By Tilly Barrie
Government and its development partners have pledged their support towards improving the water sector in the country.
They made this commitment during ceremonies to mark this year’s World Water Day on 21 March at the Miatta Conference Centre with the theme “The Nexus of Water and Energy”.
The Mayor of Freetown, Franklyn Bode Gibson, said there was the need to improve safe water and sanitation in the country. "People are cutting down trees in water catchment areas near water dams because of ignorance, shelter and because of that people suffer tremendously impeding the future generation”. The Mayor asked the water resources ministry to work with the lands ministry as the neighbouring communities around Mile 13 are "almost gone". He said catchment areas were exposed, adding that they were working with partners in 4 council wards in the municipality to provide water and sanitation facilities for those communities.
UNICEF representative, Roeland Monasch said the millennium development goal on access to safe drinking water had not yet been met in the country though he said significant progress.
“Children are dying every day in the country because many Sierra Leoneans still rely on unsafe sources such as rivers, streams, ponds and lakes to meet their daily drinking water needs" Mr Monasch said, adding that with support from the British Department for International Development (DfID) and the Dutch Government, UNICEF would work with the Ministry of Water Resources, Local Councils and NGOs to ensure another 1,100,000 (one million, one hundred thousand people) in rural areas gained access to sustainable water sources.
Special Adviser to the President, Professor Monty Jones, said they must go beyond the “water and energy” concept to focus on practical examination of how tools and partnerships could help develop appropriate joint responses and maximising co-benefits.
“Sierra Leone has committed itself to pay greater attention to water, sanitation and hygiene by increasing financial and human resource capacity of state actors as well as creating the enabling environment to meet the Millennium Development Goals Targets by 2015” he said.
Professor Jones went on that with safe and clean drinking water: "children can avoid deadly diseases, teenage girls can stay in school and women can earn a living when they don’t have to waste their days fetching dirty water from distance sources”.
Government, he added was committed to supporting the two sectors and called on friends of Sierra Leone and development partners to join forces in increasing the affordability and financial viability of water and energy services in the country. “ Water is a basic human right and that right needs to be reinforced as some heavy industries may be polluting the water because they have more access to it than the people and animals" he concluded.
The Ag General Manager of the Guma Valley Water Company, Bankole Mansaray said water and energy were closely related as they needed energy to operate their plants.
“There should be period of reflection on people’s attitudes and what could be done to improve it as there is no replacement for water” Mansaray said. He lamented over the deforestation and encroachment on catchment areas for shelter ort firewood. He cited Mount Sugar Loaf as having "completely gone", awhile "Wellington and Botanical Garden have depreciated so they must protect the environment to save ones future”.
The country representative of the African Development Bank, Yerroh Baldeh said they were working with other development partners to support the implementation of water projects in the country. He said they had been supporting the Bumbuna hydro project and were developing new energy access programmes. Baldeh said they had provided $ 100 million towards supporting water and sanitation in the provinces and improving water and sanitation in Freetown.
(C) Politico 25/03/14
