BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Experts in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector have proposed that stakeholders in the sector find ways of ensuring multiple use of the borehole water.
Managing director for Pacific Limited Faisal Aboo whose organization has been implementing free borehole rehabilitation across the country for the past eight years says the current construction design of boreholes gives room for wastage of the precious commodity.
“Perhaps Malawi can borrow a leaf from some Asian countries where the boreholes are constructed in such a way where the spilled over water is used for irrigation as well as for providing drinking water for livestock,” said Faisal calling on stakeholders in the WASH sector to consider the matter.
Sharing similar remarks coordinator for the Water and Environmental Sanitation Network Willies Mwandira says the idea would require strong coordination from both the private sector and nongovernmental organizations to materialise.
Mwandira however warned that implementation of such a suggestion should not compromise the hygiene of the borehole water.
However, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Water and Sanitation, James Daile has indicated that the current government policy is to encourage the construction of high-yielding boreholes whose water is reticulated into a pipe system to serve a wide population.
He however said the water from such high-yielding boreholes preserved in tanks could as well be used for multiple uses.
The Population and Housing Census conducted by the National Statistical Office in 2018 indicates that about 85 percent of the country’s population have improved access to clean and potable water with 61.7 percent of them mainly from rural areas relying on boreholes
