A village drinks safely in Mozambique
11 April 2008
More than half of all people in Mozambique have no
access to clean water. This isn't just a cause of inconvenience - it can be a
cause of illness and death, through diseases like diarrhoea and cholera.
A DFID-funded project recently brought clean water, for the first time, to a suburb of Mozambique's capital, Maputo. Local people now have safe water to drink - and the knock-on benefits have made huge changes to local life.
Condemned to dirty water
The Fishers' Village, as the suburb is known, is home to more than 20,000 people. Before February 2008, water was generally obtained from household wells, as the village lacked a water supply system. But there was no guarantee of cleanliness for water from this source, and it frequently made villagers sick.
However, for many, there was no alternative - buying water to drink and wash with costs 6 meticals (about 25 cents) per 25 litres, which is very expensive for the locals, many of whom live on less than a dollar a day. For years, most of the residents of The Fishers' Village were condemned to use dirty water.
A new dawn
To address this huge health risk, the Government's
Rural Water and Sanitation National Programme (supported by DFID) set about
installing an efficient supply network in the village. A sewage system was
constructed, water pipes were laid down and pumps were built. For the first time
since independence in 1975, local people had clean water to drink.
Ana Paula, 16, is a student at the village school and the eldest daughter of her family. The new developments mean she can concentrate on her education:
"With this in place I will have more time to prepare my lessons, and care for my younger brothers. I used to wake up very early at 4 in the morning and trek 4 kilometres to look for clean water."
"Sometimes, when we didn't have money to pay for the water we needed, I had to work for other families. It was a painful situation. We usually have money when father comes back from the sea, as he’s a fisherman. But when he’s not at home life becomes very hard."
Clean water changes lives
For Carlota Joana, 33, having access to clean water has made her less dependent on others:
"This seems a miracle. I have never dreamed of having drinking water in this neighbourhood. In 1990 I was victim of an anti-personnel landmine, and, having lost my right leg, I came to stay here at my sister's house. She took care of me, fetched water and did everything."
"But when she died, I had to take over from her and take care of the
family. Then, because I couldn’t walk far with the support of crutches, things worsened. I always relied upon people’s goodwill - but that didn’t always come on
time. I congratulate the Government of Mozambique for this gift!"
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Beating malaria - and creating jobs
The chief of the neighbourhood, Benjamin Punguane, is hugely pleased with the changes that have been made so far. He is confident that, within a few months, everyone in the village will have drinking water at a decent price - six times less than they used to pay the street vendors.
"The consequences of this investment are already visible," he says. "Before, we were champions against cholera and diarrhoea. . . today we should worry about malaria. Tackling malaria depends on a good sanitation system. We're addressing this by building a new drainage ditch."
Benjamin also describes how more than 200 local youths have found work as a result of the water project, either in helping build the new infrastructure or carrying out administrative tasks. As DFID continues to support the Government in extending clean water and sanitation across rural Mozambique, it is hoped that dirty water will become a thing of the past for many other villages.
Key facts
- In Mozambique, DFID is the lead donor on water, providing its funding through Direct Budget Support. In the financial year 2007/08, DFID contributed £41 million in this way.
- The project in The Fishers' Village was part of the Rural Water and Sanitation Programme, a wide-scale government effort to improve access to water and sanitation amongst rural communities. The Government has also set up a new Rural Water and Sanitation National Programme, which DFID is supporting as the lead donor.
- In rural Mozambique, two-thirds of people do not have access to secure sanitation and more than a half do not have access to clean water.
- The percentage of people in Mozambique with access to clean water rose from 41% in 2005 to 47% in 2007.
- Over the same period, the coverage of water supply increased from 43.1 to 48.7% in rural areas, and from 35 to 40% in urban areas.
