By: Sulayman Waan
Rural communities in the Wuli East district of the Upper River Region north have bitterly expressed concern over insufficient water supply in their residents.
Speaking to The Voice in an interview on Sunday June 15 Hamedou Susso, resident of Boro Dampha Kunda said his village has seriously encountered insufficient water supply for the past decades saying they fetch water from local wells for domestic purpose.
“This is a nightmare for the community because we lack clean drinkable water to ensure good health for the inhabitants. Mostly, we will find insects and black particle in the water which are unfit for drinking,” he said.
He added:” To drink this water is very is not safe. It could cause contagious disease.”
However, the frustrated resident said this issue is putting the villagers into terrifying situation as their livestock goes to the river to drink and they (livestock) would a times fall at the river edge and die.
Nonetheless, she told this medium that the village has hand pump but its not supplying sufficient water to the resident saying the hand pump will always have a breakdown or stopping providing water frequently.
“The women are suffering in this community because every day they have to carry containers of water on their heads from the wells to their various homes. This is tedious for the women,” he revealed.
“They are just doing this manual due to lack of option but it’s too hard for them.”
Saiba Jarra, Alkali of Boro Dampha Kunda also expressed dismay over lack of clean drinking water in his village. He said the rural community has about 50 homes and 1500 inhabitants but it has serious water challenges
According to him, the village development community has approach different authorities so as to provide borehole for the community, adding yet authorities have not given any respond.
“We are paying our taxes accordingly and timely but we have our need,” he said.
Mariama Kanteh, resident of Boro Kanda Kasse also told this reporter that her community lack sufficient water supply saying the village has a borehole but its not supplying adequate water to the residents.
“We find difficult to get water from this community because most of the time the borehole will go out of service,” she expressed while fetching water from the well.
However, she said fetching water from the well by pulley usually wound her finger because the trunks are heavy and difficult to lift from the bowel of the well.
“We (women) usually have general body pain as a result of the manual work in the process of fetching water. The most difficult thing for us is that we have to transport the water by head from the well to our various homes and some will walk for long distant to reach their homes,” he noted.
Meanwhile, they all called on government, non governmental organizations, philanthropists and individuals to come to their aid so as to improve their living standard.