Water crisis: Women most hit
WATER, they say, is life. It’s something basic. It’s the one thing you would not afford to deny an enemy.
By Carol Natukunda
WATER, they say, is life. It’s something basic. It’s the one thing you would not afford to deny an enemy.
All this is, however, meaningless for Janet Mbabazi, a mother of three in Kifumbira Kawempe division, Kampala. Mbabazi has to pay for clean water at the standpipe built by Kampala City Council in order to get it fast. If she doesn’t pay, she will have to queue from 2:00pm to 6:00pm.
Mary Nandutu, a resident of Mpala village on Entebbe Road, says whether there are queues or not, she buys a jerrycan of water at sh600.
“We use one borehole which serves about four villages. Although we have a tap, its water flow is irregular. The water is available only at night and disappears during the day,†she says, adding, “Sometimes I end up bathing once a day to save water. We live under constant stress.â€
Mukono mayor Johnson Muyanja Ssenyonga says, “In Nabuti, my village, I have to pay sh200 for a jerrycan of water. We do not have any provision in the town council and depend on protected springs and boreholes.â€
Reports from Nabuti reveal that residents wake up at 2:00am to line up for water at springs and boreholes.
Vendors who collect water on wheelbarrows and bicycles are reaping big from the shortage. According to the 2005 African Women’s Economic Policy Network (AWEPON) report, Privatisation of Water in Uganda, a vendor distributes water to individuals at sh500 for every 20-litre jerrycan.
The report says millions of people have, since the privatisation of the sector, found it difficult to access water because they cannot afford to pay.
“Privatised water services are not cognisant and assume that demand for water should be expressed by ability to pay,†Elizabeth Eilor, the AWEPON coordinator, says.
“The privatisation process has been long, cumbersome and technically loaded, giving little room for participation of the average water users, especially women,†she adds.
“A housewife who has a steady source of income is more able to access water without spending time in the queue. On the contrary, the housewife, whose job was not numerated in monetary terms, has to look for the public sources, which are normally free of charge, but with so many people competing for the cheap water points,†the report says.
The risks
Buying water raises a number of issues. Can water also be seen as an economic good or commodity? Or does this compromise its properties as a basic human right and need?
According to the report, somebody is making a claim to water by selling it.
“We have a right to access enough safe water to live a dignified healthy life. Water privatisation has raised a growing popular protest against denial of the right to meet our basic needs,†the report says.
Development experts also say there is a direct link between water access and poverty.
According to Eilor, the amount of time and money spent on getting water directly impacts on the performance in income-generating activities at household and national levels.
“The time they could have spent in creating wealth has to be spent in water sourcing,†argues Eilor.
Gorretti Nassanga, the head of the Mass Communication Department at Makerere University, says the trend leaves a lot of women more vulnerable than ever.
“A woman interacts more with the environment than a man. Because of her productive roles at home, water can never have a substitute. She needs to cook and wash. When it means paying for water, she does it for the sake of her family,†Nassanga says.
For others who cannot afford to pay for water, the choice has been to walk long distances for alternate sources, including unprotected springs, boreholes, ponds, ditches, streams and rivers.
The ultimate dangers are tormenting, though. A 2005 UNICEF and World Health Organisation joint report on water for life says lack of safe water and sanitation remains one of the health challenges.
“Diseases like cholera and typhoid are due to drinking contaminated water,†the report says.
Even then, the distance people have to travel to water sources is appaling. In the AWEPON study, 81% of the respondents in Kumi, 62.2% in Mukono, 34.3% Rakai and 31.8% in Kampala revealed that people travel for more than two kilometres to water sources. In Mukono, 28% of women made an average of three trips daily, while 21.9% of the women reported they made four trips for water. Yet why not, if it is at a free cost?
However, some environmental activists comprehend the idea of selling water. Joanne Green, a public policy officer based in the United Kingdom, says paying for water teaches people not to waste the environment.
“It’s foolish to believe that extracting, delivering and disposing of water should not have to be paid for. Paying a fair price for water discourages people and companies from wasting it,†she says.
Way forward
The AWEPON report, however, says the approach to water, as an economic good in which economic tariffs and cost recovery are emphasised, is not consistent with the commitments to ensure ‘water for all’.
The report says there is need to have a rights-based approach as opposed to market-led distribution.
“A rights-based approach means clearly understanding the difference between a right and a need. Advocacy for water must start from the point that the poor have a right to water,†the report says.
Warren Nyamugasira, the executive director of NGO Forum, says accessibility to safe drinking water is a critical factor if the country is to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Providing people with safe water and basic sanitation is number seven on the MDGs.
Nyamugasira says the civil society should play a role in promoting the interests of women to participate in decision-making and management of water and sanitation facilities through the existing water user committees at municipal levels.
The 2005 GTZ worldwide news says modernisation and clear regulations are essential in the tendering processes to encourage private operators to become more transparent in the sector. Ganyana Miiro, the board chairman National Water and Sewerage Corporation, says $4m (sh7.2b) will be spent on averting the current crisis.
Ends
WATER, they say, is life. It’s something basic. It’s the one thing you would not afford to deny an enemy.
All this is, however, meaningless for Janet Mbabazi, a mother of three in Kifumbira Kawempe division, Kampala. Mbabazi has to pay for clean water at the standpipe built by Kampala City Council in order to get it fast. If she doesn’t pay, she will have to queue from 2:00pm to 6:00pm.
Mary Nandutu, a resident of Mpala village on Entebbe Road, says whether there are queues or not, she buys a jerrycan of water at sh600.
“We use one borehole which serves about four villages. Although we have a tap, its water flow is irregular. The water is available only at night and disappears during the day,†she says, adding, “Sometimes I end up bathing once a day to save water. We live under constant stress.â€
Mukono mayor Johnson Muyanja Ssenyonga says, “In Nabuti, my village, I have to pay sh200 for a jerrycan of water. We do not have any provision in the town council and depend on protected springs and boreholes.â€
Reports from Nabuti reveal that residents wake up at 2:00am to line up for water at springs and boreholes.
Vendors who collect water on wheelbarrows and bicycles are reaping big from the shortage. According to the 2005 African Women’s Economic Policy Network (AWEPON) report, Privatisation of Water in Uganda, a vendor distributes water to individuals at sh500 for every 20-litre jerrycan.
The report says millions of people have, since the privatisation of the sector, found it difficult to access water because they cannot afford to pay.
“Privatised water services are not cognisant and assume that demand for water should be expressed by ability to pay,†Elizabeth Eilor, the AWEPON coordinator, says.
“The privatisation process has been long, cumbersome and technically loaded, giving little room for participation of the average water users, especially women,†she adds.
“A housewife who has a steady source of income is more able to access water without spending time in the queue. On the contrary, the housewife, whose job was not numerated in monetary terms, has to look for the public sources, which are normally free of charge, but with so many people competing for the cheap water points,†the report says.
The risks
Buying water raises a number of issues. Can water also be seen as an economic good or commodity? Or does this compromise its properties as a basic human right and need?
According to the report, somebody is making a claim to water by selling it.
“We have a right to access enough safe water to live a dignified healthy life. Water privatisation has raised a growing popular protest against denial of the right to meet our basic needs,†the report says.
Development experts also say there is a direct link between water access and poverty.
According to Eilor, the amount of time and money spent on getting water directly impacts on the performance in income-generating activities at household and national levels.
“The time they could have spent in creating wealth has to be spent in water sourcing,†argues Eilor.
Gorretti Nassanga, the head of the Mass Communication Department at Makerere University, says the trend leaves a lot of women more vulnerable than ever.
“A woman interacts more with the environment than a man. Because of her productive roles at home, water can never have a substitute. She needs to cook and wash. When it means paying for water, she does it for the sake of her family,†Nassanga says.
For others who cannot afford to pay for water, the choice has been to walk long distances for alternate sources, including unprotected springs, boreholes, ponds, ditches, streams and rivers.
The ultimate dangers are tormenting, though. A 2005 UNICEF and World Health Organisation joint report on water for life says lack of safe water and sanitation remains one of the health challenges.
“Diseases like cholera and typhoid are due to drinking contaminated water,†the report says.
Even then, the distance people have to travel to water sources is appaling. In the AWEPON study, 81% of the respondents in Kumi, 62.2% in Mukono, 34.3% Rakai and 31.8% in Kampala revealed that people travel for more than two kilometres to water sources. In Mukono, 28% of women made an average of three trips daily, while 21.9% of the women reported they made four trips for water. Yet why not, if it is at a free cost?
However, some environmental activists comprehend the idea of selling water. Joanne Green, a public policy officer based in the United Kingdom, says paying for water teaches people not to waste the environment.
“It’s foolish to believe that extracting, delivering and disposing of water should not have to be paid for. Paying a fair price for water discourages people and companies from wasting it,†she says.
Way forward
The AWEPON report, however, says the approach to water, as an economic good in which economic tariffs and cost recovery are emphasised, is not consistent with the commitments to ensure ‘water for all’.
The report says there is need to have a rights-based approach as opposed to market-led distribution.
“A rights-based approach means clearly understanding the difference between a right and a need. Advocacy for water must start from the point that the poor have a right to water,†the report says.
Warren Nyamugasira, the executive director of NGO Forum, says accessibility to safe drinking water is a critical factor if the country is to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Providing people with safe water and basic sanitation is number seven on the MDGs.
Nyamugasira says the civil society should play a role in promoting the interests of women to participate in decision-making and management of water and sanitation facilities through the existing water user committees at municipal levels.
The 2005 GTZ worldwide news says modernisation and clear regulations are essential in the tendering processes to encourage private operators to become more transparent in the sector. Ganyana Miiro, the board chairman National Water and Sewerage Corporation, says $4m (sh7.2b) will be spent on averting the current crisis.
Ends