Water for People, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) implementing the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) project to improve access to potable water in Chikwawa, says it will achieve 100 percent coverage from the current 65 by 2018.
Water for People’s Africa regional manager Gordon Mumbo said this on Wednesday that a recent survey the organisation has conducted in their two operational districts of Chikwawa and Blantyre, shows they are at 65 and 80 percent coverage respectively.
He said: “The project facilitates construction of water kiosks in 21 low income areas in Blantyre and Chikwawa by drilling boreholes with hand pumps and we currently have plans to revive gravity fed water system in Chikwawa to boost water supply to improve accessibility and hygiene.”
He also said poor quality of water discovered while drilling often results in boreholes being abandoned, especially, in Chikwawa.
“So far, we have drilled over 300 boreholes in Chikwawa and close to 100 kiosks are operational in Blantyre rural,” said Mumbo.
Southern Region water officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Phidelia Moyo, said the project has increased access to safe water in Blantyre rural and Chikwawa, hence reducing waterborne diseases.
Water For People brought together various stakeholders to reflect on how the water projects in Chikwawa and Blantyre have progressed in this 2014-2015 financial year which ends in September.
The Chikwawa, Blantyre project had a $3.2 million (about K1.7 billion) budget in the just ended year, courtesy of Unicef, Water Charity and Coca Cola, among others. n
