NEWSDESK
Ahmed Ali Saleh at the broken water pump in Kass, south of Darfur.
[Photo: Daniel Dickinson, European Commission Humanitarian Aid department]
The hand pump has been out of action for five days. Although it has not rained for several months in this arid part of southern Darfur, it's thought there are still supplies of water in the aquifer that serves Kass. The problem is a technical one. The pump has broken down and is missing a spare part.
'It is frustrating that the pump isn't working,' said local community leader Abdulrahim Ali Said. 'The people who normally use it now have to get there water from elsewhere, so the queues are longer at other public pumps.'
The pump used to be operated by the American NGO, International Rescue Committee (IRC), which is no longer allowed to work in Sudan.
'Before, when the pump broke, it was normally repaired the same day,' said Abdulrahim Ali Said. 'We don't know when it will be fixed.' The responsibility for the operation of the pump and other water supplies in Kass has been taken over by the Sudanese water authorities.
The unfixed pump is symptomatic of a bigger problem facing water and sanitation provision in Kass. An influx of around 18,000 people over the last five years from the surrounding countryside, because of insecurity and ongoing fighting between rival clans, has trebled the town's population putting huge pressure on already stretched resources.
International NGOs and UN agencies stepped in and have been providing water and health services as well as food aid to these internally displaced people (IDPs) for the past five years.
A few minutes walk from the pump, along rubbish strewn paths and past the grass and mud structures put up by IDPs, is one of seven petrol-driven pumps that draws water from beneath Kass. It too remains idle for long periods, not because it has broken down, but because there is not enough petrol to keep it running.
It now pumps water into a large tank for just six hours a day, half the pumping time of three months ago. Not surprisingly, the tank is only half full and water is being rationed more strictly than before.
'We often have to queue for several hours for water,' said Nawal Mohammed, a mother of four. 'And because we are not getting enough water from the public taps, we have to buy extra supplies, which we often find difficult to afford. The water has a brown colour because it comes from shallow wells dug in the nearby river bed. My husband goes out of the town to collect wood for sale, but this is dangerous as there are so many bandits about.'
The people of Kass, both residents and IDPs, do have access to water. But both the amount available and quality are deteriorating, according to Corinna Kreidler, a European Commission Humanitarian (ECHO) expert who is based in Nyala in south Darfur.
'It is more difficult to access water as there is less in the town's tanks,' she explained. 'That means people are buying more water from traders which might be of a questionable quality. Already we are seeing more cases of diarrhoea.
'As people now have to earn money to buy the water, there is a greater risk to their personal security. It also means they have less to spend on other important things like food.'
ECHO continues to fund humanitarian relief in Kass, despite the absence of NGOs, as part of its US$184 million (135 million euros) programme in Sudan for 2009. The people of the town are now looking forward to the rainy season which will bring respite from the typical daily temperature of around 45 degrees Celsius as well as the opportunity to plant crops.
Some people will collect water from rivers or temporary pools putting their health at risk: the water isn't safe to drink and the pools are breeding grounds for malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. It is ironic that the much-needed rains should bring new dangers to a community that already has to endure so much.
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