Ruth Ansah Ayisi
23 November 2007
Maputo — Impoverished residents in the suburb of Carrupeia in Nampula, Mozambique's third largest city, do not have access to potable water because their water committee has effectively ceased to function.
Government builds wells and sets up pumps in communities only after they have established water committees. Community members elect representatives to their respective committees who are then responsible for collecting money from the community each month to maintain the equipment.
"In this way the community owns the well. They decide how much money each community member should pay, but they are also meant to identify those who are too poor to pay, such as orphans and the elderly," explains Joaquim Jorge, head of the Rural Water Department in the Ministry of Public Works and Housing.
The challenge for these committees is sustainability, he concedes. "When the community needs the water, they are quick to form a water committee, but the sustainability of that committee is a problem. We need to monitor the water committees and provide incentives to keep them active."
Government policies to address the water needs of vulnerable persons have meant very little for 16-year-old Russo Alfredo.
Since his mother died three months ago, he has shouldered the financial responsibility for eight other family members as well as the upkeep of his tiny make-shift home in Carrupeia which has no electricity, no latrine, and no water supply.
"My mother used to sell fish to support us before she fell sick," Russo says, his voice wavering. "My father abandoned us a long time ago. Although the rest of the family lives with my older sister, I am the one who earns the money." Russo has to support his six brothers and sisters, his unemployed brother-in-law and his baby niece.
The lack of water in his home is one of the reasons why the rest of the family lives at his sister's home in town, which has its own water supply. Nampula is in the north of Mozambique.
"Water is a problem," says Russo. "I buy water from a family down the road, who have their own tap. It is difficult to pay for water."
Russo explains that he spends just over a dollar a month on water, which is a lot for him, considering he only makes about 20 dollars a month from selling soap, sugar and washing powder at a roadside stall in Carrupeia.
But, he accepts that basic necessities such as water are hard to come by and that they cost money. It is not surprising that his main goal is to earn more: "I want to continue with my studies so that I can get a paid job -- I don't know what kind of work, any work will do to earn money."
Russo is typical of the growing number of orphans in Mozambique, many of whom have lost parents to HIV/AIDS. About 16 percent of the population aged between 15 and 59 is HIV positive and the country now has 1.5 million orphans, according to statistics from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
UNICEF's Water and Sanitation specialist in Mozambique, Domingos Chiconela, says that a significant number of orphans and other vulnerable people are missing out on their right to safe water because water committees are not active. "We need to reactivate the committees and also to sensitise the members again to the policy that orphans and other vulnerable members of the community should not pay for using the pump."
However, accessing a nearby source of safe drinking water is not only a problem for orphans but reflects the water situation in the country as a whole, especially in rural areas where about 75 percent of the country's 20 million people live.
Although there has been gradual progress concerning this matter in the past -- in 2001 only 36 percent of the rural population had access to potable water -- there is still a long way to go.
By December this year the latest figures are expected show that 46 percent of the rural population has access to safe water, according to Jorge.
Moreover, people living in rural areas take about an hour to secure a day's supply of water.
"In critical areas people can take up to three to four hours just fetching water. They have to carry 20-litre water containers on their heads for distances of five kilometres," he adds.
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