Africa’s Water Accounting Exposes a Management Gap

Africa has enough water data to track its resources, but not enough systems to manage them, a new accounting review reveals. The gap is not in measurement but in governance. Across the continent, agencies collect rainfall, river flow, and groundwater figures. Yet these numbers rarely connect to budget decisions, infrastructure planning, or drought response. Water accounts exist on paper. They seldom guide policy. The result is a paradox. Countries can describe their water. Many cannot manage it.