Key takeaways
- A sample of more than 200 countries and territories shows a strong negative relationship between access to electricity and mortality from waterborne illnesses.
- Sub-Saharan Africa, the world’s most broadly energy-poor region, has the highest per capita death rates from unsafe water of any countries globally.
- Water for human consumption and other uses embeds an often underappreciated quantity of energy, linking reliable water service to reliable power.
- Every 1,000 gallons of groundwater used in San Antonio embeds an estimated 12 kWh, nearly a Tesla Powerwall’s 14 kWh storage capacity.
- Botswana, Namibia and South Africa pair middle-income electricity use with developing-country water mortality, a pattern the author attributes to extreme inequality.
November 2020
Key Findings:
–A sample of more than 200 countries and territories analyzed by the author reveals a strong negative relationship between access to electricity and mortality from waterborne illnesses.
–Sub-Saharan Africa—the world’s most broadly energy-poor region—also has the countries with the highest rates anywhere globally of death per capita from unsafe water.
–Water for human consumption (as well as other uses) embeds an often underappreciated quantity of energy.
–As an example, every 1,000 gallons of groundwater supplies used in the City of San Antonio embeds an estimated 12 kWh, nearly the energy storage capacity of a Tesla Powerwall (14 kWh).
Exhibit 1: Global Relationship Between Electricity Access and Water-Related Mortality
Source: CIA World Factbook, World Bank, Author’s Analysis
Frequently asked questions
Is there a link between electricity access and deaths from unsafe water?
Yes. Gabriel Collins’s November 2020 analysis of more than 200 countries and territories found a strong negative relationship between access to electricity and mortality from waterborne illnesses. Countries with less electricity tend to have higher death rates from unsafe water, unsafe sanitation and lack of hygiene, with the highest rates concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Which countries have the highest death rates from unsafe water?
Sub-Saharan African countries have the highest per capita death rates from unsafe water anywhere in the world, according to the analysis. The region is also the world’s most broadly energy-poor. Countries such as Chad, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Sierra Leone combine very low electricity use with the highest water-related mortality in the sample.
How much energy does it take to supply drinking water?
Supplying water for human consumption embeds a quantity of energy that is often underappreciated. In San Antonio, every 1,000 gallons of groundwater used embeds an estimated 12 kWh. That is nearly the storage capacity of a Tesla Powerwall, which holds 14 kWh, showing how closely reliable water service depends on reliable energy.
Why do Botswana, Namibia and South Africa stand out in the energy and water mortality data?
Botswana, Namibia and South Africa are outliers because they combine middle-income-country electricity usage with developing-country levels of water-related mortality. The author attributes this pattern to extreme inequality within those societies, meaning national electricity averages can mask large populations who still lack safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
Leave a Reply