by Alpha Bedoh Kamara

Created on: March 12, 2010   Last Updated: March 13, 2010

While the global campaign for clean water intensifies, its scarcity is still a problem in Sierra Leone especially in rural areas, where cases of infants and child mortality rate in the country are high.

This is being blamed on malaria, forgetting that untreated water is cause for the many deaths through water-borne diseases like diarrhea, Cholera and dysentery. Water scarcity is a big problem in the dry season and most people have to do with any source of water that is available in their communities for their drinking, laundry and cooking purposes.

It is therefore not uncommon for a child or even a grown-up person to drink water from any source so long it looks clean in his/her eyes. This situation is made worse with the level of poverty in the country, where children, pregnant women and the majority live in poor hygienic conditions, thus exposing them to diseases that often become fatal.

“There are sources of water in some rural sectors but the problem is water from these sources is not treated due to the cost of materials involved. We should find alternative ways that are locally adaptable for people to get sustainable clean water supply,” said retired Surgeon Specialist and Member of Parliament, Dr. Moses Sesay.

In 2006, water scarcity in Freetown was so bad that the problem became a political issue in the 2007 Presidential and Parliamentary elections and political opponents used the moment to swap at each other to gain the support of the people.

In July, 2006, residents in Freetown have to drink impure water or buy distilled water, which to most people is a matter of luxury because of its cost which they cannot afford especially when it is becoming a daily routine.

The problem was that water pumped from the Guma Valley Water Supply system was impure, it is coloured, has stench and taste; while Guma Valley attributed the water situation to the low level of water in the reservoir due to poor rain fall, logging activities and encroachment nearby the facilities.

Logging and other environmental threats are already having serious effects in Sierra Leone and most places where there used to be streams are now dry lands, and where used to be forests now stand bare as erosion and watershed damage destroyed their biodiversity.

The Guma Valley Water facility which for many years served the Freetown community is today a victim of this threat as water is now being rationed from one community to the other, negatively impacting on the socio-economic situation

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