Tanzania’s government said on Tuesday that it will need $1-billion to halve the number of people who do not have access to clean water, which is currently 14-million, or 39% of the country’s population.
The government launched its 10-year water plan on Tuesday to coincide with the United Nations’s World Water Day, which was observed worldwide.
”The country’s target for 2015 is to improve the situation, so that 87% of people in urban centres and 77% of those in villages have easy access to clean and safe water,” said Ali Mohamed Shein, Tanzania’s vice-president.
In his speech in the southern town of Mtwara, he said only 73% in urban centres and 54% in rural areas have access to safe water.
To achieve its 2015 target, he said the government, in collaboration with external donors, will need to invest $1-billion into water-supply projects — an average of $100-million yearly.
He said provision of water is a government priority, and that a project to draw water from Lake Victoria is ongoing.
Under this project, estimated to cost $178-million, water will be supplied to villages and towns in the northern regions of Mwanza and Shinyanga, Shein added.
He also decried the pollution of water sources by industrial waste, saying this kills aquatic life and contributes to the spread of waterborne diseases, such as cholera and dysentery. He urged the public to protect water sources from pollution and to avoid farming or felling trees close to riverbanks.
Shein said those operating irrigation schemes should balance their needs with environmental demands to avoid disrupting the ecosystem. — Irin