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Improved sanitation needed to avert outbreak of water-borne diseases
2007-09-04 09:09:29
By Lusekelo Philemon
Living in a single room in Manzese, one of the most congested suburbs in the Tanzania`s commercial hub-Dar es Salaam, Amina Jongo, a mother of three children has nothing to say rather than blaming the Dar es Salaam water utility firm and local government officials for the frequent eruptions of water borne related disease in the area.
``This has been part of our life for a long time. Dirty water and carelessly dumped solid waste have been here for quiet long. We are vulnerable to typhoid, cholera and other water borne related diseases,`` she says.
Amina further explains that most sewerage waste in the area ends up in trenches that are designed to collect rain water posing another challenge in containing the situation.
Amina says she spends a lot of money for medication to treat her three children who have been always suffering from typhoid and other water borne related diseases.
``Initially I couldn’t understand why my children were frequently suffering from such diseases and doctors have been asking me the kind of drinking water I had been giving my children. But the fact of the matter is that the frequent out breaks were caused by filthy surroundings,`` she says.
There is overwhelming evidence that links poor housing planning to the levels of water borne diseases especially in densely populated cities such as Dar es Salaam.
For instance the poor levels of sanitation in slums such as Manzese pose a huge threat to the health of slum dwellers.
Another example includes the channel of heavily polluted water from Urafiki Textile Mill and neighbouring residential houses which emitted a very unpleasant smell.
This is a situation which could be referred as a time bomb because most of water is being filtered into water pipes for human consumption, leading to possible eruption of water-bone related diseases.
Another Manzese resident, Abdallah Juma says there is an urgent need to take serious measures to avert the flow of sewerage water from residential and industrial areas.
Juma explains that residents of the area at times use contaminated drinking water from the Dar es Salaam city water utility firm-Dawasco, due to leakage and dilapidation of its pipe network.
``We have been using dirty water for several years and there is nothing done by the authority to solve the problem,`` Juma adds.
``Dawasco has issued a stern warning over illegal water connection, whereby a culprit is fined 50,000/-, but people are still connecting water illegally and no measure has so far been taken,`` he said.
Upon a recent visit to the area the writer also observed that most areas in the suburb were polluted with leaking toilets and some of the houses with toilets lacking connection to septic tanks, causing them to flood and spill sewerage water to residential areas during the rainy seasons.
The Kilimani Street chairperson, Mastidia Matiko, accuses slum dwellers in the area of having failed to observe sanitation and health regulations.
He adds that, at times they relieved themselves in plastic bags and later dispose of the same in sewerage trenches, which causes blockages.
``At times sewerage pipes are adjacent to water pipes posing a huge health risk once either of the pipes are leaking,`` says Matiko.
Illegal connections of water from Dawasco pipes have complicated the situation in the suburb as Manzese residents continue to point an accusing finger at the water utility for having failed to improve the supply of water in the city.
However, the management of Dawasco insists that frantic efforts to improve the supply of clean running water have begun to bare fruit.
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