WaterAid faults statistics on access to clean water

WaterAid Malawi has said statistics that have been released on the progress made by the country in increasing access to clean and safe water are not a representation of the situation on the ground.

WaterAid Malawi programme officer Lawrent Kumchenga revealed this on Monday in Blantyre at the beginning of a three-day media workshop on water and sanitation reporting organised by his organisation and Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Malawi chapter.

Kumchenga said reported statistics show that 83 percent of Malawians in rural and urban areas have access to clean water, but that these statistics include sources of water which stopped working sometime back.

He said research done by his office alongside other partners in water services shows that 30 percent of water sources are not working.

“What should be done before we can announce the actual figures is to go back and check if all the facilities we planted are operational,” said Kumchenga.

This revelation comes barely months to the deadline of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which is next year.

There has been hope that Malawi is improving access to clean and safe water both in urban and rural areas as some reported statistics are far above the MDGs target statistics of 74 percent.

For instance, the 2010 Malawi Millennium Development Goals report indicates that by that year, 81 percent of the population had access to safe and clean water.