More Water Access for the Rural Poor

The 22^nd of March is World Water Day. The UN reminds us on this day that a quarter of the world's population still does not have access to a safe, clean water supply.

Too many women in developing countries spend hours every day hauling water and so have little time for income-earning or family activities. Often they are forced to use contaminated water, which together with poor sanitation can lead to serious, debilitating diseases, especially among children. Family resources have to be channelled to care of the sick, rather than to helping ensure that children go to school.

Monica Mahdi lives in central Tanzania and regularly walks 12 km to fetch water from a contaminated lake. She walks home with 20 litres of water on her head and her baby on her back.

Monica is not alone, and the water situation in many parts of the world is becoming worse. Ever-growing populations are making more demands on the world’s scarce water resources. There is also growing competition among the various users of water, and household supplies often take second place to the demands of industry and agriculture. Lack of water coexists with large subsidies to farm water – subsidies that reduce efficiency and, on balance, harm the poor. Combined with the growing need of the urban poor for safe domestic water and their willingness and ability to pay for it, this has created pressure to divert water from farming.

More control by the poor over water is essential if they are to realize the full benefits from their farmland. Water control is also vital for adequate and healthy drinking water and sanitation. Climatic and economic developments threaten many rural people – especially the poor – and their food production depletes as a result of scarce water supplies.

Improving the rural poor’s access to water depends partly on redistributing water-yielding assets and partly on incentives to use assets that save water through labour. User participation in design, management and maintenance are proven keys to asset efficiency, yet they are usually absent. Appropriate water pricing and participatory water users’ associations are important elements of any initiative for rural water-use efficiency.

In Tanzania, the Water Supply and Health Project in Marginal Areas is supported by a grant from IFAD through the Belgian Survival Fund (BSF). Its aim is to provide villagers with better access to safe drinking water. The villagers formed water and health-care committees and contributed to a start-up fund. They, themselves, establish the cost of water. The same method was used to rehabilitate or set up dispensaries. The entire operation and maintenance costs, both for drinking water and health facilities, are born by the beneficiaries themselves.

It is vital that more emphasis be placed on researching and diffusing pro-poor water-control techniques if we are to achieve safe, clean water for all.