Area 18 residents resort to bottled water
Residents of Lilongwe’s Area 18 have resorted to consuming bottled water in the wake of contamination of water supply with sewage in the area two weeks ago.
The residents are mostly buying water in five-litre bottles.
Speaking in an interview, one of the residents, Lilian Sisya, said that she resorted to using the bottled water because she has a feeling that somehow the tap water is still not safe for consumption.
She said the water still has a bad odour like that of stools which gives her an impression that it is still not safe to consume such water.
During the interview, Sisya said she still had diarrhoea and abdominal pains triggered by the contaminated water which she drank straight from the Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) supply pipes.
This development has increased sales and created more demand for bottled water, prompting some traders to raise the price from K650 to K850 per five-litre bottle.
Levison Kangwanda of Legacy Superrette in Area 18B confirmed the development, saying that water sales in his shop have indeed risen over six times.
Christopher Kamunga, who works at a household in Area 18B, said they are also using bottled water because they do not want to take unnecessary risks by drinking the tap water.
LWB chief executive officer Alfonso Chikuni on July 18 confirmed that some households in Area 18A were supplied tap water that had been mixed with sewage.
He said one of the water supply pipes burst underground near a broken sewer system, a development that sipped the sewerage into the LWB water supply pipeline.
On Tuesday this week, Area 18 residents petitioned LWB and Lilongwe City Council to compensate them for the contaminated water supplied to their area.n
