The world faces an invisible crisis of water quality that is eliminating one-third of potential economic growth in heavily polluted areas and threatening human and environmental well-being, according to a World Bank report. Regarding Africa, the continent continues to face major challenges in the water sector, particularly in terms of access to drinking water and water quality monitoring.

To contribute to the improvement of this worrying situation and support the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) in the African Water Vision 2025, AfWA has committed itself to developing programmes to support stakeholders, such AfWA Capacity Building Programme (AfriCap), which aims to promote partnership in the field water’sector.

To assess the progress of this programme, AfWA, in partnership with the National Water and Sanitation Office of Burkina Faso and USAID, organized the 1st International Symposium on Water Quality in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 9 to 11 December 2019. Under the theme: "Investing in Water Quality for a Sustainable Life", this symposium brought together about 100 experts, as well as development partners, donors and students from 12 African countries and 2 European countries. The objective was to share experiences, capitalize on the actions undertaken during the implementation of the programmes and define guidelines for better consideration of water quality by the various stakeholders in the sector and by the governing authorities.

Over two days, experts gathered in Ouagadougou discussed the challenges, financing, capacity building, policies and regulations of the water sector in Africa. At the end of their work, they formulated recommendations contained in the following Declaration.

DECLARATION OF OUAGADOUGOU

We, participants of the international symposium on water quality, meet in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on December 9-10, 2019, four years after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), taking into account targets 1 and 3 of objective 6 related to water quality,

Declare the following:

Considering that universal access to water and adequate sanitation constitute human rights recognized in the universal charter of human rights to which most of African countries have subscribed; Considering that the deterioration of the quality of water resources affects the ecosystem, health of consumers and increase drinking water production costs;

Considering that one of the strategic tools use by most of African countries to ensure water quality is the Water Safety Plan (WSP),

Realizing that water security is a key factor in the socio-political and economic development of Africa,

Convinced that without adequate policies and regulations, followed with enough material, financial and human resources in quantity and quality, the implementation of the control and monitoring of water quality cannot be effective

Edified by the fact that the development of North-South and South-South partnerships through different networking channels constitutes one of the important levers for strengthening the capacities of local actors through benchmarking and peer-to-peer,

Agree on the following recommendations:

In terms of policies and regulation:

1. To develop and implement binding policies for water users with a view to ensuring water safety;

2. To develop a synergy between existing consultation frameworks and popularize their results;

3. To systematize the integration of water quality aspect in water supply projects and programs;

4. To develop environmental education for school children and households;

5. To take incentives for private investors on water quality;

6. To promote the development of African water quality guidelines.

In terms of capacity building:

1. To encourage partnerships between water companies (WOP);

2. To align training curricula with the needs of water quality control laboratories;

3. To mutualize the resources of existing training centers and universities in the countries;

4. To strengthen the partnership between research institutes and water companies on water quality issues;

5. To raise awareness among stakeholders (industrial, mining, etc.) on anti-pollution measures for less polluted raw water

In terms of financing:

1. To mobilize various taxes (polluter pays, levy, VAT, etc.) and environmental taxation for the financing of water quality;

2. To exonerate taxes on the acquisition of equipment and consumables for water quality monitoring;

3. To strengthen advocacy for the mobilization of donor funds for water quality monitoring;

4. To advocate for an allocation of resources for quality monitoring;

5. To mobilize and implement an investment to equip water quality laboratories.

Done in Ouagadougou, on 11 december 2019