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Zambia is behind in meeting MDG on water - Chitumbo

Zambia is behind in meeting MDG on water - Chitumbo
By Sakabilo Kalembwe
Thu 22 Mar. 2012, 12:57 CAT

ZAMBIA is lagging behind in terms of meeting the Millenium Development Goal on sanitation, says National Water and Sanitation Council director Kelvin Chitumbo.

Speaking in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Chitumbo said although enough progress has been made in terms of achieving the goal on water, the country is behind in achieving the goal on sanitation.

"We as country have made progress in terms of achieving the water goal, but sanitation still remains a challenge," he said.

He said there were still challenges in meeting the goal especially in urban areas.

"We have achieved up to 98 per cent of the water required for the urban population, but the bigger challenge still remains for the achieve good sanitation which at the moment only remains at 40 per cent," he said.

Chitumbo also noted that climate change and human activities also has a negative impact on the water sources.

"The quantity of water has deteriorated due to climate change, but also their human activities like that make the accessibity to clean drinking water water a problem," he said.

"It is more expensive to treat water now due to some careless mining activities and this leads to water problems," said Chitundu.

And Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Akio Egawa speaking at Zambia-Germany-Japan Friendship Football Tournament held in commemoration of the Water World Day said that the event was not just a football tournament.

"It is an event to promote youth development through sports, in particular, football. It is also aimed at promoting health and hygiene among the youths through sensitisation on safe water and sanitation," he said.

Ambassador Egawa said safe water and sanitation are both basic requirements for human resource development, and hence, economic and social development of any country.

"I recall in February last year, JICA and GIZ signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in their assistance to the water and sanitation sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Both Japan and Germany have vast experience in this sector, and the two organisations are now strengthening their cooperation on the basis of the MoU," he said.

Ambassador Egawa said the event is part of such collaborative efforts by JICA and GIZ.

"Indeed this a shining example of the tripartite partnership between Japan, Germany and Zambia.

Japan on her part has made many contributions in the area of water supply and sanitation in Zambia, as they are one of the focus areas of Japanese development assistance to Zambia," he said

Ambassador Egawa said over the years, the government of Japan has been supporting water and sanitation improvement efforts by the Government of Zambia with particular focus on rural water supply.

"Since 1985, more than 1,000 deep boreholes with hand pumps have been installed by Japan throughout the country except in the Eastern Province and the North Western Province. I am aware that in recent years the government of Germany has been rendering support to water supply in these two provinces. Both Japan and Germany have therefore complemented each others' efforts in this regard," said Ambassador Egawa.

Meanwhile Germany's Ambassador to Zambia Frank Meyke said despite the two to four litres of water people drink daily, most of the water consumed is embedded in the food people eat.

"It takes 15,000 litres of water to produce one kilogramme of beef," he said.

Ambassador Meyke said besides providing safe water, water resources management is becoming even more important for socio-economic and agricultural sectors.

Labels: MDGs, WATER

posted by MrK @ 6:13 PM