WATER PROFILE IN SOMALIA via USAID
Since 1991 when Siad Barre's government fell, Somalia has been a largely stateless society. Parts of the country such as Somaliland, Puntland, Galmudug, Maakhir, and Southwestern Somalia are internationally “unrecognized” autonomous regions. The remaining areas, including the capital Mogadishu, are divided into smaller territories ruled by competing warlords. Although the north of Somalia has some functioning government institutions, conflict prevails in many parts of South-Central Somalia. Instability and natural disasters have forced many Somalis to abandon their rural homes for peri-urban areas. However, rural flight is due not only to conflict, but is also part of a larger trend of permanent urbanization as rural Somalis seek better economic opportunities.
Somalia’s water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector hardly exists outside of the relatively stable
Somalia’s water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector hardly exists outside of the relatively stable
Somaliland and Puntland regions. The remaining two- thirds of the country (South-Central Somalia), including rural areas, is devoid of any real WSS institutional organization or oversight. Most Somalis obtain water from boreholes and shallow wells.Shallow wells are typically located within settlements where the water quality is often polluted due to nearby latrines seeping their contents into the groundwater. This causes frequent outbreaks of water related diseases such as cholera and diarrhea. The latest estimates suggest that less than 29 percent of the total population in Somalia has access to a clean, sustainable water source.
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In the absence of a central government, a local private sector has developed to fill the void in
services. Entrepreneurs throughout the country are building cement catchments, drilling private
boreholes, or shipping water from public systems in the cities.
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Somalia is a water scarce country and precipitation variability appears to be increasing. Many of its regions have experienced severe droughts followed by severe flooding. In both cases, rural populations are particularly vulnerable, because of their limited resources or adaptive capacity. In addition, brutal conflicts have erupted in localized areas as water scarcity has increased. Multiple humanitarian agencies have had to implement major water trucking operations and other measures to provide water to drought-affected communities
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In the absence of a central government, a local private sector has developed to fill the void in
services. Entrepreneurs throughout the country are building cement catchments, drilling private
boreholes, or shipping water from public systems in the cities.
...
Somalia is a water scarce country and precipitation variability appears to be increasing. Many of its regions have experienced severe droughts followed by severe flooding. In both cases, rural populations are particularly vulnerable, because of their limited resources or adaptive capacity. In addition, brutal conflicts have erupted in localized areas as water scarcity has increased. Multiple humanitarian agencies have had to implement major water trucking operations and other measures to provide water to drought-affected communities
Donor involvement in Somalia’s WSS sector is primarily a humanitarian operation. Very little focus has been devoted to WSS financial, managerial, and technical issues. Somalia receives aid from several multilateral and bilateral sources. The United States is the largest bilateral donor while the European Union is the largest multilateral donor to Somalia. Other major donors include the World Bank, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Britain and Denmark. Minor donors include Canada, Finland, Germany and Egypt. Several UN agencies, particularly the United Nations Development Program and United Nations Children's Fund, provide assistance as well. Most humanitarian operations are coordinated through UN – Somalia.
For more visit here http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADO923.pdf
A water tanker delivers much needed water to IDPs to the south of Mogadishu the water was delivered by the Local Civil Society groups, Mogadishu, Somalia, 9 April 2007.
Also in the news positive vibes on water from Somaliland worth sharing--Via Irin News
The availability of water purification tablets, digging of shallow wells in rural areas as well as privatisation of water services have resulted in more people in Somalia's self-declared republic of Somaliland gaining access to clean water and proper sanitation, officials said. At least 45-50 percent of the Somaliland population now has access to safe water, compared with 35 percent in 2000, according to Ali Sheikh Omar Qabil, director of environmental health in the Ministry of Health and Labour. "Most of the urban centres such as Hargeisa [the capital], Borama, Berbera, and Gabiley have central water supply systems and chlorine is routinely mixed into the water provided," Qabil said. Sheikh Ali Jawhar, director of the water department in the Ministry of Minerals and Water, said: "The installation of chlorination equipment units in water supply dams in the main urban centres and at shallow wells in remote areas is one of the factors that has increased water sanitation in the country." However, Jawhar said the region had yet to meet international standards in terms of quantity, with the average safe water availability being 14l per person per day in the capital and 8l in rural areas. The international standard is 20l/person/day. Water purification tablets are widely available across the region, supplied and sold by the NGO Population Services International (PSI).
Water situation in Refugee camps...here are two experiences from Oxfam blog
“There are no schools, latrines or reasonable toilets in the camp, besides some old toilets in the old building. We face a shortage of water here. We have to buy one barrel of water for fifteen thousand Shillings (just under $10) that is brought by a donkey cart as there is no running water pipe in the camp.”...“My children and all the other children in the camp don’t go to school but they go to the market to try and earn some money or beg. This is the money we use to purchase the water.”...“We have to limit our toilet visits to daytime as we face the danger of gunmen who try to rape us. Old people never go out of the building for fear of being attacked.‘’
Hawo Guled, a 40 year-old mother of seven residing in Shingani district.
Maadino mother of four at Burdaar Refugees Camp in the Afgooye Corridor.
“Our life today depends on the small amount of money that my husband earns as a radio repairer at Lafoole market. We usually eat one good meal a day – when we are lucky we have two meals. We don’t have any lunch – we have forgotten the name ‘lunch!’”, ...“Luckily, we don’t have to pay water fees any more because we now have a well where we get the water free of charge.”...Initially, Maadino had to get water for her family from community water tankers. “That was a difficult life,” she remembers. “We had to wake up as early as 3am so we could make it to the water tankers in time, and then we had to queue for long hours to fill up a maximum of two jerry cans of water.”...“The amount we now access allows everyone to have water for drinking, washing, bathing, and good hygiene.”
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