World Water Day
Water affects every aspect of our lives, yet nearly one billion people around the world do not have clean drinking water, and 2.6 billion still lack basic sanitation.
In Tanzania this day is celebrated in a week long version dubbed Maji Week, during which a series of events organised by the government take place. This year’s official celebrations were held at Kibaha Township, on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam on the 22nd of March. “Over 300 shallow wells in Dar es Salaam produce unsafe water which is the leading cause of an increase in waterborne diseases” reported the Environmental Health Officer with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
This remark was made recently during a Maji Week Media Seminar organised by United Nations Children’s Fund and Water Aid, ahead of the World Water Day. The officer said that the quality of water used in Dar es Salaam is questionable because the over 300 shallow wells have not been tested. She added that there is need to educate people on the importance of taking good care of water infrastructure so as to minimise the infiltration of impurities into it.
World Water Day, celebrated annually on March 22, was established by the United Nations in 1992 and focuses attention on the world's water crisis, as well as the solutions to address it.
Some Solutions to the Crisis
During the same event, the Chairperson for Tanzania Water and Sanitation Network (Tawasanet) Nyanzobe Malimi noted that water could also be contaminated by building pit latrines near water wells. Malimi said findings of a research conducted in Mtwara showed that there was minimal treatment of water at the household level through boiling and filtering. The findings also show that water treatment at the source and collection point is mainly done during the construction phase, with no subsequent water quality monitoring.
As for the Assistant Director, Community Management support; Community Water Supply Division in the Ministry of Water, Engineer Amani Mafuru said that the public must be educated on the importance of caring for the water infrastructure.
He added that the coverage of water supply and sanitation in rural areas has gone up from 55 per cent in 2006 to 61 per cent in 2009, while the urban population served stands at 84 per cent. He however lamented that the implementation of water programmes faced a number of challenges like inadequate funds for monitoring and supervision, fluctuations of prices of construction materials due to long procurement process and low community participation on the implementation.
