KK, Ntchisi water scheme neglected for 19 years
WaterAid is rehabilitating the Mwansambo-Kasakula Gravity-fed Piped Water Scheme which has been neglected for about 19 years after suffering massive vandalism and breakages.
The water scheme, set up in 1983 to cater for populations of Traditional Authority (T/A) Mwansambo in Nkhotakota and T/A Kasakula in Ntchisi, has been in a state of disrepair, prompting people of the two T/As to resort to drinking contaminated water which has been exposing them to waterborne diseases.
Kanyerere Water Users Association chairperson Joseph Semu Chibwe said over 200 000 people in the two T/As have been struggling to access potable water because of the non-functioning state of the scheme.
“We have been relying on very few boreholes and rivers to access water yet in the past we were getting water from taps near our homes. Women fight for water in the few boreholes which we are using because they sometimes queue for as long as five hours to get water.
“We are hoping that after finishing digging trenches for new pipes of the scheme, we will get piped water again and be rescued from the suffering we are going through at the moment,” said Chibwe.
In an interview last Tuesday, WaterAid programme officer (rural) Lovemore Mvula said the organisation is investing about £1.8 million (about K930 million) to rehabilitate and expand the scheme with about 60km water network stretch to provide water to about 45 000 households instead of the previous about 15 000 households.
“There is a lot of damage on the water pipes. The trench digging is being done by the communities as part of their contribution towards the project,” said Mvula. He added that WaterAid is adding more than 200 water taps to the current 358 taps on the scheme to reach the additional 30 000 beneficiaries.
Participatory Development Initiative (PDI) project manager Richard Kumwenda said they were contracted to complete rehabilitation and expansion of the scheme within five years from 2011.
“The water comes from Ntchisi Forest Reserve. We have been doing trench digging because there are a lot of pipes which are damaged,” said Kumwenda.
