Blantyre Peri Urban Water and Sanitation project Launched

By Alinafe Hauya

Blantyre city located in the southern region of Malawi, is one of the four cities with a high number of densely populated areas, as such it is always difficult for the City Council to provide the densely populated areas with services like sewerage and solid waste collection and potable water.   

In peri urban areas people have been dumping solid waste in the rivers and streams and just recently the dumping of raw sewerage waste into rivers and streams has become common.

The land in the peri urban areas is over developed to the point that some households don’t even have space to dig a new pit latrine when the one they have been using fills up.
With poor hygiene and sanitation facing the peri urban areas, Cholera outbreak is a common story in the peri urban areas of the district than its rural part during the rainy season.

The project which is funded by EU, EIB and Malawi government, is being implemented by Blantyre Water Board and Water for People as a facilitation service provider and Vitens Evidens as a service contractor. The project aims at improving the livelyhood of the people in peri urban areas in terms of provision of safe water, sanitary facilities and promotion of hygiene. It is expected by the end of the project which will run for four years from 2010, people in peri urban areas will have safe water and improved sanitary facilities hence reduction in the diarrhoea disease incidence.

Pictorial focus 

A woman washing in Nasolo river	A toilet built along Nasolo river for emptying	Manually operated sewerage pump to assist people in areas where a sewerage truck cannot reach	An official from Hygiene Village and Arkay Plastics Industries demonstrating the new Wash Hand facility by Arkay Plastics