This and many other situations have highlighted the major issues of water supply here in Tanzania. We will try and give you a little insight into this.  For each home, water is important for four things: for drinking, for watering the crops, for the livestock and for personal hygiene. Our staffs homes use 5-10 litres of drinking water a day.  Animals consume a lot of water and Aloyce, one of our staff, every day has to collect 70L of water from a community tap some 2km away from his home.

It is these community taps that people go for their water needs. However, the water they supply can be infected, one of our staff getting typhoid from it. Also, after they have walked the 2+ kilometres to it they may find it is dry and so have to travel another kilometre or more to the next.  Some people are able to afford to pay for 2 hours a week of extra water bought straight to your house by way of an open drain, as discussed in the needs section in this update. This water comes at night to reduce loss from evaporation.  Others who live near streams are able to get water from them.  Still others, who have a little more money, are able to afford to have water bought in by a truck. Again this water is probably not safe for drinking without treatment.

With the knowledge that the water isnt safe for drinking, we can easily think why dont they just boil it?.  The problem is that most are struggling to find firewood for their evening meal let alone more to get the water to boiling temperature and then boil for 10 minutes.  Also, they watch as some of the water they have toiled to bring to the house, disappears as steam.  When asked whether those in the village would be willing to pay a months wages for a filtering device, our staff did not think that most would, preferring instead to pay for hospital bills when problems occurred. We provide our staff filtered water to take home.

On top of this the water in most places in Tanzania has a fluoride level higher than the WHO standards (up to 1.5ppm). The water immediately around our home is between 2.6 and 5. This causes permanent discolouration and weakening of the teeth of children who drink it.  Higher levels cause skeletal flurosis, the major cause of disability here in Tanzania.  Some places have severe problems with levels of 8-10 ppm.  We had to bring in a filter from NZ to get rid of the fluoride from our home water.

Water is so important to the livestock, not only for them to drink but to keep a steady supply of grass available for them.  Currently the grass is so limited around the villages near our home that the villagers are left with four options; to take the cows 30+ kilometres away to places with grass (but this requires a member of your family to accompany them for the 4-6 weeks they are away.  The other options is to pay for feed (often a struggle for those living subsistently), sell your cows for  a low price (as many others are selling also) or hope that the rains come and keep holding out.   The problem with the last option is often the cows die before the rains come.

We are working hard currently on various solutions, reading lots, talking to people and just strategising as a team.  We were blessed by two recent visits from a friend who works for Tearfund in East Africa who was able to share some of the ways they address these problems.  If you also have any further ideas or knowledge about this area, we would be very grateful to hear from you as we grapple with these problems.

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