Maravi

Let's make access to water a priority

Let's make access to water a priority
By Editor
Thursday March 22, 2007 [02:00]

As we commemorate World Water Day today, the disturbing reality is that not much has been done to make sure that most of our people have access to water. Although this year’s World Water Day, which is being observed under the theme “Coping with Water Scarcity”, the global picture continues to be as grim as it has been over the last few years.

According to the 2006 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report, more than one billion people globally do not have access to proper sanitation. In fact, the report shows that the world faces a looming water crisis, which if left unchecked, would derail progress towards attainment of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Specifically looking at the situation in Zambia, we are told that nearly 45 per cent of the total population reside in peri-urban areas, and over two million people lack access to clean water. As real as the situation is, it appears that very little is being done to try to address the situation. It appears as though we have accepted the situation and left it to fate. Or are we saying that we will accept the situation and just learn to cope with scarcity of water?

There are many reasons we should not accept this state of affairs. We cannot allow a situation where people’s access to water will be getting worse each passing year. It is actually unbelievable that in the heart of our capital city, Lusaka, people are still drawing water from open wells.

As if that is not enough, these shallow wells have been constructed next to pit latrines. And this is happening when we know very well that poor water quality is the key cause of poor livelihood and health. We do not need to be reminded that diarrhoeal diseases, such as cholera, kill many people in Zambia every year due to poor sanitation.

And the majority of these are children under the age of five. Most of these lives could be saved annually by providing access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. What is also clear is that it is the urban poor who continue to suffer the most from lack of clean water and sanitation. We are saying this because it is the urban poor who do not have money to sink safe boreholes and construct safe septic tanks. Much as we would not want everyone to be migrating from rural to urban areas, we know the causes of a population influx in urban areas.

Rural poverty is driving more and more of our people from the rural areas into the cities, resulting in drastic increases in water demand in urban areas. And most of these people live in squatter settlements and slums where water and sanitation infrastructure is almost non-existent. They live in unplanned settlements, which do not have proper services.

We also know that the situation in rural areas is not very different, especially in terms of sanitation. When it comes to access to water in rural areas, we are talking about people drawing water from stagnant water bodies, drawing water from the same streams where animals drink from. Where clean water has been provided in terms of boreholes, the sources of water are not always that close to all the populations in those particular areas.

These are the challenges that we should look at when we talk about access to water for our people. These are the challenges that require sound solutions.

As we have stated, there are many reasons access to water should remain a priority for us. It is not a debatable fact that water is a critical factor in alleviating poverty and hunger for sustainable development, environmental integrity and human health. Unless we deal with this problem of water seriously, we will always be dealing with the same problems that are a result of lack of access to water and poor sanitation.

We therefore need to start finding lasting solutions to the problem of water. We think that some of the solutions could be found in emphasis on creative technologies. We think that creative technologies will be helpful in enabling our people to fully utilise their water resources.

We do not have to belabour the fact that one of our country’s biggest challenges today is to ensure that the poorest of our people have access to clean water and safe sanitation. Besides, access to clean and safe drinking water and proper sanitation is one of the MDGs. Let’s make access to clean and safe water a priority for our people.

Labels: EDITORIAL

posted by MrK @ 3:54 AM