Area 18 sewage water haunts LWB, LCC
The Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) says continued reports of Area 18 residents drinking water contaminated with faecal matter is denting its image as it becomes difficult to convince donors to support new projects.
Area 18 is a middle density township in Lilongwe where residents last year took to court the board, the Lilongwe City Council (LCC) and Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) for making them drink water mixed with sewage.
The issue resurfaced last week when a spillage caused concern to the residents that they may drink contaminated water again.
Addressing the media in Lilongwe yesterday, LWB chief executive officer (CEO) Alfonso Chikuni and LCC CEO denied reports that residents drank contaminated water again last week, saying the problem of manhole spillage was dealt with.
Said Chikuni: “We supply water in the city and that is our mandate and what happened in Area 18 last year damaged our reputation greatly. We are talking to donors for funding and then they read that we are providing contaminated water, they will not take us seriously. We want to put the record straight that our officers last week detected early the manhole spillage and immediately we notified the city council officials who fixed the problem. So, nobody has complained of drinking contaminated water.”
On his part, LCC CEO Moza Zeleza said the World Bank has availed $100 million (about K 7.3 billion) which they will use to revamp the sewerage system in the city.
‘The World Bank has made available funds for the Lilongwe Water and Sanitation Project. $75 million will go to the board while $25 million will go to the council.
“With these funds we will revamp the Kauma sewerage plant which was constructed in 1975 and has never been rehabilitated. Apart from that we will also look at other areas to do with sanitation,” he said.
