Across the globe, around 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; which, according to UNICEF, is approximately one in eight people. This problem is further accentuated in sub-Saharan Africa with only 22-34% of the population having access to clean water. While Malawi continues to invest and make progress in water sector development, there are still issues of functionality and equity across the country with some districts including Dowa and Kasungu remaining among the least served; estimated at 41% and 61% respectively.
This is in part due to the high variability and climatic extremes present in this area of the continent, but the primary reason is a lack of infrastructure and functionality issues. Water stress has been shown to be a key barrier in achieving economic development, so achieving the growth necessary to invest in infrastructure remains out of reach in a vicious cycle driven by poverty.
Decentralised water purification systems (such as boreholes) offer a less expensive route to clean water security, but the costs involved in even these small scale interventions are prohibitive for most people at a domestic level. Therefore the traditional technique of boiling water remains the only viable method of purifying water for households and around 5% of domestic energy in Africa (primarily in the form of non renewable biomass) is used to treat water in this manner.
As there are significant greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning biomass (around 1 tCO2e per tonne of biomass combusted) to treat water, carbon credits can be obtained by projects that are able to supply clean water using zero emission technology. Using the concept of suppressed demand, project developers can also obtain credits by supplying clean water to poorer members of society that are not able to use biomass energy to treat their water (because they cannot afford it, or because the energy is otherwise unavailable to them.) This means that the credits obtained are proportional to the energy in biomass that would have been required to provide the same outcome – clean water for all users.
