Water in Benin

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Benin is a Western African country bordered between Togo and Nigeria. Benin has a coast line of approximately 100 miles; it also has Queme River, the nation’s largest river, to supports their water resources. The climate in Benin is fairly hot and moisture, which results in many rainy periods. Also, 1.8% of Benin’s total surface area is covered by water. The current water use in Benin is only about 1% of the available resources, while there is an average rainfall of approximately 1,039 mm/year and a total amount of renewable water resource of approximately 3,954 m2/person/year. It is estimated that the water resource in Benin is sufficient to meet its current and future demands, including its agricultural and industrial demand. Though, there are very limited water resources in rural areas of Benin (areas further from the coast line) due to the long distance to wells and limited resources during dry seasons. Drinking water in Benin is taken from very different sources, ranging from open surface water to tap water. A state-owned service, the SONEB (Société Nationale des Eaux du Bénin), provides tap water in the cities, while the DGO (Direction Générale de l'Eau), another public service, is responsible for water in rural areas, where no main supply exists. There has not been much research and investigation on the drinking water quality in Benin, but from briefly studies of the drinking water samples, the results show that the water is in good quality. Though, limited access to safe drinking water is still a situation Benin is facing and needs to deal with. Source: Heldmann, Moritz and Doevenspeck, Martin (2007) Drinking Water Supply in Benin. United States Agency for International Development (USAID),
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