May 31, 2021
Albert Baron Ansu
It is a gift of nature yet water is not free. When we speak of water we are actually talking about safe drinking water that can be life enhancing as opposed that which is easily obtainable but germy from the creek and dug out pit in the neighborhood.
The question is compelling. Why isn’t water free? The response opens broader dimension to the question that can aid our understanding. Note the following facts: The earth is 71 percent water. The human body is 60 percent water. Cucumbers are 95 percent water! With water presenting itself as the quintessential basic human necessity, why do we have to pay for it?
Here is the answer: Because making water safe to drink costs money. Rivers, streams, lakes, oceans, and countless other bodies of water supply a free-flowing, seemingly endless amount of water at no cost… But, what you’ll save in money, you will eventually end up paying for with your health. And that’s why we pay for water.
This is the message that the Sierra Leone Water Company, (SALWACO) is trying to pass on to its provincial beneficiaries from Songo to the nook and cranny of the farthest hamlets.
Water vending at the most minimally inexpensive cost of Le 5,714,000 per 44.4 batta is almost a giveaway. Batta here is actually the equivalent of five gallons.
But from the context of what older Sierra Leoneans are familiar with when the French company Degremont (a company specializing in the production of drinking water, and in the treatment of sewage and sludge.) developed pipe borne tap water infrastructure that were short lived because the service was free. Then repairs of the water treatment infrastructure were hardly possible and their attrition over the years account for the varied forms of water borne disease.
The insights have been gleaned from the SALWACO Communications unit. Both the Stakeholders and Media Relations Manager, Mary Ngebe and Communications Officer Victoria Sheriff narrated the implications of adapting the ongoing initiatives of people drinking directly from taps they are treating to install around the country rather than relying on sachet and bottled water.
Water Treatment Plants that have been installed in three cities of Bo, Makeni and Kenema have helped to mitigate water borne diseases, cholera, typhoid, dysentery. Now, it is evident that some communities are not served and citizens are turning the heat on the local authorities. We are quite familiar with the high sounding political promises that people make when running for positions.
“I will give you water, I will provide health care facilities…” when these politicians cannot meet election promises and their influence starts to wane, they are trying to find scapegoat in blaming the government agency as failing. Claims that SALWACO is making us lose elections are just unfortunate. We are expecting politicians to be true to self that water is supposed to be harnessed rather than treated with recklessness when it is absolutely free as a public service.
The disturbing and dishonest trend is the fact that SALWACO has more often than not involved the community stakeholders’ politicians and local authorities in the planning and execution of projects intended to create water access to all and sundry. It is unfair that these local authorities are not driving home this cardinal message that we as subjects and beneficiaries of water must be willing and prepared to pay for its sustenance.
We have gathered that a scheme of Social Revolving Fund was instituted towards ensuring that communities take ownership of the water kiosks and other options in solar powered, spring boxes, hand dug wells, gravity, rain harvest that are connected treated Noah’s Ark type of reservoir from which pipes are connected.
SALWACO leadership Director George Lamin Vandi and Deputy Albert Harvey had at a stock taking event of their stewardship expressed the unique nature of water project that its completion demands sustained engagement for protection of the facility installed.
Viewing videos of long distance jungle trekking to water sources in reaching spring sources to develop fitting boxes gives us the idea that human actions after these project are completed must be perpetually considered in surveillance.
Madam Mary Ngebe speaks about the 100 yard radius human activity prohibitive requirement from the water facility that is a challenge. Compounding this problem is the fact that there is growing pollution of water sources as result of the noted human factor. She cited the Teiyea River that used to be dark is now brownish because of upstream mining and dredging tacitly compromised community stakeholders and local authorities.
Research has proven that Water, in its most natural state, is sadly not fit for human consumption. With the risk of exposure to bacteria, protozoa, and pathogens… the risk of drinking untreated water far outweighs the money you might save on your monthly water payment.
This is the point that the Communications experts at SALWACO Mary Ngebe and Victoria Sherriff have been passing on that the turbid the water the more cost incurred in chemical treatment to make it drinkable.
With the government of President Julius Maada Bio keen about investing in human capital and consequently mitigating mortality and morbidity conditions associated with water related ailments, we are seen purposive actions towards that end. The setting up of the Water Management Agency is laudable but its synergy with what SALWACO in getting the best out of projects in the following districts: Pujehun, Kambia, Kabala, Moyamba, Magburuka and Bonthe should be driven by high level mass education involving various actors. This is not a one-off campaign but a rolling activity using innovative ideas that are context specific.