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CONGO: Where water is bad for your health

08 Jan 2009 09:22:14 GMT
Source: IRIN

Background

• Children

• Congo (Brazzaville) troubles

BRAZZAVILLE, 8 January 2009 (IRIN) - Insufficient water of an adequate hygienic standard means people in the Congo, even those in the capital, run a constant risk of diarrhoea.

For the residents of many Brazzaville neighbourhoods, the water is simply unfit to drink, which makes the provision of water, a task usually undertaken by women, a time-consuming chore.

"It's a frequent problem. Sometimes we go a full week without running water here and even when it is available it tends to be between midnight and 3am," says Simplicite Itoua, from a district of Brazzaville known as Mikalou à Talangai in the sixth arrondissement.

Most families have had to acquire several jerry cans to build up reserves when good water does become available, she said.

Elsewhere in the city there is not a drop of running drinking water to be had day or night.

"It's tough, there just isn't any drinking water at all," says Martin Nguila, who lives in the Nkombo district on the outskirts of the city.

"We travel considerable distances to keep up our stocks. For those with transport it's not so bad, but worse for those who not only have to pay for public transport but for the water too," he said.

The problem is aggravated by the struggle to make ends meet due to rampant price increases.

"I spend 1,000 to 1,500 FCFA [US$2-$3] every day just for water. Add that to what we already spend to put a bit of food on the table and the situation is becoming intolerable," said Robert Nguie, a teacher at a private school at Mikalou, in the 6th arrondissement.

"Because of these conditions we eat poorly and are exposed to sickness," he said.

Quality not quantity

However, a superabundance of water is potentially available as the city is not only on the banks of the vast Congo River but is also served by several minor ones. It also enjoys considerable rainfall and has extensive underground and surface reserves.

The problem is water management - delivery and quality rather than quantity.

The body charged with providing water in Congo Brazzaville is the National Water Distribution Company (SNDE), established in 1967, but according to local sources, the poor quality it delivers is making people sick.

"You can see how poor the water is just by looking at it as it comes out of the tap," said Don Gueko of the NGO Assainissement Plus.

"Sometimes this water has particles visible to the naked eye floating in it and if you leave a glass of it to settle you'll see sediment forming," he explained.

"So there is no mystery as to why people complain of stomach aches or suffer from diarrhoea from time to time after drinking it," he said.

Diarrhoea sufferers have been filling hospital beds for months and some have died. "Every month we take in around 50 diarrhoea or child dysentery cases all due to the ingestion of water unfit for human consumption," says Serge Bouka, director of the Makelekele hospital in Brazzaville.

"And given that this is a widespread problem the situation must be the same at hospitals up and down the country," he added.

"Incredible as it may seem, we see adults and children in medical centres who have been drinking tap water without having bothered to boil it first to kill any germs," a trainee doctor at the Centre hospitalier universitaire of Brazzaville said, on condition of anonymity.

"Dysentery is one of the principal causes of death in the Congo. Most people cannot afford to stop drinking tap water in favour of bottled mineral water," he added.

In rural areas the problem is even more worrying as people tend to get their water from springs, wells and rivers where there are always concerns about quality.

"I can't afford mineral water for my family," says father of four Justin Mbongo. "But most evenings I boil water and then leave it overnight to filter off any sediment. I feel we manage to avoid any danger."

Power issues

SNDE said provision of drinking water was hindered not only by sudden power cuts but also by waste from two factories. It also pointed to greater demand due to an increase in the city's population.

"We haven't been able to update the equipment at our plants and on top of that the weak electric current supplied to Brazzaville from the Dam at Inga in the Democratic Republic of Congo further hinders our task," said Yoka Onika, SNDE chief.

Brazzaville needs 80 megawatts but gets just 50MW.

"As for the quality of the water, we are not entirely responsible. At our treatment plants every effort is made to produce clean water that is drinkable when it leaves here. Its quality deteriorates in the distribution pipes which are affected by certain people in the neighbourhoods," he said.

Onika explained that the digging of ad hoc sewage works in residential neighbourhoods damaged water pipes, making the water system prone to pollution from raw sewage.

"We get poor quality water, unfit for consumption, and that's just not right," he said.

The Congolese government seeks to reduce by half the number of people who have no access to drinking water by 2015. Only 46 percent of households have access, 73 percent in towns and 11 percent in rural areas.

ai/dm/mw

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