With the increase in population in Africa and the development of the economy, drinking water sources are seriously polluted. Nearly half of African countries have a drinking water supply rate of less than 50%.
In most countries, health facilities are less than 50%, and in some countries less than 10%. The daily water consumption each person in Africa is only 20 L (The minimum daily water consumption each person proposed by the UN is 50 L). The amount of water treated with water treatment chemicals is less than 5%.
The current production value of poly aluminum chloride in Africa is about 322 million RMB if all domestic drinking water treatment uses poly aluminum chloride as a coagulant. At present, water treatment facilities in many countries in Africa are extremely imperfect. And their water treatment technology is less developed.
With the improvement of living standards, the demand for water treatment chemicals will continue to increase. Therefore, China-Africa cooperation in the field of water treatment has broad prospects.
Africa is the second-largest continent in the world, with a land area of 20.4% of the global area. The population is over 1.1 billion, of which the urban population is about 400 million. Africa is the region with the lowest level of urbanization in the world, with an urbanization level of only 40%.
However, its urbanization has grown very fast, reaching an average annual rate of 3.5%. It is predicted that the urban population of Africa will account for 50% of the total population in 2030. 60% will be reached in 2050.
Due to population growth and urbanization, the problem of environmental pollution and ecological damage in Africa has become increasingly prominent. A large amount of industrial wastewater, domestic sewage, and agricultural wastewater are directly discharged into natural water bodies without treatment. The lack of water supply pipe networks and sanitation has made it difficult for many African cities to obtain enough and safe drinking water.
The Safe Drinking Water Coverage in African Countries is shown in Figure-1.
Figure-1
Therefore, there will be huge investment needs in drinking water treatment in the next 20 years.
The level of industrialization and the level of urbanization in Africa continue to improve. Industrial production and residential life processes produce large amounts of domestic and industrial wastewater. However, due to the imperfect of the supporting sewage collection system, most domestic sewage and industrial sewage are directly discharged into the environment without treatment. This poses a serious threat to the environment and human health. Some of the completed water plants also often have problems such as excessive water load. Therefore, there are huge market demands for water treatment chemicals in Africa.
Estimation of Cooperation Potential in China-Africa Water Treatment Area——Taking Water Treatment Chemicals as An Example
Due to the economic backwardness in Africa, the rate of drinking water and sewage treatment is very low. It is a market with great potential. The global water treatment market demand in 2018 is shown in the pie chart. As can be seen from the pie chart, the demand for water treatment chemicals in Africa and the Middle East is only 5%.
The Global Water Treatment Chemicals Market Size Statistics from 2012 to 2018 are shown in Table-1.
| Area | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | 60.6 | 61.8 | 63.9 | 64.3 | 65.3 | 66.6 | 68.3 |
| Western Europe | 44.3 | 46.2 | 46.7 | 48.6 | 49.6 | 50.9 | 53.9 |
| Asia Pacific | 44.8 | 48.7 | 54.1 | 58.0 | 63.3 | 68.4 | 73.9 |
| South America | 13.5 | 14.4 | 14.9 | 15.9 | 16.8 | 17.8 | 19.0 |
| Eastern Europe | 12.3 | 13.3 | 13.5 | 14.4 | 15.3 | 16.3 | 16.8 |
| Africa and the Middle East | 7.4 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 10.3 | 11.1 | 11.2 | 12.1 |
| Total | 182.9 | 192.6 | 201.1 | 211.5 | 221.4 | 231.2 | 244 |
The Global Water Treatment Chemicals Market Size Statistics
As can be seen from Table-1, as of 2018, the water treatment market in Africa and the Middle East is still small, only $1.21 billion. Its water treatment chemicals mainly rely on imports. And the total population of Africa is 1.1 billion. It can be seen that the water treatment agent in Africa has a large gap and has great development potential.
The daily water consumption per capita in Africa is still very different from that in developed countries. The annual water consumption in Africa is as shown in formula (1).
T=c×p×365=20×10-3×11×108×365=8.03×109 (1)
c———Daily water consumption (t); p———Population; T———Annual water consumption (t).
Water treatment includes drinking water treatment and sewage treatment. With the continuous development of the industrial level, drinking water in Africa is polluted by the flora and heavy metals. The deliberate discharge of domestic and industrial wastewater further exacerbates the deterioration of the water environment. At present, the drinking water treatment process adopted in Africa is still dominated by traditional coagulation processes. However, traditional water treatment processes have been unable to meet the needs of water treatment. Therefore, drinking water treatment in Africa has a great room for improvement in water treatment, water treatment technology, and level.
China and Africa face many similar environmental problems. It is our common responsibility to respond to global climate change and protect the ecological environment. Due to the low level of economic development, basic sanitation facilities, drinking water treatment and supply rates, living and production wastewater treatment rates in African countries are at extremely low levels. The established water plants in Africa also have problems such as poor operation, simple process level, low technical level, and inadequate water quality.
Therefore, as the African economy continues to grow, the demand for drinking water and wastewater treatment will continue to increase. Through the cooperation between China and Africa, water treatment technology will play a greater role in the sustainable development of the local economy and society.