Uganda, Kampala: dealing with the filth of our public toilets

Of the six public toilets visited by a local journalist in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, “none had an operational flushing system in the males section”.

A worker at one of the toilets “says this is because of mishandling and poor maintenance. “The people who use some of these toilets are used to pit latrines. For some of them you feel sorry because they are from the village.
When all those people converge here, and start using these things, you find parts missing or the flush not working in a very short time. And also those people who rule over us seem to have forgotten that these places exist. They know how these places are but they can’t send money to repair,” [the attendant] says”.

[...] “Recently, Parliament summoned Kampala Central LC III chairperson, Godfrey Nyakaana over allegations that he tampered with the collection of city revenue that led to a loss of Shs260m from public toilets”.

[The toilet works said]: “There are some times when our water supply is cut off because of not clearing the water bill. In such times, we face difficulty in keeping the place clean but usually our bosses improvise and send us a truck of water. We give all the money we collect to our bosses,” refusing to identify them. This has happened twice in the past one year, he adds. Regardless of the dilapidated state, there is a considerable effort by the workers to keep the facilities reasonably clean. At whatever time of the day you pass by, you will find the floors wet and almost slippery, dripping from the efforts of constant washing”.

[...] “When contacted about the state of the toilets, Kampala City Council’s (KCC) Public Relations Officer, Mr Simon Muhumuza, gave the notion that according to him, all was well. “I don’t know about those complaints,” he replied. “If there are people who complain about that, let them come to us,” he added. Mr Muhumuza also declined to support the addition of toilet facilities in the city centre”.

“Of course the toilets are not enough. They cannot be enough. Do you want us to put up toilets everywhere in the city? That is not possible. Those toilets are supposed to be for emergency purposes only,” he says.

Source: John K. Abimanyi, Monitor, 21 Apr 2009

Ethiopia, Gondar: JDC bringing wells and wellness to rural residents

 

Ethiopian wells. Photo: JDC

Over the last 25 years, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has built dozens of potable water wells throughout Gondar and the surrounding countryside with guidance from the Ethiopian Water Works Construction Authority and the local government in Gondar. Funding for this effort has come from international NGOs, as well as private donors and foundations. The Ground Water Development program has produced hand dug wells, protected springs, taps, micro-dams, and latrines.

 

JDC originally built wells in areas that served large numbers of Jews (the Felas Mura population awaiting immigration to Israel) but also supplied water to the non-Jewish villagers. By 2008, as JDC constructed a dozen wells across Gondar through its International Development Program (JDC-IDP), new water projects served 100 percent non-Jewish populations.

[E]ach project engages and is facilitated by local village water committees, who solicit local manpower for some labor and materials used in the construction process. JDC-IDP also provides the villagers with training on the importance of drinking the clean water and encourages behavioral change to improve overall health. Whenever possible, in addition to building the wells, JDC-IDP constructs communal latrines. 

[JDC-IDP] has been repairing and building schools [10 in past 18 months] for some of the poorest Ethiopian children across the Northern Gondar region since 2000. 

Source: JDC, Mar 2009

Kenya: Long rains raise fears of new cholera cases

New cases of cholera are being recorded amid fears of an increase in the spread of the disease as the long rains start. Already, cases have been reported in 17 districts, according to a senior health official. “At least 176 cases of acute watery diarrhoea [AWD] have been reported in Kipsing [north of the eastern district of Isiolo]; of these, at least three have tested positive for cholera,” Shahnaaz Sharif, the director of public health and sanitation, told IRIN. “Some 1,097 AWD cases have been reported nationally since late 2008, of which 137 have tested positive for cholera,” he said.

[...] “Because of the current drought, residents are using untreated water from boreholes that just three months ago had been submerged,” Titus Mung’ou, Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) communications manager, told IRIN, adding that limited latrine coverage and cross-border interaction had fuelled the spread.

Mung’ou expressed concern that the spread of the disease would be exacerbated should the rains bring floods. In late 2008, floods submerged hundreds of latrines and contaminated water sources in the northeast, with cases of diarrhoea reported.

High water-table levels in some of the affected areas increased the risk of contamination, he said.

The province of Nyanza is also facing its third outbreak of cholera since December 2007, with the districts of Kisumu East and West, Nyando, Rachuonyo, Homa Bay, Migori, Suba and Rongo affected, according to KRCS. Cases have also been reported in Kakamega, in Western Province, and Athi River, near Nairobi.

Mung’ou said the outbreak in Kisumu East was due to the contamination of water sources by municipal and residential waste and a lack of proper drainage. Seepage from latrines into wells was also a risk factor in the Nyanza region.

KRCS and Ministry of Health teams are carrying out water purification and trucking in affected areas.

Source: IRIN, 01 Apr 2009

Zimbabwe: Cholera Cases Still on the Rise in Some Urban Areas

Despite the reported downward trend at the national level, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has seen an increase in cholera patients in some urban areas of Zimbabwe. AfricaNews reporter Shepherd Tozvireva made a photoseries about people in the Zimbabwean capital Harare who are struggling for clean drinking water.

An awareness cholera sticker seen at UNICEF water tank. Photo by Shepherd Tozvireva

Source: AfricaNews, 31 Mar 2009

20-22 April 2009: International Meeting on Water and Cooperation in Africa, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Casa Africa and the United Nations Office to Support the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’ 2005-2015 (UNO-IDfA) are co-organizing the International Meeting on Water and Cooperation in Africa.

The main objective of the meeting is to reinforce cooperation tools and mechanisms that will strengthen the capacities of African countries to achieve the Millennium Development target for water and sanitation.

The meeting aims to:

• exchange views on the role of international cooperation in the water governance field in Africa
• identify and evaluate existing coordination, information exchange and monitoring mechanisms;
• identify gaps and key obstacles impeding the achievement of water and sanitation targets in the African region;
• examine actions implemented by cooperating actors on non-covered needs in the areas of water governance, water supply and sanitation in Africa; and
• better orient cooperation efforts in order to maximize their effectiveness in the water and sanitation fields.

The meeting will focus on those African countries that feature in the Africa Plan for 2009-2012 of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Cooperation (MAEC): Angola, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia and Senegal.

Read the meeting circular here.

Contact:  María del Pilar González Meyaui, Information management and awareness raising expert, United Nations Office to Support the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’ 2005-2015,  Casa Solans – Avda. Cataluña, 60 – 50014 Zaragoza – SPAIN, Tel: (+34) 976 478 346/7 – Fax: (+34) 976 478 349,  gonzalez-meyaui [at] un.org – www.un.org/waterforlifedecade

Gambia: Health Education Unit Sensitizes Teachers on Sanitation and Hygiene

The health education unit of the Department of State for Health recently organised a one day sensitisation workshop on health sanitation and hygiene for teachers drawn from three pilot schools in the Kanifing Municipality. [...] The aim of the workshop was to promote sanitation and hygiene education in schools.

Presenting on waste management, Sheikh Omar Dibba, a retired health worker and consultant said teachers should be involved in the promotion of health and hygiene issues in schools because they are important elements in the school and society. [..] Mr. Dibba urged for every house hold to have Dustin including schools and communities so as to reduce health hazards in our environment. He added that teachers at schools should advocate for change at the school level in terms of environment hygiene and sanitation.

[...] Other presenters presented on the issue of hygiene, water management and personal hygiene.

Source: Annia Gaye, Foroyaa, 27 Mar 2009

Zimbabwe: resurrecting a collapsed infrastructure

Repairing Zimbabwe’s infrastructure is recognized as a key strategy in tackling the cholera epidemic that by 1 April [2009] had claimed 4,127 lives [94,277 recorded cases since August 2008]. [...] The practice of digging shallow wells to draw water [...] is widely recognized as the flashpoint for the disease, because the collapse of sanitation systems coincided with the breakdown of the piped water system.

Sam Sipepa Nkomo, the minister responsible for water resources and management in the unity government [said] an audit of the state of water and sanitation infrastructure was being undertaken. [...] Initial estimates were that it would take US$28 million annually to buy water treatment chemicals.

[...] The immediate plan of action was to break down the response into three tiers, should money become available: emergency response, short-term, and a long-term plan for the provision of water and sanitation.

[...] “Initially, we had estimated that it would be around US$500 million, but every day we establish that most of the infrastructure might need to be totally replaced. The system is really a shell and has all but collapsed”, [says Barnabas Mangodza, chief executive officer of the Combined Harare Residents Association].

Former Harare mayor and engineer by profession Elias Mudzuri [said] that the decision by President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF in 2005 to transfer responsibility for providing water and sanitation from local to central government was the genesis of the cholera crisis. [...] “Sometime back in 2005 the responsibility of providing potable water to Harare was taken away from the city and given to ZINWA [Zimbabwe National Water Authority], which is a parastatal, and that was one of the most regrettable things to happen in this country,” he said.

Source: IRIN, 03 Apr 2009

Cameroon: epidemic looms as town’s water dries up

Health officials fear an epidemic of cholera in Mbouda, western Cameroon, where a dried-up reservoir has more than 100,000 people scrambling for water. Ngouafong Pascal, head of health services in Mbouda District, 300km west of the capital Yaoundé, is worried. “Given the degradation of sanitation conditions and a history of disease outbreaks, a new epidemic could emerge.”

[...] Local authorities are trucking in water once or twice a day from another catchment area 20km away, but it is not enough. People stand for hours in line behind the truck, jerry cans in hand.

[...] The catchment basin for Mbouda is fed by rain and nearby rivers but water flow is being disrupted by a lack of rain and by farming in once-protected forest areas.

[...] Some residents line up early in the morning at a few natural water sources such as streams that still flow at times, but a local environmental expert said this water is not safe for drinking because of proximity to latrines.

Health services director Ngouafong said hospitals in the area have limited their work because of a lack of water. [...] In many neighbourhoods and hospitals toilet facilities have been shut, he said.

Tangwa Sa’a of the local environmental group Knowledge For All (KFA) told IRIN the severe water shortages in the area do not come as a surprise. [...] Since 2003 KFA has sounded the alarm about the impact of desertification in the Monts Bamboutos area – the main source of water for Mbouda and neighbouring localities.

[...] Minister of Water and Energy Jean-Bernard Sindeu visited Mbouda on 14 March, promising to construct a closed well to reinforce local water supply.

Source: IRIN, 03 Apr 2009

Ethiopia: charity to broadcast drilling of “Twestival” well live via satellite

In February 2009, US-based charity:water raised over US$ 250,000 by organising “Twestivals” in 202 cities around the world. Starting on 11 April 2009, charity:water will broadcast live via satellite the drilling of the first Twestival well in Ethiopia.

Guinea-Bissau: Instability deprives people of clean water

With 80 percent of the Guinea Bissau capital’s water contaminated with harmful bacteria, residents are used to outbreaks of cholera and other deadly diarrhoeal diseases, but donors say they can fund major infrastructure projects only if stability can be guaranteed. [A recent cholera outbreak] killed 225 people and infected some 14,000, most of them in the capital Bissau. [...] Diarrhoeal diseases constitute one of the main causes of child mortality and morbidity in Guinea-Bissau, which has the world’s fifth-highest level of child mortality with almost one in five children dying before age five.

[...] “The country has been experiencing continuing instability,” said . “This doesn’t allow putting in place large-scale infrastructure systems. To attract big donors, you need to guarantee a long period of stability…You can’t lay water pipes in one month.”

[...] Most Bissauan families draw water from shallow wells they build themselves – often constructed dangerously close to latrines – with population growth in the capital exacerbating the situation, [Silvia Luciani, head of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Guinea-Bissau] told IRIN.

Bernardino dos Santos, director of water association Regional Centre for Low-cost Water and Sanitation (CREPA), said 80 percent of the city wells are contaminated with harmful bacteria.

[...] The problem is the government is poor, donors say. [...] International donors cover most civil servants’ salaries in Guinea-Bissau, Antongiulio Marin, head of infrastructure for the European Commission, told IRIN.

Payment systems for water and electricity supply are in place but do not work properly, says Cesario Sa, director of Water and Electricity services (EAGB) in Bissau. “Collecting revenue for water is not possible in many cases because we do not have the financial resources or capacity to do so.”

[...] “If you go to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources [which manages water supply] you will find little to no equipment and officials who are not motivated and hardly paid; who have no telephones, computers or electricity; who are educated to a low standard and hardly trained; and who have very little management expertise,” Marin told IRIN. When donors do engage, he said, they have to cover everything, down to civil servants’ commuting costs.

The EC works with NGOs Médicos del Mundo and the Spanish Red Cross to build solar-powered water points and pumps in and around Bafat and Biombo, 80km and 25km from the capital, respectively, and to support rural community water management committees.

But two severe cholera epidemics in four years have propelled donors to increase water-infrastructure investments. The EC just signed a US$3.9-million project to boost the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry’s water management capacity, and a further $3.9 million to continue rural water support.

The World Bank is about to start building water reservoirs in Bissau and 24km of water pipes at a cost of nearly $6 million, according to Joao Antonio da Silva, technical assistant for EAGB, which works with the World Bank. The construction of two reservoirs for Luanda and Bairro de Ajuda, on the outskirts of the capital, has just been completed, he said.

Meanwhile NGOs and aid agencies, including CREPA, Médicos del Mundo and UNICEF, continue to fill in some of the water supply gaps around the country by building closed wells, water pumps and latrines in schools and villages.

[...] Bissau resident Jose Antonio Borges told IRIN the population cannot afford more delays. “Guinea-Bissau has been facing an electricity crisis since 1998. But this year it is the water crisis that is worst of all because it affects everyone across the country. We can accept the energy crisis, but without water, we cannot live.”

Source: IRIN, 31 Mar 2009