Tanzania. Discuss issues related to access to safe drinking water in a named country.

With low access to water sources especially in the rural areas of Tanzania, it means that people have to walk for two hours each way to get their contaminated water for the day, which creates social and gender issues. Women and girls are risking their lives traveling such far distances and risk being exposed to rape and violence from strangers on their journey. Girls have to drop out of school because the family does not have money to keep all of their children in school so girls have to help carry water. Moreover, drinking and using water from contaminated sources causes water borne diseases such as diarrhea and cholera. On the other hand, all of these problems can be solved if people have access to clean, local drinking water, women will be able to spend time working and to generate income so girls and children will be able to go to school. Their health situation will improve from drinking clean water which will lead to less doctor visits. 

        There are a few solutions presented but I believe that only one of the is realistic and will be able to solve the water sanitation and shortage in Tanzania which is to drill wells in each village. Wells will not only provide local clean water but also increase local people’s income, so girls and women no longer have to travel the long dangerous journey to get the water. Girls and children can go back to school and they no longer are needed to carry heavy volumes of water. Not only is the water quality and quantity guaranteed to be improved from dirty river but also people will have way less distance to travel to collect the water. On the other hand, both the hippo roller and the money maker solutions are strongly restricted to the scarcity of the water sources available. Hippo roller is a plastic cylinder container with a handle which allows people to roll the water and the money maker is simply a step, mobile pump that connects the water source with a tube. Both the hippo roller and money maker are not helping with the access to the water source, but helping with shortening the time required for water transportation. But the issues remain that the water is still not clean and it has limitations such as distance, manual labor and short life span of the tools. The least beneficial project is when the World Bank adds pressure on the Tanzanian government to privatize their water system. A British corporation - Biwater took over control but made the situation way worse. People have less access to water source and the water is too expensive so people couldn’t afford the water. Finally the Tanzanian government sued the Biwater company and won.

In my opinion, the Tanzanian government should have the right to make improvements in their country without being restricted by the World Bank. It doesn’t make sense to receive a loan from a Western organization and to give the money to another Western company to make the situation worse. The government should study the water infrastructure of other countries both LEDC and MEDCs. Study MEDCs for the technological aspects and LEDCs, such as Vietnam, to see how they have developed their water systems.