SAFE WATER REMAINS A NIGHTMARE TO PEOPLE IN BT

By Lonjezo Jamu

A woman drawing water from a well.

Accessing safe and clean water still remains a nightmare to people living in Blantyre especially, Manje, Sochi and Zingwangwa. Due to persistent shortage of water, people are now forced to access water from unsafe and unclean places.

The on-going water crisis in Blantyre townships is clearly revealing how Malawians are struggling to access safe and clean water in different settings. Perhaps, this development is posing a serious threat to health of Malawians since many people are using unclean water from unsafe sources like wells and dams for domestic purposes; a situation that needs to be addressed urgently.

Agnes Juma, from Sochi Township is one of the victims of water crisis and has expressed her worry over the exigency if it remains unaddressed.

“The situation has really left a lot to be desired, as you can see that women are really struggling to access water for domestic use. Due to persistent shortage of water people are now forced to be accessing water from unclean places where even the water is not treated and this is very worrisome because our health is at stake of contracting waterborne diseases," said Agness Juma.

Water is life as they put it, but with the current situation lives have been put at risk since people are failing to access safe water and this issue has to be treated with maximum attention in order to save many lives from waterborne diseases.

“Safe water is what we are asking for, because the water we are using now is not safe for our health as you can see we are drawing water from uncovered well and the water is not even treated, meaning we are using water which is contaminated and we can easily suffer from water borne diseases like cholera,” said Agnes Juma.

Meanwhile, the issue is at large due to climate change which has affected rainfall perhaps disturbing water table; the availability of underground water and this plays a crucial role in determining the availability of water in water bodies.

George Kalambo Environmental Officer has stressed that lots of environmental degradation activities that are continuously happening across Malawi and in the whole world like deforestation are leading to climate change hence triggering water crisis.

“The ongoing environmental degradation activities like deforestation, production of carbon monoxide from industries has led to climate change, for instance nowadays rainfall pattern has changed as compared to the past where rain could fall throughout the year but currently we are experiencing erratic rains which have greatly affected the water table hence leading to persistent shortage of water,” Said Kalambo.

“Actually, because of this change thus why people are now experiencing water crisis hence, they are forced to be accessing water from unclean place like wells, rivers and dams and risking their lives from contracting water borne diseases,” said Kalambo.

Women helping each other carrying a bucket of water from a well.

Environmental conservation is the only remedy that can be employed in order to address issues to do with climate change. Malawians should take it upon themselves to embark on different activities in order to preserve the environment as well as embracing environmental friendly activities in order to preserve the environment.

Addressing the issue of water crisis, Baston Maulidi Project Coordinator for water for people has said that their organisation is in quest of implementing various projects with the aim of providing safe and clean water to people in different areas.

“We are doing our best to supply safe and clean water across Malawi; so far we are implementing a number of projects of which many Malawians will find beneficial and perhaps lessening the issue of water crisis,” Baston Maulidi.

The issue of water crisis is not one man’ show hence people, government and different stakeholders should hold hands in order to address the issue and as well as preserve the environment to avoid other environmental related problems by employing various activities like afforestation as well as embracing environmental friendly policies and activities and perhaps keeping Malawi green.