Dakar
23 June 2008
Residents of poor areas in Mauritania's capital are struggling to getwater, as its price increases, while availability decreases. VOA'sNico Colombant has more on the cash-deprived thirsty residents, withreporting by Ebrima Sillah from Nouakchott, in the first part of aseries on life in post-election Mauritania, after a coup and decades ofdictatorship
In a poor outlying area of Mauritania's capitalNouakchott, residents line up in front of a private tank to get waterneeded for cooking, drinking and washing.
A liter costs about half a cent, but families say they need about 200 liters a day, which quickly adds up, to nearly $1 a day.
AstouDiop a young cleaning lady who makes about $90 a month says with priceincreases for everything, including water, life really has become astruggle.
She says the government should do something to lower prices or at least force employers to pay higher salaries.
Mauritania is estimated to be 75 percent desert.
Expanding desertification has pushed more people into cities, increasing the concentrated demand for water.
Reportsby the United Nations indicate its swelling capital, Nouakchott, andother Atlantic Ocean beachside towns, rely on the ancient undergroundTrarza Lake and the Idini well field which are steadily shrinking.
Piped water only exists in more affluent neighborhoods, but that water is often cut.
John Coker, a refugee from Sierra Leone, comes daily to the private tank in the Sen-Khem neighborhood.
"Youknow here is the desert too," said Coker. "I do not want you toforget. Water problems are very tough. Even not only in Sen-Khem[neighborhood]. At times, you even see those people from the capital,they even come to Sen-Khem to find water."
Coker says he makesmoney as a painter, but that water costs really drain any savings he istrying to accumulate to get back to Sierra Leone.
"It isaffecting me greatly," he said. "Because, if you do not have money, ifyou go to that tap, they will not credit you. For that place, it iscash and carry. I have never been so lucky for free water."
Thosewho are too far from private tanks, or who have a bit more money not tohave to go themselves, rely on water being carried door to door bydonkey carts.
The head of a non-governmental organizationwhich focuses on sustainable water development for the rural and urbanpoor, Hadrami Ould Khattri, says not having piped water makes life veryexpensive and hazardous.
"They are paying a higher price for it,for some water, which really the quality of it, is the worst that youcan find in the nation, in terms of cleanliness, in terms of hygiene,in terms of the standards of drinkable water," saidKhattri.
Khattri gives some more details as to why this is the case.
"Theytransport it into very dirty bottles," he said. "But the conditions oftransportation, and also the way it is poured from the water taps withdirty hands, and you can even find animals, donkeys and dogs drinkingfrom the same place that they will get their water for their drinkableuse, and cooking, which is really a desperate situation."
He says diarrhea and cholera epidemics are frequent.
Khattriis hoping Mauritania's post-coup elected government will treat thisproblem with the seriousness it deserves, and that more sharing ofavailable resources will eventually take place.
"Without water,there is no life at all," said Khattri. "The government really needs toput a policy with the local elected officials and the representativesof these people to find the best way to make these poor people accessdrinkable water."
The government says it has been obtainingloans to get a pipeline built from the Senegal River to ensure theavailability of drinking water in Nouakchott over the next few decades.
But that river has been drying up, with rains that appear to be getting more infrequent in recent years.
Desalination of ocean water is also being studied, but that project seems too expensive for now.