Swaziland: many boreholes, no water

Updated - Friday 13 November 2009

In Swaziland over 3,000 boreholes have been drilled in the country since 1986, but over 40 per cent of the population have no access to clean water and about 90 percent of the community water projects are not functioning. Many boreholes have broken down and the communities, who were supposed to maintain them, lack the know-how or money to carry out repairs.

“Sometimes I spend the whole day waiting for the water to surface,” said Maziya. “You have to get here very early in the morning, otherwise you can go back home empty handed.

According to Obed Ngwenya, director of the Department of Water Affairs, the idea was that once government or a development agency has put up a borehole at an area, the community should maintain it. “Communities fail to repair these boreholes”, said Ngwenya. The reason for this is mostly that communities are too poor to afford the services of a trained mechanic.

According to Barbara Lopi, the Communications Specialist of the SADC Groundwater and Drought Management Project, because groundwater is not seen, there is very little awareness around its importance at all levels of society and government.

As a result, SADC is establishing a regional Groundwater Management Institute in South Africa which will be operational in 2010.

Related news: Swaziland: just add water and stir – multiple use water services in Maplotini, Source Weekly, 06 Aug 2009

Contact: SADC Groundwater and Drought Management Project, Email, http://www.sadc-groundwater.org/

Source: Mantoe Phakathi, IPS, 28 Oct 2009