TRANS-BOUNDARY AQUIFER WATER CRISIS: CHALLENGES AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR SOUTHERN AFRICAN REGION

The supplies of fresh water are dwindling creating conflict among competing users of this resource. Its quality is corrupted by contamination. The growth in population, urbanization and industrialization are increasingly fierce competition for this depleting resource among its incompatible users. The climate change has increased water stress. Increase in agricultural land under irrigation has demand for more water. In Southern Africa countries will resort to subterranean water to meet their diverse needs. The nature of underground water’s geophysics and lack of data thereof in the region, the lack of ground water regulations governing its abstraction on the boundaries, is likely to cause conflicts. This paper looks at the implications of abstraction of the trans-boundary aquifer water on policy. The paper points to the current weaknesses of the regulations due to inadequate data on the quantity and spatiality of this resource and proffer for the need of resilient institutions that can work as instruments of conflict resolution. Secondary literature is used to demonstrate the levels of the underground water problems and the attending tensions. It is concluded that while water cannot bring violent conflict in the near future between nations, the distant conflict will be based on ‘water cannons and steel bullets’. This can be resolved by shared regional understanding of the vulnerability of water and creation of resilient policies implemented by all stakeholders