scientists

  • Panel discussion

Young scientists

  • Reports by young scientists

  • Panel discussion

ESG Agenda Topics

  • Features of water supply and sanitation in arid climate using the example of the countries of the Middle East and North African region.
  • Valorization of wastewater treatment of the agrarian and industrial complex by microalgae.
  • Assessing public health risk from the drinking water consumption in African countries.
  • Water resource management: problems and prospects.
  • Storm water: advanced collection and management technologies.