EDITORIAL: Improve access to clean, safe water nationwide

What you need to know:

  • According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), more than 35 per cent of the total estimated Tanzanian population of some 56 million souls lack access to reliable sources of potable water, while more than 30 per cent of schools across the country have no reliable water supply at all.

The persistent shortage of clean, safe water in Tanzania – as well as sanitation and other general hygiene facilities – adversely affects the lives of many Tanzanians, both urban and rural dwellers.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), more than 35 per cent of the total estimated Tanzanian population of some 56 million souls lack access to reliable sources of potable water, while more than 30 per cent of schools across the country have no reliable water supply at all.

The not-for-profit civil society-based organisation HakiElimu states that improved access to clean water in schools saves time that is otherwise spent in search of water, and, instead, enables students to concentrate more on their education.

The dire water situation is detrimental to the overall health status of communities. This is basically on account of the fact that community members are unable to carry out basic sanitation practices that require the use of water as a matter of course.

But efforts by the relevant authorities – the government included – to address what have become common problems in the health sector are being undermined largely by the seemingly endless scarcity of water supplies.

It is generally acknowledged that functional sanitation on a sustainable basis can go far in reducing and even totally eliminating diarrhoea and similar ailments, doing so by up to 36 per cent.

To that end, the government and local community institutions – and, wherever possible, working closely with public/private partnerships, non-governmental organizations and other development partners – should put in place mechanisms that would help in surmounting the challenges which hamper the provision of clean, safe water in every nook and cranny of this sprawling country.

Indeed, inadequate clean water availability does have far-reaching adverse effects that go beyond the borders of health – impacting education and economic productivity, including especially industrialisation.