- Bayern hit nine, Real Madrid and Liverpool win as new Champions League kicks off
- Author John Grisham joins bid to save Texas death row inmate
- Venezuela arrests fourth American over alleged 'plot' against Maduro
- 'Happy' Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- Man Utd hit Barnsley for seven in League Cup rout
- Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa facing concussion layoff
- Stylish Liverpool strut past Milan in confident Champions league opener
- Kane scores four as Bayern put nine past Zagreb in the Champions League
- Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- More than 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Harris calls Trump as assassination scare sparks tensions
- Dow edges down from record as some eye a smaller Fed rate cut
- Sommer vows Inter will 'defend with all we have' to stop Haaland
- Report links meatpacking companies to 'war on nature' in Brazil
- Bolivian ex-leader Morales, backers set out on weeklong protest march
- Smith grateful to McCullum for launching his England career
- Arizona to ask court to rule on voting rights
- Villa make perfect start on Champions League return after 41-year absence
- Israeli supply chain infiltration likely behind Hezbollah pager blasts: analysts
- Rodgers backs Celtic to be 'really competitive' in Champions League
- Spacewalk an 'emotional experience' for private astronauts
- Storm Boris toll rises to 22 in central Europe
- Nine dead, 2,800 wounded as Lebanon's Hezbollah hit by pager blasts
- Boeing, union resume talks as strike empties Seattle plants
- Over 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Australia's Zampa accepts Ashes chances remote as 100th ODI looms
- UN General Assembly debates call for end to Israeli occupation
- Marseille complete signing of French international Rabiot
- Easterby to fill in as Ireland coach while Farrell is with the Lions
- Hezbollah in Lebanon hit by wave of deadly pager blasts
- Postecoglou taken aback by criticism of his second season success claim
- US, European stocks rise on retail sales, rate cut expectations
- Fendi sees Roaring 20s at Milan Fashion Week in challenging times
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr part ways with coach Castro
- Scottish government backs Glasgow to stage troubled 2026 Commonwealth Games
- Storm Boris toll rises to 21 in central Europe
- Instagram, under pressure, tightens protection for teens
- Inflation slows again in Canada to 2%
- US, European stocks rise on eve of Fed rate decision
- EU bans Algerian spread toasted on social media
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs charged with racketeering, sex trafficking
- Trump returns to campaign trail after assassination scare
- Activist urges repatriation of Native Americans dead in Paris 'human zoo'
- US retail sales see slight rise, beating expectations
- US Fed begins two-day meeting set to end with rate cut
- Exploding Hezbollah pagers wound hundreds across Lebanon
- Runners-up Yokohama thrashed 7-3 in AFC Champions League goal fest
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs to plead not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking
- Jihadist group claims rare attack on Mali capital
- 'I am a rapist,' Frenchman tells trial over mass rape of wife
Senegal's water-stressed capital faces difficult future
Many residents of the Senegalese metropolis Dakar get up in the middle of the night hoping to collect water from their taps, which mostly run dry.
"We wake up at 4 or 5 am to get water, says Sidy Fall, 44, in her kitchen in a working-class neighbourhood, filled with large bottles of stored water.
If she doesn't get up in time, the water often runs out by 5:30 am. Fall's taps are sometimes dry for two or three days at a time.
A population boom in Senegal is intensifying pressure on scarce water resources in its semi-arid capital of five million people, with problems set to increase over the coming decades.
This is common to many African cities, where infrastructure investments have lagged behind strong demographics and demand for water from industry and agriculture.
In Dakar, a recent World Bank report pointed to poor water management as part of the reason for shortages, along with overexploitation and groundwater pollution.
But demand for water has kept increasing too, sending municipal officials racing to improve infrastructure to secure supply.
"Water is a source of life, but here water is a source of problems," said Khadija Mahecor Diouf, the mayor of the Dakar suburb Golf Sud, at a public meeting last week.
- Population explosion -
Golf Sud's population has risen from 70,000 to 125,000 people in 10 years, Diouf told AFP, and is predicted to double in the next decade.
Half of all households in the suburb have problems with water, she said.
"We have a population that has exploded, urban planning schemes that have not been respected," Diouf added, predicting that the problem would get worse.
About a third of Senegal's population of 17 million people lives in the Dakar region, which is also the country's economic nerve centre.
But there are myriad complications tied to the runaway expansion. The sewage system is often lacking, and parts of Dakar routinely flood during the rainy season.
Diouf said water cuts are a problem "all year round".
Senegal's government, for its part, said 99 percent of urbanites and 91 percent of rural dwellers had access to water.
- Supply remedies -
The authorities are pushing to remedy supply issues in the capital and the government says it has made considerable infrastructure investments.
Babou Ngom, from the state water company Sones, said new investments meant that supply would soon match demand.
Dakar is supplied by four plants that pump water from a lake some 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of the city -- as well as from over-exploited aquifers.
The fourth plant came online last year: Ngom said it would produce 200,000 cubic metres per day by the end of 2022 -- which would guarantee Dakar's water supply until 2026.
Sones is also building a desalination plant on the Dakar coastline, due to open in 2024.
While Dakar residents are quick to blame the government, national consumer association president Momar Ndao concedes there have been improvements.
Often water is only available on ground floors, however, and consumers are increasingly complaining about exorbitant prices, he added.
- More water -
Sen'eau, a private firm that has managed Dakar's water on behalf of the state since 2020, argues it is not to blame for recurrent shortages.
The firm -- in which French utility company Suez has a 45-percent stake -- is the target of broad popular frustration.
But Diery Ba, a Sen'eau director, said the company had inherited crumbling water infrastructure, which it has set about improving.
"Almost no neighbourhood had water 24 hours a day," he said.
While upgrades to the network had led to water cuts, this "adjustment period" was coming to an end, he added.
Higher bills were also a result of consumers simply consuming more water than they once did, he said.
Despite improvements, a question mark still hangs over Dakar's future water supply.
According to the World Bank, Senegalese water consumption is due to increase between 30 and 60 percent by 2035.
The country "urgently needs to prioritise water security," the bank said.
L.Miller--AMWN