Ending Mzimba’s long wait for clean water

At least 90 percent of people in Malawi have access to water, reports show.

Access is a loaded word and anyone with an agenda can dig up figures to justify their agenda.

In policy terms, access means many things.

For government, it means one gets safe drinking water piped into a dwelling, backyard or a plot.

To the rural majority,  on the other hand, it means walking no more than 30 minutes to a communal standpipe, protected well or borehole.

However, the buzzword and all the politics of words did not mean anything for Salome Gausi of Jamu Nyirenda Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Mabilabo in Mzimba.

The 58-year-old has spent a lifetime sharing her only source of drinking water with livestock.

For almost six decades of Malawi’s self-rule, she has been drawing water from pools in a swamp where goats, pigs and dogs drink.

“That I’m still alive is a miracle. I’ve seen people bedridden or dying from waterborne diseases, including cholera,” she says.

Gausi is not alone in this predicament.

Lilian Moyo, 48, from Germany Nthala Village, T/A Mabilabo, says: ‘‘Water from unsafe water has cost many lives in my area. We walk over two kilometres to bring dirty water home.’’

The Ministry of Health estimates that 52 percent of outpatients get treatment for infections prevented by access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash).

The diseases include cholera which claimed 1 760 lives from 58 944 patients from 2022 to 2023.

Moyo and Gausi can afford a smile following the construction of Msaka and Champhira solar-powered water schemes in Mzimba.

The K2 billion is part of the Malawi Resilience and Disaster Risk Management Project funded by the World Bank.

Msaka water supply scheme targets 9 000 people and Champhira caters for 80 000.

Contractors say the two water facilities are 90 percent complete.

However, communities have already started accessing safe water.

“Government wants to construct more water schemes across the country to bring piped water to communities and end water woes faced by rural communities,” says Secretary for Water and Sanitation Elias Chimulambe says

The water supply schemes under construction provide potable water to communities in T/A Mabilabo and TA Authority Simulemba in Kasungu.

Mzimba District Socio-economic Profile shows that about 15 in every 100 household in Mzimba lack access to safe drinking water due to a hilly terrain, scattered settlement and non-functional water points.

“All major works have been completed. That is why we have opened water supply for communities to cut the long walks to unsafe water sources,’’ said Chumulambe when he visited Msaka and Champhira.

The project will train Mzimba South Water Users Association (WUA) members how to manage and maintain the water facilities.

WUA chairperson Speck Chiumia said the water supply schemes have made life easier for women and children, who bear the weight of cultural norms that require them to fetch water for their families.

The contractor has pledged to complete the remaining works this month.

Gausi feels relieved because she no longer has to do the work of pipes—fetching water for her family.

“This tap water is like a cure to a cancer that has haunted us for decades,” she says. “It’s like everyone in my community are starting a new life. We were living like lesser being, but now we drink safe water like other Malawians. We have left the swamps to wild animals and livestock.