Ghana: You want a wife? Where is your water source?

Potable water, as it is often said is life. The lack of it affects all the spheres of human activity – health, social, education, agriculture, politics and economics. The lack of this essential commodity makes life meaningless. Its importance can only be equated to air.

The difficulty in accessing water in Sissala Communities has made young girls and women to ask suitors about the availability of potable water in their communities before accepting their proposals. If the suitor’s community does not have its own water source, they would want to know the distance from the nearest potable water source and if it is far, they would most likely to turn down the proposals.

They would also find out whether the community their lovers are coming from are good farmers and could produce enough food to feed their people.

The accessibility to clean water and food production are the determining factors for winning the love of many a young girl in the area. The reason for this is that the people in the communities are predominately farmers and any time lost in search of water by women will not be tolerated by their husbands, who would need their assistance on the farms.

These revelations came to light at a forum on water and sanitation held in Funsi in the Wa East District of Upper West Region, organised by ProNet North, a local non-governmental organisation, dedicated to the provision of potable water for communities in the Upper West Region in collaboration with WaterAid Ghana.

It was under the “End Water Poverty Campaign” for the often excluded voices, such as women, persons with disability, and children to speak out their minds on how water and sanitation poverty impacts their lives at the local level.

The overall objectives of the poverty hearings are to provide an empowering and engaging way for communities to advocate improvements in their lives, and provide depth, richness and legitimacy to the campaign being run in their interest by WaterAid.

Madam Adiata Marifa, a house wife from the Gbantala, told the forum that young men in the village were finding it difficult to get wives to marry because the community does not have potable water source nearby, in spite of numerous attempts by water agencies to provide potable water have failed.

The people have been continuously drinking from unsafe water sources, such as ponds, rivers and streams and during the dry season women in the community have to walk long distance daily basis to fetch water leaving their domestic chores unattended to.

Another woman from Tampaala, Madam Abeta Issahaku, said women spent more hours looking for water from unsafe sources. Besides, one can not go to the pond twice to fetch water because of the distance.

She said many children are dying in the community as a result of diarrhoeal and other waterborne diseases, adding that the eradication of guinea worm would be a mirage if some communities were still drinking from unwholesome water sources

The testimonies from Chaggu Paani and Jankori Deriyiri communities were not different. Mr Nousah Sobo from Jankori Deriyiri said the people have been drinking from a river and during the dry season the water became muddy and women had to add ash to it for the dirt to settle before they sieve it for drinking.

He said teachers posted to these communities to teach are unable to cope up with the situation and have abandoned the schools. He appealed to the Government and non-governmental organisations in the water sector to find alternative ways of providing potable water for the communities.

Looking at the situation in the Wa East District, this Writer is of the view that the seventh goal of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) “Ensuring environmental sustainability” can not be achieved in the stipulated period of 2015. More work has to be done to enhance the provision of potable water in communities that do not have water. Access and coverage rate of water and sanitation in most parts of the three Northern Regions is unacceptable and something needs to be done urgently.

Women, especially those undertaking sheabutter processing and other agro-based micro-businesses; school children; people living with HIV/AIDS as well as disabled persons suffer various levels of relative deprivation from potable water and decent sanitation scarcity which impacts negatively on their overall living standards.

In case of sanitation, the three Northern Regions, which are among the five poorest regions in Ghana, have the highest rate of open defecation. The “Ghana Statistical Service Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) Report 2006″ indicated that while the national average of open defecation was 24 per cent, the practice was most widespread in the Upper East Region, which had about 82 per cent of the people having no access to decent latrine; followed by the Upper West Region with about 79 per cent and then the Northern Region with about 73 per cent.

Source: Bajin Dougah Pobia, Ghana News Agency, 30 August 2010

Sudan: Egypt to grant US$ 300 million for water and electricity projects

Egypt will give the Government of South Sudan US$ 300 million for water and electricity projects as it seeks to build good will among countries along the Nile, the source of almost all of its water, Reuters reported.

The grant will be used for building potable water complexes, drilling 30 wells for underground water, setting up river ports and upgrading electricity and water networks, Egypt’s Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Nasreddin Allam told Reuters.

In May [2010], Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and latterly Kenya signed a new deal over the management of the Niles waters in attempt to replace the original colonial-era agreement that gives Egypt the power to veto dams and other water projects in upstream countries.

The Nile Basin Agreement, which took 10 years to negotiate has been rejected by Egypt and Sudan and may trigger a struggle for water resources in the region.

Southern Sudan, which will vote on whether it wishes to separate from northern Sudan in January [2011], has a semi-autonomous government that is yet to form an independent position on the new agreement.

Should the South vote for independence it would create an additional country for the waters of the White Nile to flow through before it reaches Egypt.

Upstream states say that it is unfair for Egypt to keep its historic veto over projects such as hydroelectric damns along Nile as they wish to use the Nile’s water to support economic growth and development.

Source: Sudan Tribune, 11 Jul 2010

Zambia: Water committee prospers in Lusaka

Residents of Lusaka’s George Compound remember the bad old days in the early 1990s, when the area suffered ugly outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Poor management and maintenance caused the water infrastructure in the dense low-income settlement to collapse. People resorted to using water from shallow, easily-contaminated wells.

A Japanese grant supported the establishment of the George Water Supply Project in 1995, with management of the neighbourhood’s water supply supervised by a team of 60 locals elected by the community, working together with the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company.

Fifteen years down the line, George Water Site Manager Lengwe Mwape says basic water needs are now being met for the township’s estimated 200,000 residents: eight boreholes and water reservoirs supplying water to 385 communal access points, allowing each family to draw up to 250 litres per day.

“We have about 16,500 households on the prepaid scheme. Then we have an extra 2,000 individually-connected properties. We pump 240,000 litres in the morning and the same quantity in the evening for those who go to the communal taps,” he says. “For the ones with individual connections, they have longer hours of supply, on average 16 hours each day.”

The George Water Supply Project meets its own costs for treating water, spending up to six thousand U.S. dollars a month. Residents buy a card each month from the Lusaka Water Company office, 10,000 Zambian kwacha (roughly $2) entitling the holder to 7,500 litres of water. When a member of the household goes to the tap, they present the card to the controller, who permits them to draw up to a maximum daily amount.

There are those who can’t afford the monthly contribution. These pay 200 kwacha for every 20 litres: a rate seven times more costly per litre than water in a monthly subscription.

Area resident Rose Malama feels the project is beneficial to the community, but she has reservations, beginning with the pricing structure.

“I have only a small family, so if I need water for washing clothes, then I will draw more. But if I’m not using it for that, maybe it’s three or four containers only, which is 100 litres.”

She would like to be charged only for the amount she uses. Many residents find themselves caught between using less than the maximum 250 litres/day their monthly card entitles them to and buying water on a pay-as-you-go basis, but at a much higher rate.

“There’s nothing we can do as citizens,” Malama adds, “since they said it’s 10,000 kwacha this water, you either take it or leave it.”

The George Water Committee is elected for a five-year term by the community. Its mandate is to ensure that the water project is operating efficiently and to attend to maintenance. A tap monitor is assigned to each zone to oversee the functioning of the system and ensure availability of water at the designated times. The monitors also report illegal connections and ensure no one draws water they are not entitled to.

According to Mwape, the team employs mainly locals to run the day-to-day operations of the facility. The Committee and the LWSC have also hired accountants, water technicians and others.

“We have meetings every fortnight to give them an overview of how this unit is performing in terms of revenue collection. We give them specific tasks or areas to follow-up, or go to properties that have been disconnected and check if those guys are still disconnected,” he says.

“We still have 8,000 [households] who do not have cards and who do not have individual connections.”

George is perhaps typical of informal settlements throughout southern Africa: the technical challenge of supplying water to a dense, unplanned neighborhood is complicated by a host of pirate practices.

“We would have illegal connections, people from here [the project] conniving with people from the community. They give them an individual connection. There has also been the issue of water vending.”

According to Mwape, some unscrupulous people with individual connections are reaping huge profits from water vending, taking advantage of the much-cheaper rate they pay for water and the longer hours it is available to them.

“They sell at an average of 300 kwacha per 20 litre container. We are giving it to them at 20 kwacha for twenty litres. What we charge per month per individual, they make in a day.”

To curb the challenges of illegal connections and water vending, a security committee has been established to work with police to end this.

A few hand-dug wells remain in George, and as a result, Mwape says, cases of cholera are still recorded here in the rainy season. But the water project has drastically reduced the problem as few residents have still use unclean water sources.

Several residents – speaking anonymously to avoid retribution – told IPS there needs to be greater transparency in accounting for the 20 percent commission that comes back to the Water Committee each month. They want full accounting reports of its expenditures on maintenance for example to be produced for everyone to see.

“We want accountability; we want to know where that money is going.”

But Mwape says they’ll be disappointed if they think there are millions of kwacha unaccounted for.

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep this project sustainable. Expenses have gone up. Everything: electricity, telephone bills, the chemicals for treatment. But the tariffs don’t go up at the rate all the other expenses do,” he told IPS.

The George Water Supply Project has succeeded in restoring a safe water supply to an area where it’s badly needed. To address residents’ concerns and remain sustainable in the face of growing costs, its elected management will have to maintain open and transparent accounts, and perhaps an open mind to users’ complaints.

Source: Brian Moonga, Inter Press Service / allAfrica.com, 22 August 2010

Botswana: Acquiring a taste for recycled water

Many Batswana are quick to recoil at the mere mention of drinking treated wastewater.

“As soon as I hear it is treated waste water, my mind will be flooded with the images of the waste water before being treated and I will never drink it,” says 25-year-old Chandida Matebu, the look on her face confirming her words.

“I would drink if I was not aware that it was treated. But even if it comes bottled and shipped all the way from America, I will not drink. The water would not pass down my throat, no way.”

Obert Gakeope is a rare exception. “Most people have drunk it without knowing. It is the idea of knowing that is putting people off. I have taken the water when I was in Windhoek and in America and I know it is not dangerous for my health.”

Gakeope said that he would not be scared to drink the water as long as he knew the process that has been used to treat it.

His openness to recycled water – and Matebu’s much more common rejection – will be put to the test in the not-so-distant future. According to Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) Public Relations Manager Matida Mmipi, a groundbreaking project to reclaim wastewater from treated effluent at the Glen Valley Wastewater Treatment plant in Gaborone is in the tendering stage.

She explained that the project, which was started after 2006/07′s debilitating drought, has passed the pre-feasibility and feasibility stages, with the hired consultants reporting that reclamation of wastewater is both technically and economically workable for the Botswanan capital.

Within two years, residents of greater Gaborone could be drinking reclaimed water, as their counterparts in Harare, Windhoek and London have been doing for decades.

Energy, Minerals and Water Resources Minister Ponatshego Kedikilwe said the wastewater project was pushing ahead.

“The aim is further treatment to augment potable water supply to greater Gaborone by 2013, when a water supply deficiency is expected.”

The feasibility studies included an extensive public participation exercise undertaken as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment process. The WUC’s consultants cast their net wide; alert to the fact that many Batswana had already expressed their revulsion to consuming reclaimed water.

However, the consultants reported that “the EIA process did not identify this to be a major concern in all the areas that will be affected, which include areas currently supplied by WUC from Lobatse to Mochudi including Gaborone.”

Wary of the prevailing perceptions, Kedikilwe was quick to assuage the public’s concerns.

“All of us have travelled outside the country at one time or another. If you have been to South Africa, you drank treated water or if you travelled to Israel or London. So enjoy it in your own country,” Kedikilwe said.

“That water has to be treated and used for irrigation or crops; treatment for the likes of beetroot will be different for maize. But there must be a stage where the water is treated and gets back into the system and we drink it,” Kedikilwe added.

It is expected that the reclamation plant will use six high technology filtration, disinfection and stabilisation processes. This could however be cold comfort for some consumers, who question whether there are alternatives to wastewater reclamation and whether the final product would be safe for human consumption.

The wastewater reclamation project is part of the WUC’s water supply interventions, which anticipate a shortage of water in Gaborone by 2030.

Source: Alma Balopi, Inter Press Service /allAfrica.com, 21 August 2010

Uganda, Kamapala: investment scenarios for pro-poor water services

Water service to the urban poor presents challenges to political leaders, regulators and managers. A new study [1] identifies technology mixes of yard taps, public water points (with and without pre-paid meters) to meet alternative constraints, and reflecting populations served and investment requirements.

Three investment scenarios have different implications for improving water access to over 400,000 citizens in Kampala. One component, pre-paid water meters, can promote social equity and institutional sustainability. If procedural justice is given as much weight as distributive justice in the selection of pro-poor programs, pre-paid meters (the ultimate cost recovery tool) can have a place in the investment plan. The study examines how public stand pipes (and a combination of other options) can meet both financial constraints and social objectives. Financial considerations cannot be wished away when seeking effective strategies for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. (author abstract)

[1] Berg, S.V. and Mugishab, S. (2010). Pro-poor water service strategies in developing countries: promoting justice in Uganda’s urban project. Water policy ; vol. 12, no. 4 ; p. 589–601. doi:10.2166/wp.2010.120
Read free PDF version

Contact: Dr. Sanford V. Berg, Warrington College of Business, University of Florida, USA, fax: +1-352-3927796, e-mail: sberg@ufl.edu

Nigeria, Cameroon: WHO confirms surge in cholera cases

Cholera is surging again in parts of the world, a World Health Organisation expert said on Thursday, pointing to epidemics in Nigeria and Cameroon.

Claire-Lise Chaignat, the co-ordinator of the WHO’s group on cholera, noted the UN health agency has recorded 2 849 cases in Cameroon, including 222 deaths since May.

It has also recorded 837 cases of the disease in the north of Nigeria since mid-June, including 30 deaths.

“The fatality rates linked to cholera in these countries – 3.6 percent in Nigeria and 7.8 percent in Cameroon – are too high compared to the 1.0 percent threshold that is typically tolerated,” she added.

Earlier on Thursday, Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu announced a higher toll, saying that fatal cases have risen to 231 while 4 600 others have been infected.

The WHO expert noted that “globally, cholera is growing across the world” with outbreaks also recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Sud-Kivu province, as well as in Laos, Uganda, Djibouti, Afghanistan, Nepal and Papau New Guinea.

“It’s a disease of the poor, a sign of a lack of access to clean drinking water and of poor hygiene,” Chaignat added.

“Cholera contrary to other illnesses can generate panic because the death can take place in several hours.”

Cholera is transmitted by water but also by food that had been contaminated by unclean water.

It causes serious diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to dehydration. With a short incubation period, it can be fatal if not treated in time.

The disease is also endemic in some countries, such as Pakistan which has been ravaged by heavy flooding over the past month.

Chaignat claimed that the spread in cholera across the world could be partly linked to climate change.

The germ survives particularly in contaminated water of 37 to 38 degrees and without too much direct sunlight.

Source: Independent Online – iol, 20 August 2010

Uganda: Kampala to get four sewers

The National Water and Sewerage Corporation, the Uganda water utility company, is to construct four sewage treatment plants in Kampala city and its suburbs.

The plants to be set up in the city suburbs of Nakivubo, Kinawataka, Lubigi and Nalukolongo, are expected to improve sanitation services from the current 7% of the city’s population to 30%. The city currently has only one sewage treatment plant.

NWSC’s Managing Director, Dr William Muhairwe said at a press conference in Kampala recently the project will be financed by the European Union, African Development Bank and Uganda Government at Euro 68 million.

“The project aims at improving environmental sustainability of Lake Victoria basin by reducing pollution entering the lake and improving the quality of lives of residents in informal settlements through management of sludge from domestic sanitation facilities,” Dr Muhairwe said.

“The plan is to have 100% sewer coverage in the central business district of Kampala”. Uganda is said to be one of the least sewered countries in the world. According to the work plan, the works will involve construction of a new sewerage treatment plant with a capacity of 45,000 cubic metres per day that will treat both sewage and waste discharge in Nakivubo channel, construction of a central treatment facility for toxic effluent from small scale industries dealing in toxic chemicals.

Dr Muhairwe, however, said that the works are being hampered by encroachers that are settling in the catchment areas where the project is supposed to cover. Kampala City Council (KCC) Mayor Nasser Sebaggala, refuted allegations that KCC had given out land meant for the project to developers.

He blamed the Uganda Land Commission for giving out land without KCC’s consent. “It is not KCC that is giving out the land,” Sebaggala said. The project will entail undertaking a sewerage management and an industrial effluent study, rehabilitation of the current sewage treatment plant at Bugolobi to improve its performance.

Source: Joseph Olanyo, East African Business Week / allAfrica.com, 16 August 2010

Kenya: MPs want water parastatal investigated

MPs on Tuesday asked the Water and Irrigation ministry to speed up the investigations into the affairs of the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation and sort out issues affecting Water Service Boards countrywide.

The corporation is a parastatal under the Water and Irrigation ministry and has a debt of Sh543 million, which the MPs want subjected to an audit as the organisation’s offices burnt down in a fire in September last year.

They also called for an audit of the boards to determine those that are viable and those that would need to be merged or done away with altogether.

The MPs spoke after a report on the ministry’s budget allocations was tabled by the Lands and Natural Resources headed by Gachoka MP Mutava Musyimi ahead of their approval later last evening. Dujis MP, Aden Duale, also the Livestock Development assistant minister, cited the Water Corporation as “the only body that has failed to work efficiently at the ministry.”

He cited the development of Rahole Canal as a project that has failed to provide anything despite having been on site for a long time.

Gichugu MP Martha Karua, also a former Water minister, said the ministry needs to instill better governance in the water sector as the effects would be felt by all Kenyans.

“The problem lies with the regulator because he should have worked to avoid the coups and counter-coups seen in parts of the country, most notably Nairobi and Mombasa,” said Ms Karua.

This lack of regulation, she said, had also resulted in the use of waste exhausters to supply water by vendors, resulting in cases of cholera such as that experienced in Nairobi last year.

Water minister Charity Ngilu said a review the Water Act of 2002 is planned and this would eliminate most of the problems troubling the supply of water and the provision of sanitation services countrywide.

Among the major projects set to kick off under the ministry’s Sh32-billion development vote is the construction of a dam at Maragua, which is three times the size of Ndakaini and is projected to supply Nairobi with water up to the year 2030.

But MPs said some issues need to be addressed first, chief among these the development of water-storage facilities, which would harvest and keep for future use water from rainfall and the arbitrary increase of tariffs.

Ms Karua and Katoo ole Metito of Loitoktok said their constituents had complained of increases of water tariffs without adequate consultation.

“The key issue in water issues is access and accessibility. A women’s group in my constituency was asked for a million shillings for an irrigation project yet they have never seen a million,” said Ms Gichugu.

Samburu East MP Simeon Lesirma said the Sh32-billion budget for development should have been increased to Sh60 billion.

He said locals should also be trained on the management of boreholes once they have been drilled by the ministry and non-governmental agencies involved in water provision.

Nicholas Gumbo accused the ministry of being “big on promises” and should develop a national plan for the harvesting of rainwater to take advantage of the annual rains.

Kibwezi MP Philip Kaloki asked the ministry to make plans for the construction of large dams, which he said would benefit residents of Athi River town, Makueni and Kibwezi.

Source: The Nation / allAfrica.com, 17 August 2010

Ghana: Essential services platform calls for gender sensitive policies in water sector

The Essential Services Platform has called on government to formulate water-related gender sensitive policies that will  benefit women. The call follows disturbing revelations from a recent study on “Women’s Voices in Water Governance and Management” in Ghana.

According to the findings, women constitute more than 51% of the Ghanaian population and form 60% of those within the low income segment of the population living in rural and densely populated peri-urban areas with least access to water.

In general, men and women within the low income bracket pay 10 times more the official rates of water to water vendors and spend more than 10% of their incomes on potable water. Those who cannot afford such prices rely on unsafe resources for their upkeep.

The study, according to a press statement signed by Leonard Shang-Quartey, Convener of Essential Services, said besides the general difficulties which confront men and women regarding affordability and quality of water, “the burden of securing water for household use is borne by women and children with negative implications for their incomes and education respectively.”

“The stark reality of the situation is made clear when one considers the national coverage in the supply of water which hovers around 19% (household connections),” said the statement.

The research came up with some startling statistics. It said of the respondents interviewed, 76% acquired water outside of their household with the average distance to the nearest water source being 10.31 minutes and the highest 60 minutes. However, when water is not available at primary sources, respondents spoke of long walk in search of the commodity. They also have to wake up very early in search of water to avoid along queues at collection points.”

The statement recognizes the fact the conditions of affordability and access to water as captured by the study is not new and the problem could be attributed to years of neglect and limited investments by government.

“There will be no gain repeating the promised benefits that were said would arise from the engagement of Aqua Viten Rand Limited (AVRL), as the failure of both the company and the idea of commodifying water are presently common knowledge.”

To lift the burden of securing water off the shoulders of women and children, the Platform impresses upon government to consider the implications of policies of the sector on women and children. “Prioritizing and addressing concerns in relation to water management and supply will not only ensure access for all but would also lead to the bridging of the income and power gaps between men and women. The current conditions are inconsistent with our commitments as a country to gender equality and equity as they widen the already existing gaps.”

To remedy the situation and to reduce vulnerability and poverty levels, the Essential Services called on government to halt the demand driven approaches (Privatization) to water supply and management as such approaches are fast eroding people’s rights and entitlement to water and forcing many to turn to unsafe sources.

It also asks government to ensure that utility policies establish a linkage between gender, socio-cultural location of women and equal access to water. Similarly urges government to reintroduce public investments and establish transparent and accountable community management of water through a decentralized water supply system.

Source: Public Agenda /allAfrica.com, 13 August 2010

Malawi: Local management the tonic for water woes

Hop over a seep of filthy sludge behind a bathroom screened with ragged sacks, turn past the toilet with battered cardboard walls, crab between mud-brick shanties roofed with rusty metal … There: emerge into a small, neat yard where a dozen women and girls are filling plastic buckets from five water taps sticking out of concrete wall.

“The [water users] association has made a big difference here,” says Fatima Misoya, a resident and water vendor at the kiosk. “We no longer get water from dirty streams.”

A bit more than half of the 38 kiosks in the shanty township of Nkolokoti-Kachere used to be run by the state-owned Blantyre Water Board. The others were managed by community, religious and political party leaders.

The water association’s administrator, Gloria Matchowa, says local leaders just pocketed the money residents paid for water, and rarely settled their bills with the Water Board. This resulted in frequent disconnections, sometimes lasting for years, she says.

The Water Board’s vendors mostly came from outside the community. They turned up late or not at all. Supply interruptions and other problems with the water mains went untended for long periods.

“The Board constructed the kiosks because many people here are poor. They cannot afford personal taps. But the kiosks were being too badly run to serve the intended purpose,” says Matchowa.

In January 2009, the kiosks owed Blantyre Water Board 11,000 dollars in unpaid bills. Over a third of them were in disrepair or had been disconnected, leaving many of the 90,000 people in the area struggling to access clean water.

Borrowing a successful model

But 350 kilometres away in the capital city, Lilongwe, the first water user association in that city was successfully serving 70,000 residents in the slum of Chinsapo.

Emulating that example, officials from Blantyre Water Board, Blantyre City Council and township residents formed the Nkolokoti-Kachere Water Users Association in February 2009.

The association is a formally-registered cooperative, with members of its board elected from the community to serve for two years. All the members come from the community, which promotes a sense of ownership of the facilities, Matchowa says.

The association took over operations, maintenance and revenue collection for the kiosks.

The Water Board handed over the kiosks on condition that the debt would be settled. Matchowa says they started with no other capital – not even spare parts to maintain or repair damaged facilities.

Rapid success

Where under previous management, rates for water varied between 4 and 6 cents for 20 litres, the association sells water for the equivalent of 2 cents for 20 litres. But within three months, the association cleared the debt and managed to repair all the broken kiosks.

“What we have learnt is that supplying water is big business,” says Matchowa. “With good management, we don’t have to sell at high rates to make good returns.”

The association takes in around $10,000 every month. About $2,000 goes to paying the Water Board for water supplied. Some of the money is spent on parts for repairs, gradually equipping their rented office – most recently they bought a computer – and some is set aside to construct more kiosks and eventually buy a vehicle for the association.

The association has 57 permanent employees and has built three new kiosks, with plans to construct two more this year.

WaterAid Malawi, which introduced the concept of a water users association in Malawi, says these cooperatives are based on a philosophy of cost recovery and even turning a profit while meeting the need for clean water supply.

Amos Chigwenembe is responsible for policy at WaterAid. He says kiosks may not be the ideal way to supply water, but if managed efficiently, they are useful in unplanned settlements.

Problems upstream

The association’s major foe is unreliable water supply by the Water Board. For a long time, the corporation has been under fire for failing to serve Blantyre’s 670,000 people.

The Board blames the failure on dilapidated infrastructure that needs an overhaul from intake to distribution point. Much of the equipment was laid in 1960s and now frequently succumbs to breakdowns.

No major investment has been made for over 40 years.

“The design capacity of our production system is far below today’s requirements,” says the Board’s acting public affairs and marketing manager Catherine Chilemba.

The water supplier is also struggling against losses due to illegal connections, leakages and frequent power outages by the electricity provider Escom. The Board claims its customers owe it 20 million dollars in unpaid bills.

In November 2009, the Malawian government launched a $5 million national water development programme with Blantyre Water Board as one of the targets. In the four-year programme, the Board will rehabilitate its network and increase production of clean water from the current 78,000 cubic metres per day to 96,000 m3 per day in 2013.

The Nkolokoti-Kachere Water Users Association is full of expectation. It cannot do anything about the bad housing in its area, it says, although it meets with residents regularly on sanitation and hygiene issues.

“But we can help ease the poverty through giving potable water at affordable price. Improvements at the Board will enable us supply water reliably and grow our business,” Matchowa says.

Source: Charles Mpaka, Inter Press Service / allAfrica.com, 17 August 2010