DEVELOPMENT-NAMIBIA: Interest in Uranium Powers Desalination Plans

Efforts to build Namibia's first large-scale desalination plant are gaining momentum. The project is a joint undertaking of the Namibian Water Corporation (NamWater), a government owned utility, and mining company UraMin Inc.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: Power Cuts Lead to Sewage Spills

Sewage plants in South Africa’s northern Gauteng Province poured millions of litres of untreated waste into three rivers between the capital, Pretoria, and the commercial centre of Johannesburg earlier this month. National power utility Eskom cut electricity to the treatment plants, which were then unable to process the waste water before it was released into the rivers.

DEVELOPMENT-SWAZILAND: Water – "Just a Matter of Delivery"?

The main religious ceremony of the Swazi people is the "Incwala" or ‘Festival of the First Fruits’, held in late December. Dressed in traditional attire, tens of thousands of Swazi men and women dance and chant prayers to their ancestors. They seek good rains that will ensure abundant crops.

EGYPT: After Summer Shortages, Promise of Water Runs Dry

This summer saw a spate of severe water shortages throughout the country, leading to numerous protests by frustrated - and thirsty - citizens. Egypt has seen its share of political demonstrations in recent years, but the latest water protests are the first time that ordinary people have taken to the streets to demand a basic service.

SOUTH AFRICA: High Stakes Battle Between Mining and Environment

Environmentalists and tour operators appear to be losing the battle against mining companies in Mpumalanga, a province in the east of South Africa. This confrontation - which also pits two ministries against each other - will determine the future of hundreds of lakes and rivers, and has implications for the economic sustainability of the province.

ZIMBABWE: A Water and Sewerage Crisis That Goes "Straight to the Grave"

A young Zimbabwean couple glances furtively around before settling on a bench in a bare patch of ground that used to be a recreational park in Glen View, a sprawling, high-density suburb of the capital, Harare. It’s a Monday morning, and the two of them are struggling to come to terms with a strange sickness that has gripped their family. Every move they make in the direction of the Glen View One Satellite Clinic shows they are in great pain.

DEVELOPMENT-GHANA: Picking Up the Pieces After the Floods

"We prayed to God to open the heavens, but this is not what we expected," says Peter Nayoon, a farmer from Gushiegu in the north of Ghana, one of several African countries blighted by floods over recent weeks. "I am finished," he adds, pointing dejectedly towards the area that used to be his yam farm. "Who would give me money to start a new life?"

DEVELOPMENT-MALAWI: Lack of Running Water Puts Girls&#39 Education at Risk

Rita Kalikokha of Dowa, a rural district in central Malawi, thinks about abandoning school every time she menstruates.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: “We Drink Condoms and Panties”

Police arrested ten people who were part of a large group of protesters blocking the N4 highway linking South Africa and Botswana earlier this month. Residents of the tiny village of Ntsweletsoku were so angry about the persistent water shortages in their area that they resorted to violent demonstrations to attract the attention of the authorities.

ENVIRONMENT: Getting Some More Blue Into the Danube

The biggest river research expedition of the year is on its way to see if the Danube can be the Blue Danube again.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Plans to Dam the Cunene River Are Shelved Again

Political interests and specialist lobby groups appear once again to have stalled plans to dam the Cunene River where it forms the border between Angola and Namibia. After years of negotiations, several expensive feasibility studies and considerable political rhetoric, the proposed Epupa Dam on the Cunene River is not even close to the beginning of a construction phase.

ENVIRONMENT-ZAMBIA: Efforts to Halt the Strangulation of Kafue

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an international conservation organisation, has launched an initiative to protect Zambia's Kafue River from pollution: the 'Save the Kafue River Campaign'. At present, the river provides potable water to over 40 percent of people in the Southern African country.

HEALTH-GHANA: Boreholes That Proved a Lifeline Have Come at a Cost

Ask people to list the causes of tooth discolouration and they may mention tobacco chewing, or one too many cups of coffee a day. Pose the question in Ghana's northern Nayorigo village, however, and someone might answer: desertification.

MOZAMBIQUE: Water Supplies Still a Pipe Dream at Certain Health Facilities

A swelling crowd of people has gathered at the rural health centre at Monte Xiluvo in Nhamatanda district, in the central Mozambican province of Sofala. Most are mothers with young children who try to protect themselves from the gusty winds as they wait for their consultation with Caetano Mendosa, the nurse responsible for the centre.

SOUTH AFRICA: Copper Thieves, an Abattoir and Coal Mining Threaten Lake District

Raw sewage flowing into Lake Chrissie is threatening to turn South Africa’s largest natural freshwater body into a massive cesspool. Environmentalists claim that for seven years, local authorities ignored their pleas to upgrade water treatment facilities; officials only took action, they say, when local revenue was affected by the closure of tourism routes such as biking trails, as a result of pollution.

IRAQ: Between the Two Rivers, Lack of Water Kills

The collapse of Iraq's infrastructure has created a worsening water crisis that is killing untold numbers of Iraqis.

DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: The City of “Passport Size” Ablutions

The City Council of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, has issued a warning to residents of a possible outbreak of disease following a massive cut in the city’s water supply. This is the first time in Bulawayo's history such a health warning has been issued.

DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: Water Shortages in Capital Leave Residents Desperate

Taps in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, are running dry even though the city’s main supply dams are more than 60 percent full, according to figures from the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA). With more than half of Harare's three million inhabitants now experiencing water shortages, residents are resorting to desperate measures to find supplies.

EGYPT: Desert Reclamation the Country’s Best Hope – Or a Mirage?

"You can grow anything here," says 76-year-old Mohamed Ahmed, spreading his arms wide to point to the cascading bougainvilleas and an orchard of mango trees drooping with fruit. But, "When I first came here, there was nothing here but sand and more sand."

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Blind, Translucent, Vulnerable – And Important For Your Health

An unexpectedly rich variety of organisms can be found in groundwater, a source that more than 37 percent of people in Southern Africa are dependent on, according to the Southern African Development Community's Water Sector Co-ordinating Unit. And, an Australian scientist visiting South Africa believes these tiny animals should be studied more intensively to monitor the quality of groundwater.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Unequal Water Resources Present a Challenge

Water resources are unevenly distributed throughout the countries of Southern Africa. The region boasts of some of the world’s largest lakes and rivers, but is also a land of vast deserts.