Kenya, Eastern Province: Amina Abdalla, “You can’t maintain hygiene without water”

Amina Abdalla, a 45-year-old mother of seven, living in Marsabit District (pop. 121,000), Eastern Province, told IRIN/PlusNews about her daily struggle for water. She knows water is essential for hygiene, but there is not enough and it’s too expensive. She has to get up at 4 a.m. in the morning to queue for water.

“Some of us women come with small children to the water vendor and stay the whole day waiting for our turn. The children cry all day of hunger and the scorching sun, but getting water is the most important thing at that moment.

“At the vendor, it doesn’t matter what is the size of your family. We are just given five jerry cans of 20 litres each and they expect you to use it until after 10 days when you can return for more.

“When I finish my water – which I always do before the end of the 10 days because my family is large – we buy from people who hawk water. They sell one 20 litre container for 50 shillings [US$0.54], which is very expensive but there is little I can do. At times, you end up using money meant for food to buy water because even if you have food, you can’t cook it without water.

To save money, Amina Abdalla’s children can only bathe once every three days, and cannot wash clothes regularly.

“I have seven children but there would have been more; I lost three to cholera because the surroundings are dirty as a result of poor hygiene… You can’t maintain hygiene without water”.

There are boreholes in the forest but women risk be molested by men if they go there or are denied access by herders with their livestock.

“Here in Marsabit, we will have war one day and it will not be about animals or land… War will take place because people will be fighting for water.”

Source: IRIN, 24 Aug 2011

Tanzania: Water Shortage Deals a Blow in Mara

With a population exceeding 10,000, Nyankanga ward in Musoma District faces acute shortage of water, a situation that forces its people especially women and children to walk long distance in search of water.

The nearest constant supply of safe water is Lake Victoria, which is an over two-hour round trip from Nyankanga village. Some villagers routinely make this trip three or four times a day, every day, which leaves very little time for other tasks.

The efforts by St John’s Church to build tanks by their homes to harvest rainwater could not yield fruits as the village gets scanty rainfall.

Source: Beldina Nyakeke, The Citizen / allAfrica.com, 7 March 2011

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Kenya: Mombasa Water Vendors Warned

Selling water at more than Sh2 per 20 litre jerrycan will attract a heavy punishment including withdrawal of licences, water vendors have been warned.

Mombasa Water and Sewerage Company managing director Moses Kinya said water vendors should not take advantage of the shortage in Mombasa and other parts of the region to oppress customers by overcharging them. “This is a measure we have taken after receiving reports that some of the water vendors are overcharging their customers,” said Kinya.

Water vendors in Bamburi, Mtopanga and Kisauni are charging as much as Sh7 per 20 litre jerrycan. Kinya said they have put in place other strict rules in order to ensure health safety.

The MWSC boss said they will not issue a license to water kiosks that are less than 100 metres apart. He also cautioned them that unhygienic premises will attract a heavy fine in addition to withdrawal of their license. “They must ensure that the area they sell water from is hygienically maintained and that the place is always drained and dry,” said Kinya.

The vendors usually buy water from the company at cheaper rates. After withdrawal of the licences, the vendors will continue getting water but they will be charged at normal domestic rates.

The vendors will also be required to display the Sh2 price, the kiosk number and the metre number. “Failure to do this will also result in the withdrawal of licenses,” said Kinya.

Source: Brian Otieno, Nairobi Star / allAfrica.com, 3 March 2011

Kenya: Water Crisis in Mwingi East District

A government drought monitoring team came face to face with the vagaries of the current drought when it visited starving and thirsty residents of Sosoma village in Mwingi East district.

During the Tuesday visit, the team from the National Crisis Centre found residents and their livestock milling around a dried-up Sosoma borehole.

The team led by Ruth Gathii, who is also the head of the Arid Lands Drought Management Project in the Ministry of Northern Kenya found the residents trying to pump water from the dry borehole. They had been doing it for days with no success.

The residents said since the borehole had stopped yielding water due to low underground water recharge, they had camped there hoping the water would rise to the pumping level.

The team distributed the few bottles of mineral water they had to the thirsty residents. “We found very old people and even pregnant women who begged us to give them the little water we had. We had to distribute all the bottled water we had as they appeared very desperate,” said a member of the team.

Gathii directed officials in the ministry to start supplying water to the parched residents. She further directed the officials to get water bowsers to deliver water to Sosoma primary school.

About 4,000 residents and 30,000 livestock have been left without water after the Sosoma borehole dried up. They are now relying on water supplied by the bowsers.

The situation has been worsened by pastoralists from the neighbouring Tana River district who are camping at the Sosoma area with more than 1,000 camels hoping to get water from the dry borehole.

Source: Musembi Nzengu, Nairobi Star / allAfrica.com, 3 March 2011

Zimbabwe, Harare: a decade of water woes

At 12 midnight, Grandmother Ambuya Marvelous Mlambo makes her way quietly to the neighbouring borehole armed with her two 25-litre buckets. Scores of other women, young and old, are already at the borehole when she arrives so she has to join the queue.

Those waiting have an average of at least three containers each.

When her turn finally comes, it is already three o’clock in the morning. She laboriously fills her containers before making her way home. An hour later, she can finally sleep, only to get up again at six to prepare something for her 3 grand children before she sees them off to school.

Gogo Mlambo lives in the Gaza high-density suburb of Chipinge and this is the kind of life she has been living for the past 10 years.

Their water taps ran dry leaving them depending on water from springs that are dotted along the banks of a stream that runs along the outskirts of the suburb.

The residents’ situation had slightly changed for the better after UNICEF drilled some boreholes in August last year from which they are drawing water now.

But that was only done in an effort to elude the rampaging cholera outbreak that had hit the country.

But now the few boreholes are strained and some of them are fast wearing out due to excessive use.

Another non-governmental organisation also came in and built some water-holding structures around the springs but that does not protect the water from contamination.

“Raw sewerage is flowing freely as you can see in the direction of the stream and its final destination is in most cases those water holes.

“There are very high risks of disease outbreaks at the moment especially as there is no water in our houses yet we have to use toilets inside.

“All the taps we have in our houses are just there for decoration and last had water flowing through them a decade ago,” one resident Violet Mutanda said.

She complained that the council was deliberately ignoring them and not doing anything to right the situation yet they were sending huge bills of water at the end of every month.

“At one point I received a bill of US$900 and ignored it of course. It is surprising to note that council still acts as if everything is all right with the water situation and expects to generate some revenue from it. Why should we pay for services that we are not getting?” she asked.

Additionally, she said the council had at one point advised them that they (council) no longer had anything to do with their water services but ZINWA had taken over.

She further explained that council had deliberately allowed the situation to degenerate during that time when it was not clear who between them and ZINWA was supposed to be running the show.

On the contrary the council remains adamant that they have everything under control and are doing all they can to improve the residents’ situation even though it will take long for the residents to see and enjoy the results.

“We are currently repairing boreholes so that the water situation improves for the 12 000 residents that are affected.

“To date we have completed repairing two and we are left with one.

“We have all the resources that are needed for the programme, Chipinge town engineer Paul Mlauzi said recently.

He however conceded that the problem had haunted the residents for a very long time as council was incapacitated to draw water from Bangazani Dan about 4km away, a fact that had seen many households’ taps running dry.

At the moment the water crisis has disrupted the residents’ social life severely, as they can not host visitors lest they are embarrassed when the visitors fail to find toilets to relieve themselves.

“The situation is so bad that most people are crossing into the nearby farm to relieve themselves with the worst cases being those of people squatting behind bins to relieve themselves before burying the excretion in their yards or gardens,” one resident said.

She added that it was difficult for them to fetch water for cooking, bathing, laundry and toilets at the same time as they had other demanding domestic chores to attend to too.

“Most children are going to school on empty tummies because the mothers or guardians are busy looking for water, which is sometimes found at distances of between one and two kilometres.

“Imagine travelling all that distance with a bucketful of water on the head and dangling another one,” she added.

The visibly distraught resident also added that malnutrition was rife among children in the suburb, as parents were not getting adequate time to attend to their nutritional concerns, a feat that is difficult in the absence of reliable water sources.

The residents’ situation has been made precarious by the high incidence of free flowing raw sewerage that is evidently taking advantage of the sloping gradient to snake into the stream from which they draw water.

It is not surprising if another cholera outbreak or some other water borne disease were soon to be witnessed in the suburb that has more than 4 000 households, the bigger percentage of which is in dire need of water.

The suburb is now entirely dependent on springs and some bit of borehole water literally transforming it into a “springs suburb” yet the reality on the sanitation system is appalling and needing urgent attention.

Source: Obert Chifamba, The Herald / allAfrica.com, 12 Jun 2010

Niger: thirsty as well as hungry

A bad harvest season has punished the rural and urban poor across Niger, but food insecurity has been compounded by a critical lack of water in the worst-hit southern province of Zinder.

“The women with whom I’ve spoken in villages have said water is their first problem,” UN Under-Secretary General John Holmes told journalists during a visit to Zinder in late April.

He found the stress on water striking, and this was backed by the similar experience of staff at humanitarian agencies; a food security survey by the government and humanitarian partners in April 2010 also found that almost half the country’s households shared the same anxiety.

Niger is facing a severe food crisis resulting from erratic rainfall in 2009, which caused large cereal and pasture shortages. Some 7.1 million Nigeriens – or half of the population – are moderately or severely food-insecure, according to the most recent government study undertaken in April 2010.

Farmers in Dalli, a village 100km from the town of Zinder, suffered a total harvest failure in 2010 and now travel 20km to Tanout town to buy water. “Even if we have food, how can we prepare it without water?” Mariam, 55, a mother of 10, told Holmes.

Some water points in Zinder’s most parched districts are drying up. In Koleram village, 15km from the town of Zinder, Oubeida Ichaou, 30, told IRIN the water level in the only well was falling fast and she sometimes had to wait several hours before she could draw water. “There are too many people around the well, too many cattle. You have to come very early in the morning, or even stay the night … to draw water.”

Zinder’s Regional Director of Water Resources, Mamane Moussa, said engineers sometimes had to dig down several hundred metres before they found water, which was very costly.

Nutrition, health, education

Water points at health centres across Zinder, which are part of the malnutrition response, are also facing shortages, said Moustapha Niang, a Water, Hygiene and Sanitation specialist at the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The number of malnourished children admitted to health centres has sharply risen in recent weeks as the lean season peaks, according to UNICEF.

In urban areas, 42 percent of people have access to drinking water, and seven percent to improved sanitation facilities; in rural areas 32 percent have drinking water and three percent have access to improved sanitation. UNICEF estimates that 80 percent of deaths in children younger than five are linked to lack of access to clean water and sanitation facilities.

Niang called on donors to “ensure water and sanitation activities are financed, for without this any malnutrition response will not be effective … Clean drinking water and decent sanitation [is essential] to reduce the prevalence of diarrhoea, which can exacerbate the problem of severe malnutrition.”

Need for investment

Desert covers three-quarters of Niger, yet it has valuable renewable water sources, including about 31 billion cubic metres of surface water, 2.5 billion cubic metres of groundwater in natural aquifers, and 2,000 billion cubic metres of non-renewable water. According to the government, just 20 percent of renewable water resources are being tapped, and almost none of the non-renewable sources.

There are few studies and little data to help humanitarian actors understand the scope of Niger’s needs in agriculture, livestock, people and energy. The Ministry of Water Resources did not respond to IRIN’s requests for an interview.

In a national investment report presented at a 2008 conference on “Water for agriculture and energy in Africa”, officials stressed that “Water is one of the government’s priorities” to fight food security and poverty, and estimated that investments totalling $1.5 billion would be required in the “short, medium and long term”.

Donors, including the World Bank, African Development Bank, European Union, and various countries, have injected more than $300 million in projects directly or indirectly related to agriculture, livestock, and water over the past decade, according to the government. In December 2009 the previous government announced it would invest $54 million in 2010 to improve the availability and quality of water.

Despite these collective efforts, the needs are still far from being covered, particularly in drought-prone regions like Zinder and Tanout. Holmes highlighted the need to act in concert to deal with the root causes of food insecurity and malnutrition in Niger.

“The water is there, [deep] down. It is worth investing in,” he urged. “We could do that; the cost is huge, but it is not impossible.

Source: IRIN, 10 Jun 2010

Zimababwe: water wars hit rural Zimbabwe

When water experts warned at the turn of the millennium that soon wars will be fought not over oil anymore but over water, little did Zimbabweans know that they would be some of the first people affected by this dire prediction.

There is increasing competition for water due to a combination of numerous environmental and political factors, including climate change, poor local planning and lack of adequate financial and material resources to bring running water to poor communities.

In rural Zimbabwe, lack of clean water has become a reality for many communities, in addition to other hardships, such as food shortages, insufficient health services and lack of sanitation.

[...] According to Justice for Agriculture (JAG), a unit set up by the Commercial Farmers of Zimbabwe (CFZ), an organisation that represents the legal interests of dispossessed farmers, wells have dried up throughout the country and no efforts have been made to drill more boreholes to provide water to both humans and livestock.

Plumtree

[...] In Plumtree, a poor, drought-prone rural community located about 160 kilometres southwest of Zimbabwe‚s second largest city, Bulawayo, a hostile fight has broken out between neighbouring communities around access to the few remaining water sources. [R]esidents from the Botswana side of the river have claimed parts of the river as their own, threatening those from the Zimbabwean side with assault if they come to fetch water.

What has heightened tensions even further. Out of desperation, villagers have started to bring their livestock to drink from the river too, as there is no alternative water source for animals.

“The Batswana say we must not bring our livestock here, but we cannot let our cattle die in this heat,” local resident Thabiso Mkwena said.

Letting livestock drink from the same water source as humans has exposed locals to a number of water-borne diseases. Earlier this year, medical staff at the public hospital in Plumtree reported an outbreak of diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water.

In Plumtree, not only the river has dried up. Water provision inside the village is scarce as well. As a result, residents are increasingly reluctant to share the little water they have.

Missing water MDG

It is unlikely that Zimbabwe will reach Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target for water.

Although worst in rural areas, water shortages affect the entire country. According to residents associations Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) and Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BUPRA), urban residents have to live with irregular supply of clean drinking water.

In Bulawayo, for example, residents say they go for up to two days without running water, and when the taps are turned back on, the water is not safe to drink because it has not been purified.

To improve this situation, government officials signed an agreement with UNESCO, the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Institute of Water and Sanitation Development in May 2009 to mobilise funds to supply clean water and sanitation in a country faced by drastic economic recession.

But five months later, the agreement is yet to be implemented.

James Fuyane, chief water technician at the Plumtree Rural District Council said that poor water management was mainly caused by lack of financial resources and management.

Source: Ignatius Banda, IPS, 16 Oct 2009

Kenya: private water supply deal sparks cost inflation fear

Kenya is seeking a private sector solution to its burgeoning water supply shortages in a deal that could see a steep rise in costs and deny access to the millions of urban residents in the bottom income bracket. The deal proposes to open the harvesting and purification of underground water for pumping to homes and offices through existing supply networks owned by local authorities.

It was revealed through invitation of tenders from qualified bidders who are expected to tap underground water and add some 300,000 cubic metres to the supply networks in Nairobi, and the surrounding districts before a national roll-out.

Five independent water producers will sink large boreholes around the capital to boost supply that have been declining with changes in weather patterns, according to Water ministry officials.

The plan paves the way for the entry of private equity-backed commercial water providers, mostly from Europe, to take a piece of the lucrative water business, that analysts say is set to deepen with the rapid growth in the urban population.

Kenya currently relies on state-owned service providers and not for profit organisations to meet its water supply needs but rampant corruption, ageing supply networks and illegal connections have rendered the systems ineffective.

The entry of private capital in the water supply business though expected to boost quality and volumes could also come with a heavy cost burden, analysts warned.

[...] The offer to the private sector would constitute 40 per cent stake of the city’s water supply –estimated to generate annual revenues of Sh7 billion.

[Calling in the help of the private sector] amounts to an admission by the government that state backed water providers have failed to meet the country’s water needs making it necessary, for the first time, to rope in private investors.

Water drillers

This condition [to drill boreholes at depths of between 600 and 1000 meters] knocks off nearly all the 40 locally based water drillers whose previous assignments have been restricted to depths of between 150 and 250 meters, [and as a consequnece] investors will most likely come from abroad. Local firms, however, can form a consortium with the international investors to get a piece of the business.

Under the new supply arrangement, private water producers will sell water in bulk to the established operators with large networks such as the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company – placing them at the same level as Independent Power Producers (IPP) who generate and sell electricity to Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC).

Potential investors have up to October 19 to present their bids for evaluation in November. The winners will be announced in January to allow them set operations by April.

Water sector players reckon that the new plan could increase the cost of water significantly as the private investors look to reap returns and cover operational expenses that are expected to rise as the country turns to the more expensive underground water harvesting.

The country draws a huge chunk of its water from the surface and channelled into dams, which is cheaper compared to underground water.

On average, light water consumers using tapped water drawn from rainwater are charged a subsidized rate of Sh20 per cubic meter or 1000 litres while heavy consumers pay up to Sh55. Community- based water projects that are sprucing up in peri-urban areas with the backing of some local banks are charging as much Sh60 per cubic metre.

Aggro Irrigation and Pump services, a local borehole driller reckon that one would requires in excess of Sh25 million to drill a well of 1000 meters, which excludes equipment costs such as pumps and pipes as well as operational expenses including staff, rent and fuel for running the pumps.

The private investors will be required to drill between 30 and 50 wells.

[...] Fears of a possible increase in water prices comes barely a year after water companies increased their tariffs by at least 50 per cent for small users and by larger margins for industrial consumers. The expectations of the possible rise in water costs will step up the frequency of high utility bills that have persisted this year with high electricity prices.

Electricity cost

The combined impact of high water and power tariffs is expected to pile inflationary pressure in an economy where recently unveiled official data is showing that households have knocked off some goods and services from their budgets to navigate the turbulent economic environment. The impact of high inflation is already showing in reduced consumer purchasing power.

But the water regulator says it’s would not sit and watch consumers getting reaped, adding that the private operators would have to justify any price increases.

“At the end of the day water is still a basic right, so [we] will ensure that it’s made available at an affordable cost,” Mr Robert Gakubia, the chief executive of the Water Services Regulatory Board, said in an interview, adding that the regulator will not approve any tariff that seeks to exploit water consumers.

But the country has little choice since the government and existing water service providers has no cash and expertise to rollout the underground water project.

[...] But to water consumers paying more for water is a lesser evil compared to the pain of going without water. More recently, however, soaring demand for water coupled with under investment on water infrastructure and poor weather has led to perennial water shortages across most urban centers.

Nairobi, for instance, has been experiencing acute shortage of water for the last three years brought home by insufficient rain. This has forced the Nairobi Water Company to rollout a water rationing programme where residents get water at least once a week.

As a result, residents have to buy water daily with a 20-litre container going for between Sh5 and Sh10. People who own boreholes are now also selling the water turning water vending into a lucrative trade. Nairobi has over 3,000 boreholes — some, which are privately owned by individuals or institutions. To ease the problem, the government has been providing water using tankers and drilled boreholes, but most of them have been dug at depths that cannot sustain a commercial venture.

Source: Michael Omondi, Business Daily / allAfrica.com, 07 Oct 2009

Kenya: Nairobi water board sent packing, acute water shortages persist in cities

The entire board of the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company was sent packing over alleged mismanagement on 8 July 2009. A full council meeting of the City Council of Nairobi made the move citing unfair water rationing and illegal connections that have seen millions of cubic litres of water lost even with the rains failing substantially. The council fully owns the water company which was constituted in 2004 to streamline water operations.

Several residential areas in the city have not seen a drop of water for the last four months. The crisis has prompted residents of Kayole Estate to hold a protest demonstration alleging corruption in water supply and management.

“We note with a lot of concern that there are staff members who are involved in the cartels that have illegally connected water, worsening the water shortage,” said Nairobi’s Mayor Geofrey Majiwa.

There have been warnings of an outbreak of water-borne diseases due to the acute water shortage with some residents resorting to using water from contaminated rivers and boreholes. Since late December 2008, there have been 4,000 confirmed cases of cholera and 89 deaths recorded in Kenya.

Water vendors have been making a killing with a 20 litre jerrican retailing at between Sh10 and 50. For a 5,000-litre lorry, one has to part with Sh5,000. Ironically, these vendors buy the water from the boreholes for Sh500 for the same capacity.

The situation is the same in Mombasa where many residents go for as long as one month without water. “Despite paying monthly bills to the Mombasa Water and Sewerage Company, we have to rely on water from vendors,” says Michael Embasa, a newspaper vendor living in Likoni.

In Nakuru, some factories, including Flamingo Bottlers, Coil Product Kenya Limited and Kapi Limited, have been shut down due to perennial water shortages, while here also residents increasingly depend on vendors.

But the problem is worse in some low- income estates like Bondeni, Kaptembwa and Kwa Rhonda, where the residents are struggling to put a meal on the table. The water is sold at Sh20 per 20-litre can.

Ms Mary Kamau of Pangani Estate said the water problem had made life more difficult given the current hard economic times. “Washing my family’s clothes has become very difficult because the water is expensive,” she said.

“You do not know whether to buy water or food. It is even worse for us because vendors sell water in large quantities only, which makes it unaffordable for poor families,” she added and urged the government to intervene.

The water ministry is however optimistic, promising Kenyans that the situation will improve by December 2009. In June 2009, the government signed an MOU with the New York-based firm, EarthWater Global, for ground water exploration, starting Nairobi before expanding to the rest of the country.

Source: Casper Waithaka, Daily Nation / allAfrica.com, 08 Jul 2009 ; KBC, 11 Jul 2009 ; Sapa-AFP / IOL, 08 Jul 2009 ; Dave Opiyo, Daily Nation / allAfrica.com, 12 Jul 2009 ; Daily Nation / allAfrica.com, 23 Jun 2009

Somalia, Somaliland: burgeoning population drains Hargeisa water supply

Urbanisation and rural-urban migration could soon overwhelm the water supply in Hargeisa, capital of Somalia’s self-declared republic of Somaliland, with city officials calling for the construction of a third pipeline to offset increasing shortages.

“The city’s water supply system has not been improved since the mid-1980s, yet more and more people are migrating from the countryside to Hargeisa, Khalif Aw Abdillahi, manager of the Hargeisa water agency, told IRIN. “We produce 9,000 cubic meters of water daily [which serves 150,000 persons], which is not enough for the city population [of about 900,000].”

[...] “The ministry’s statistics indicate that 45 percent of Hargeisa residents do not receive the international standard quantity of water,” he said, adding that the average was 14l per person per day in urban areas while in rural areas it was 8l per person per day.

A former manager of the Hargeisa water agency, Ahmed Ali Dable, said Hargeisa needed at least 27,000 cubic metres of water per day. He said the city [...] has had persistent water shortages in the past several years, especially in the north and south of the city, where most residents buy water from vendors with donkey carts.

Muhumed Aw Ahmed, a water vendor in Hargeisa, said: “I sell almost 20 barrels per day during the rainy season, compared to the dry season when I sell only seven to 10 barrels per day.” His customers are mostly internally displaced persons living in various camps around the city.

Ali Sheikh Omar Qabil, director of environmental health in the Ministry of Health and Labour, said: “In 2000, only 35 percent of the population had access to clean water, unlike recent years [when] more than 45-50 percent of the population receive clean water.”

Moreover, Abdillahi said: “We are [currently] seeking alternatives to increase Hargeisa’s water supply”

[...] However, the officials expressed concern about funding the additional water sources in the city.

Source: IRIN, 15 Jun 2009