26 October 2009
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IF you want to appreciate the inconvenience caused by inadequate access to safe drinking water in rural areas, compare that with people queuing up for fuel during the time of crisis in urban areas.
Whenever there is a shortage of fuel, there is an immediate negative impact and an outcry that people are spending hours looking or queuing for fuel at the expense of work.
Similarly, in some rural areas, women and men, girls and boys travel several kilometres to draw water.
Worse still, they have to queue up for water for several hours at the water point and walk back to their homes.
This is a daily routine. They may probably be spending half of their daily working hours on ensuring that they have water, at the expense of engaging in income generating activities and other productive ventures.
The impact of low access to safe drinking water on the socio-economic development of the rural population has for a long time been overlooked.
Fortunately, the provision of increased access to safe and clean drinking water has been identified and is being supported as one of the integral packages of poverty reduction.
The Government has put the water supply and sanitation sub-sector as one of the key seven development priority sectors aimed at reducing poverty and promoting economic growth and development.
During the official opening of the fourth session of the 10th National Assembly on September 18, 2009, President Rupiah Banda noted: "Lack of safe water supply and adequate sanitation facilities in the country remains an area of major concern.
"The majority of our people still have no access to safe and adequate water supply... Government is determined to address this problem and will revise the National Water Policy "
The president was, however, quick to note that "nonetheless, progress has been made in the implementation of the National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme which was launched in November 2007."
The National Water Policy was adopted in 1994, which placed the mandate of water supply and sanitation under the Ministry of Local Government and Housing.
Since then, a lot of reforms have been taking place, including the development of the National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (NRWSSP).
The objective of the NRWSSP is "to provide sustainable and equitable access to the Government's roadmap for increasing access to safe water supply and proper sanitation to meet basic needs for improved health and poverty alleviation for Zambia's rural population and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water supply and sanitation".
The target by 2015 is that at least 60 per cent of the rural population should have access to proper sanitation while 75 per cent should have access to safe drinking water.
To achieve these targets, there is need for continued practical commitment demonstrated by increased investment in water supply and sanitation facilities, community awareness and participation in maintaining these facilities, as well as enhanced capacity by various players in the sector.
The Government and the cooperating partners have continued to give the deserved financial support towards the water supply and sanitation sub-sector, although there is a general view that more funds need to be committed and actually disbursed from the national treasury to improve the lives of the people.
It is better and prudent to invest more money in preventing the outbreak of disease than in treatment because if the outbreak of diseases is effectively combated, then the treatment cost will certainly reduce. Prevention is always better and cheaper than cure.
That is the more reason why more support should be given towards providing safe drinking water and proper sanitation.
Budgeting for emergencies and disasters at the expense of providing resources towards preventing disease outbreaks seems to be misplaced planning.
The reasons for cholera outbreaks mostly in peri-urban areas, for instance, are well-known and it is also a well-known fact that if the provision of safe water supply and proper sanitation is not improved, every rainy season there will be an outbreak of cholera and other water-borne diseases.
This means, therefore, that it is possible to plan for prevention and mitigate such outbreaks.
An incident that recurs every year should surely cease being an emergency and a long-lasting solution should be found.
It is, however, not that simple to address these social problems which have since become imbedded in politics of populism.
Unplanned settlements are a source of all these disasters in urban areas, because providing safe drinking water and proper sanitation through connection of water and sewer networks without re-planning in such areas is extremely difficult.
It is for this reason that the Government has approved the upgrading of the unplanned settlements, commonly referred to as townships or peri-urban areas, to facilitate the provision of water supply and sanitation facilities and many other social amenities to improve the lives of the residents in these areas.
It is important for everyone to be concerned about the welfare of the people to discourage illegal and unplanned settlements because they cost lives.
As for the rural population, the NRWSSP is so far progressing well and the beneficiaries are actively participating through financial and material contribution towards water supply and sanitation facilities.
The programme has indeed achieved the objective of being implemented on a demand-driven model.
What is required now is for the Government and various stakeholders to ensure that the gap between demand and supply is always reduced as much as possible by providing water points to communities that contribute towards construction of water points.
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