Recent Advances on Water Pollution Research in Africa: A Critical Review

Abstract

Africa is favored with characteristic and natural water resources, but misuse of these asserts has been driven to extraordinary contamination of the environment. Populace development and urbanization due to improvements have moreover contributed gigantically to the present water contamination in Africa. The principal causes of contamination for surface waterways are untreated effluents released into the environment by humans and machines. Several African countries have set targets for emissions released into surface waters, but it’s unclear whether they’re being followed. Despite the fact that groundwater sources such as wells and boreholes are important sources of drinking water for Africans, the natural water quality of these groundwater sources is, for the most part, moo within the vicinity due to close proximity to sterile areas. Distinguished sources of water contaminations in Africa incorporate agrarian activities, mining, roadside outflows, wastes from industries and workshops, dumps and e-wastes. Oil leaks are a major problem in oil-rich African countries like Nigeria and Angola. Agrarian practices had the least impact on soil in Africa, whereas e-waste reuse has the highest quantities of Pb, Cu, and Zn (>1%). In Africa, there is a need for effective natural toxin control. This paper analyzes and summarizes the recent scholarship on water pollution on the African continent. It gives the past and current overview of the research breakthrough among the African scholars and scholars from the diaspora working on water pollution.