Freetown and its Old Age Water Crisis

February 16, 2021

By: Sulaiman Stom Koroma

The water they say is life without which once existed is almost impossible. Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone is hosting over 2 million people. Day after day people are moving to Freetown because of job opportunities and others for schooling. The flat land of Freetown is mostly exhausted now; people are moving up the mountains to build.

There have been series of warning from the government for people to stay away from the green belt demarcation. The green line is a demarcation restricting people not to build beyond the demarcated area. But government after government, this demarcation has been shifted in so far it has affected the supply of water to the Guma dam. The dam is the major source of water for residents in Freetown.

Guma Valley Water Company was established by the Guma Valley Water Company Ordinance 1961, which has now been repealed by the Guma Valley Water Company Act of 2017. By the 1980s it was believed that there were only 64 piped water systems serving about 30,000 people out of a population of about 3.5 million in the country at the time. Most of the people were living in the rural areas, about 78% of the population. As the population grew the demand for water became apparent and so the access to water supply increased drastically from only 10% to 45% during the 1980s, the access to water in rural areas were mostly got hand pumps.

From the colonial era to now, there have been massive efforts by the government, and with support from non-governmental organizations, it is still difficult for people in Freetown to access safe drinking water. In the capital Freetown, oftentimes than not, people go days or weeks without water, their taps are like a statue standing for people to watch.

Water is not only a necessity to a country but a key component to one’s survival, which emphasizes the need for government to pay very key attention to it. the water crisis in Freetown people say is unbearable, communities in Freetown are searching endlessly for water. Those who do not have taps at home will deliberately cut the connections of others, just to satisfy their needs while leaving others in grief. But with all this, there are still hopes at the end of the tunnel as there are hopes of a new dam in Orugu because in 2009 China committed to financing that project.

Sierra Leone has many sources of water, including several rivers such as the Great Scarcies, Rokel, Jong, Sewa, Moa, and Mano to name but a few, there are also other dams and running streams that can give us the much-needed water we want as a country. During the rainy season, we can also harvest water and reserve it for the dries. Sadly, most of these rivers go halfway dry during the dry season, but even during the rainy season much is not done to reserve water that will be used to supply water to Freetown and its environs.

The Guma dam is located in the Western Area Forest Reserve. According to Atkins, the consulting firm on this project, the Guma dam will supply 83 million liters a day entering the city from the West where, the Orugu dam, would provide an additional 75 million liters per day in its initial phase, entering the city from the East. According to a study by the consulting firm Atkins and Oxfam the dam “is the answer to the water supply crisis in Freetown”. On paper, it looks good but physically you still wonder why people go around will 5-gallon containers searching for water, even with the said amount of water that has been supplied in the municipality.

According to a national survey (Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey) carried out in 2006, “84% of the urban population and 32% of the rural population had access to an improved water source. Those with access in rural areas were served almost exclusively by protected wells. The 68% of the rural population without access to an improved water source relied on surface water (50%), unprotected wells (9%) and unprotected springs (9%)”.

The survey continued that 20% of the urban population and 1% of the rural population had access to piped drinking water in their home. Since national household surveys are not carried out on an annual basis, more recent survey data than those of 2006 were not available as of March 2010. Compared to the 2000 survey access has increased in urban areas, but has declined in rural areas, possibly because facilities have broken down because of a lack of maintenance.

A joint study by the WHO and the World Bank recommended the introduction of cost recovery and the establishment of a national water company. As a result, a law was passed in 1988 that introduced the principle of cost recovery and established the Sierra Leone Water Company (Salwaco). Water tariffs were introduced in urban areas as flat rates, i.e. rates that were independent of consumption and without metering for residential customers. Only for commercial customers and public institutions, meters were installed and bills began, in principle, to be based on consumption.

Recently, The Deputy Manager of Guma Valley Water Company (GVWC) Francis Lahai, said that the company needs about one billion dollars to achieve its target of adequately supplying clean drinking water across the capital. He said that “Guma was initially created to provide access to clean drinking water for about six hundred thousand people who were them residents in Freetown, but this demand over the last few decades has grown to over two million”.

The amount of money that has been spent on Guma is on heard of, government after government, world Bank and other organizations have been purring money to ensure water is provided for the people in Freetown, but to date the situation has still not been resolved day and night people go about in search of water, seeking alternatives in streams, ponds, and other water sites.

90% of people in Freetown use sachet water to drink, even when the quality of those water has been questioned, they still consume it because they don’t have a better alternative.

Until Urban migration is cut down, by providing jobs and other necessities for people in the Rural Areas, the green belt is properly maintained, water harvested during the raining season, and people control of water distribution, we are still going to see dry taps, people with 5 gallons containers and water crisis in the Freetown.

Freetown and its Old Age Water Crisis

February 16, 2021

By: Sulaiman Stom Koroma

The water they say is life without which once existed is almost impossible. Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone is hosting over 2 million people. Day after day people are moving to Freetown because of job opportunities and others for schooling. The flat land of Freetown is mostly exhausted now; people are moving up the mountains to build.

There have been series of warning from the government for people to stay away from the green belt demarcation. The green line is a demarcation restricting people not to build beyond the demarcated area. But government after government, this demarcation has been shifted in so far it has affected the supply of water to the Guma dam. The dam is the major source of water for residents in Freetown.

Guma Valley Water Company was established by the Guma Valley Water Company Ordinance 1961, which has now been repealed by the Guma Valley Water Company Act of 2017. By the 1980s it was believed that there were only 64 piped water systems serving about 30,000 people out of a population of about 3.5 million in the country at the time. Most of the people were living in the rural areas, about 78% of the population. As the population grew the demand for water became apparent and so the access to water supply increased drastically from only 10% to 45% during the 1980s, the access to water in rural areas were mostly got hand pumps.

From the colonial era to now, there have been massive efforts by the government, and with support from non-governmental organizations, it is still difficult for people in Freetown to access safe drinking water. In the capital Freetown, oftentimes than not, people go days or weeks without water, their taps are like a statue standing for people to watch.

Water is not only a necessity to a country but a key component to one’s survival, which emphasizes the need for government to pay very key attention to it. the water crisis in Freetown people say is unbearable, communities in Freetown are searching endlessly for water. Those who do not have taps at home will deliberately cut the connections of others, just to satisfy their needs while leaving others in grief. But with all this, there are still hopes at the end of the tunnel as there are hopes of a new dam in Orugu because in 2009 China committed to financing that project.

Sierra Leone has many sources of water, including several rivers such as the Great Scarcies, Rokel, Jong, Sewa, Moa, and Mano to name but a few, there are also other dams and running streams that can give us the much-needed water we want as a country. During the rainy season, we can also harvest water and reserve it for the dries. Sadly, most of these rivers go halfway dry during the dry season, but even during the rainy season much is not done to reserve water that will be used to supply water to Freetown and its environs.

The Guma dam is located in the Western Area Forest Reserve. According to Atkins, the consulting firm on this project, the Guma dam will supply 83 million liters a day entering the city from the West where, the Orugu dam, would provide an additional 75 million liters per day in its initial phase, entering the city from the East. According to a study by the consulting firm Atkins and Oxfam the dam “is the answer to the water supply crisis in Freetown”. On paper, it looks good but physically you still wonder why people go around will 5-gallon containers searching for water, even with the said amount of water that has been supplied in the municipality.

According to a national survey (Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey) carried out in 2006, “84% of the urban population and 32% of the rural population had access to an improved water source. Those with access in rural areas were served almost exclusively by protected wells. The 68% of the rural population without access to an improved water source relied on surface water (50%), unprotected wells (9%) and unprotected springs (9%)”.

The survey continued that 20% of the urban population and 1% of the rural population had access to piped drinking water in their home. Since national household surveys are not carried out on an annual basis, more recent survey data than those of 2006 were not available as of March 2010. Compared to the 2000 survey access has increased in urban areas, but has declined in rural areas, possibly because facilities have broken down because of a lack of maintenance.

A joint study by the WHO and the World Bank recommended the introduction of cost recovery and the establishment of a national water company. As a result, a law was passed in 1988 that introduced the principle of cost recovery and established the Sierra Leone Water Company (Salwaco). Water tariffs were introduced in urban areas as flat rates, i.e. rates that were independent of consumption and without metering for residential customers. Only for commercial customers and public institutions, meters were installed and bills began, in principle, to be based on consumption.

Recently, The Deputy Manager of Guma Valley Water Company (GVWC) Francis Lahai, said that the company needs about one billion dollars to achieve its target of adequately supplying clean drinking water across the capital. He said that “Guma was initially created to provide access to clean drinking water for about six hundred thousand people who were them residents in Freetown, but this demand over the last few decades has grown to over two million”.

The amount of money that has been spent on Guma is on heard of, government after government, world Bank and other organizations have been purring money to ensure water is provided for the people in Freetown, but to date the situation has still not been resolved day and night people go about in search of water, seeking alternatives in streams, ponds, and other water sites.

90% of people in Freetown use sachet water to drink, even when the quality of those water has been questioned, they still consume it because they don’t have a better alternative.

Until Urban migration is cut down, by providing jobs and other necessities for people in the Rural Areas, the green belt is properly maintained, water harvested during the raining season, and people control of water distribution, we are still going to see dry taps, people with 5 gallons containers and water crisis in the Freetown.