In tackling water crisis, Kossoh dam needs a sub-dam

By Mustapha Sesay, Water & Sanitation Media Network S/L, Email: mustaphasesay25@yahoo.com
Kosseh town is located along the Freetown-Waterloo Highway about thirteen miles on the outskirt of the Capital City of Freetown. The town with a population of over five thousand inhabitant, is divided into seven sections; namely- Youth Farm, Woreh section, New London to name but a few.
Prior to the rebel war, the people in that community had benefited considerably from Pipe born water and by then the population was not as big as it is presently. After the war, there was a massive migration of the people from provincial Towns into these areas, especially Kossoh Town which has resulted into the deforestation of part of the reserved forest areas and the total vandalisation of most of the water service delivery facilities. This encroachment and the acquisition of Land has caused serious problems in certain areas with low breeding shortage of water and the lost of valuable site that holds the dignity of the country. Many areas are now suffering from water shortages due to the increase of population and the Kossoh Town is no exception, only saved by a German humanitarian Organization, Welt Hunger Hilfe.

Today, Kossoh Town is one of the fastest growing places which housed the Freetown Teachers College, the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, the Chinese Hospital and other institutions.
One serious challenge being faced by the citizens in this part of the country is the need for a sub- dam and a water tank to preserve excess water for the dry season.
As a way of identifying the challenges faced by this community, members of the Water and Sanitation Media Network Sierra Leone Chapter visited this place on Saturday 3rd May, 2014, to ascertain the trend at which community people access pure water.
The coordinator of the organization Mr. Sesay expressed gratitude for the opportunity accorded them to get first hand information about the history of the dam and the challenges encountered with respect to the people accessing pure and affordable water and clean environment.
The coordinator disclosed that Sierra Leone like many other developing countries failed to meet the Millennium Development Goal because much priority was not placed on the issue of water and sanitation. Furthermore, a lot of advocacy work was not done in raising awareness on the holistic approach to properly utilize the natural gift of God for generations yet unborn.
It is with this backdrop that Water and Sanitation Media Network Sierra Leone WASH Jn. is touring various dams, water wells and catchment areas right through the country to amplify the challenges of water service delivery system.
The Head Man for Kossoh town, Mr. Victor Haffner disclosed that with the rapid expansion of his town, the issue of water deserves the utmost attention.
In assuming the leadership mantle in 2010, one of his promises was to protect the catchment areas so that water is constantly to the people. With this, he halted all those who had wanted to encroach on reserved forest area around the dam.
Mr. revealed that with the destruction of the old dam that used to supply pipe born water before the war, in 2011, a representation was made to WHH, a German organization. According to the Headman, there were a lot of seminars and workshops held for the construction of the current dam that is supplying water.
The natural dam supplies pure water to most institutions and the community around. It is five feet deep and built with concrete.
Mr. Haffner furthered that when it rains, the water overflows its bank unto the month of January.
During this period, there is constant supply of water to the private houses, the public through the street pipes, the Freetown Teachers College, the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, and other agencies. During the dry season, though there is a constant flow of water, there is a drop in its volume. As such, the water from the dam is rationed at specific times to the public, the tertiary institutions which the private people benefit from constant supply of water.
The Councilor, Mr. Williams Jones stated as a way of alleviating the plight of his people in accessing pure and affordable drinking water, dry the season he used his own resources to rehabilitate two of the non functional hand pumps at Kossoh town.
Another area where the Government and other agencies working on water related issues need to come in and assist the Kossoh town community is the rehabilitation of the water tank for preservation of water. We were made to understand from the public that the tank was constructed during the era when their program was folding up. As soon as the tank was constructed, it was not allowed to dry up within a space of twenty one to thirty days before pumping water into it for distribution to the general public, As a result, the volume of the water made a lot of cracks resulting it into a state on unworthiness for its intended purpose.
Another problem identified was that though the water is pure, the water rubber pipes from the dam to the respective distribution places need some replacement as bush fire destroy them and the heavy volume of the water during the rainy season also affect them.
On the area of maintenance and sustainability of the constant flow of water, most people are of the notion that water service should be free and it is their right to get free waters so any form of payment is void.
Little are the people realizing that there is need to pay some amount at the end of the month for the management to repair the worn out equipment, pay staff for their services and expand work to other areas.
As deforestation of the reserved forest affects the constant flow of water, a committee should be empowered to constantly monitor the catchment areas so that people are kept off these areas.

Unlike other dams that have been encroached upon for the construction of houses, community leaders must take up the challenge to protect this dam area.
More sensitization work must be done on the need to pay a minimal amount for at the end of the month for water service delivery.
With some leakages identified at the dam, agencies working on water related issues can contribute to the sustainability of this dam by rehabilitating the wall or increasing its height.
There is the need for the community to be thinking of exploring new areas for the construction of a new dam that will in the future match with the challenges of the growing population.
One notable feature about our visit to this community is the flow of water from the dam to the pipes for the consumption of the public.

Zambia hosts first African Water Integrity Learning Summit

By Mustapha Sesay, Water & Sanitation Media Network S/L    

AS a way of working towards an “Accelerating Water Secure World, the Water Integrity Network has concluded its first African Water Integrity workshop in Zambia Lusaka from 29-30 April,2014.

Through partnership with ECOWAS, EAC-Lake Victoria Basin Commission and SADC, the programmed trained around 500 water professionals.

This first African Water Integrity Summit brought together 90 experts and stakeholders from 22 African countries

and 30 in total, to share their experiences, lessons learned and identify integrity challenges as we move forward.

To build a water secure future for all, the summit finds

Stakeholders across the regions have successfully pioneered initiatives for more integrity, sometimes in the face of strong resistance. Their courageous actions have created visible improvements for the benefit of their communities and societies at large. Decision-makers at the highest level should take note of their successes, demonstrate clear commitment

to the promotion of water integrity, support integrity ambassadors and ensure that anti-corruption policies are developed, and effectively implemented. Condemning corruption in public is not sufficient when implementation and enforcement of rules is neglected, undermined or obstructed at the same time.

The challenges posed by depleting water resources are; fast population growth and urbanization, rapid destruction of productive aquatic ecosystems and climate change all threaten to overwhelm water management systems. Managing and maintaining the integrity of water resources is part and parcel of managing water with integrity.

 

As water is a fundamental resource for sustainable development. It is essential to economic growth, to eradicate poverty, to secure water, food and energy for a rapidly growing population and sustaining ecosystems for future generations. In most countries, water crises are not due to resource scarcity but primarily due to governance failures. Fragmented institutions obstruct accountability

in a sector with high investment and aid flows, making it particularly vulnerable to corruption. Lack of water-related integrity

incurs huge cost for societies, in lives lost, stalling growth, wasted talent and degraded resources. There is no sustainability without integrity.

The extent of the African water challenge was summarized in AMCOW’s 2012 snapshot: 344 million people in Africa rely on unimproved water sources. Corruption drains billions from the water sector, while more than 300 million people in sub Saharan.

Africa live in water-scarce environments and 115 people die every hour from diseases linked to poor sanitation, poor hygiene and contaminated water.

In 2000, the African Water Vision 2025 named inappropriate governance and institutional arrangements as one core ‘human threat’ to sustainable water management: The vision called for fundamental changes in policies, strategies and institutional arrangements, for the adoption of participatory approaches, as well as for openness, transparency and accountability in decision making processes. The importance of good water governance has been recognized in the preparations of the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs), in numerous international and regional declarations and conventions, as well as in stakeholder for a including the 6th World Water Forum, the Water Integrity Forum 2013 and the OECD Water Governance Initiative.

The UNDP-Water Governance Facility together with its partners UNDP Cap-Net, WaterNet, WIN and SIWI, implemented the 3-year Regional Capacity Building Programme promoting and developing water integrity in Sub-Saharan Africa from 2011-2014.

Ongoing water reforms in many countries and regions in Africa offer a unique opportunity to improve the integrity of

the water sector. Poverty and vulnerability to corruption are fundamentally linked; and integrity is a condition for financially viable and sustainable water service delivery. Therefore, water security, poverty eradication and economic growth can only be achieved if water policies go hand in hand with promoting integrity. Water integrity should be mainstreamed

in all sector policies and institutions, in legislation, regulation at various levels, in investment projects and

programmes, and in business models in water service provision. Organizations, including our own, need to consider water integrity in the development of organizational policies, strategies and action plans

Participation of informed stakeholders and a strong civil society are driving forces for change towards integrity. Water governance has to be inclusive, actively carry the debate to weak stakeholders, and address the opportunities and challenges that come with the inclusion of the private sector. Data and information should be freely accessible, understandable and usable, as the basis of transparency and accountability. Clear results frameworks and integrity indicators need to be developed to support both decision making, and to monitor integrity levels. Basic standards of financial management and accounting should be required and enforced by all donors and fund providers as a condition for their support.

The lack of integrity reflects a multi-dimensional capacity gap across all African regions: gaps in basic skills and capacities of local communities, needed for meaningful participation, in professional skills for informed decision making and efficient service delivery, and in technical skills for dedicated integrity professionals tasked with developing organizational frameworks, enforcing rules and building organizational cultures. Beyond personal capacities, institutional capacities present a significant bottleneck and hamper the ability of national and regional bodies to effectively coordinate their efforts. Investment in capacity development is required across all levels, for communities, policy-makers, administrators, water professionals and the private sector. The momentum created by the regional capacity development programme should be translated into a sustained movement and expanded to neighboring regions.

Integrity challenges go beyond corruption. Integrity affects water governance in terms of who gets what water, when

and how. Lack of integrity undermines how costs and benefits are distributed among individuals, society and the environment.

It also increases transaction cost, and discourages appropriate investment in infrastructure. Procedures that ensure integrity are not for free; continuous communication of rights and processes to stakeholders is critical to enforce rules in big investment projects, as is real-time monitoring of infrastructure to uncover problems. But investments in integrity can reap high returns in improved revenues, efficiency gains, increased investment and growth.Regional bodies are well placed to act as drivers of change; raising awareness; linking and harmonizing efforts across regions; support capacity development, and nourish political will in member countries. They play a critical role in advocating

for the inclusion of water integrity in international and regional fora, including AMCOW, the 7th World Water Forum, and the international consultations on the post-2015 development agenda. Future capacity development efforts should also include regional technical agencies and implementing bodies such as regional development banks, transboundary river basin organizations and regional courts.

The costs of inaction are too high to remain passive. The Summit and its partners call on governments, regional bodes and international organizations, the corporate sector and civil society to promote water integrity. The regional programme has laid the groundwork for capacities in the regions; now the momentum created by the first generation of African water integrity ambassadors need to be maintained, sustained and nourished, and build upon to ensure a water secure world for all.

Lusaka.