Misisi: where water is not life

Water blues are part of life in Misisi Township.Here women gather at a well to do their laundry

By Doreen Nawa

FOR many years Misisi compound, just south of the Kafue roundabout on Cairo Road in Lusaka, has been home to many thousands of Zambians. 

Even in its state of lacking several basic amenities including proper sanitation, its population increases everyday due to new shelters that are put up by new entrants to this residential area.

Misisi compound is situated on a previously unused area near the railway lines and grew steadily as an illegal compound with no proper facilities.

The high rate of urbanisation placed severe pressure on the supply of shelter, water and sanitation, among other services and infrastructure in Misisi and so is the situation in many other urban and peri-urban areas in Zambia.

Being paramount and key to life, water is one of the pre-requisites to making their (Misisi residents) life better "We have several problems here and have had them for years without a solution. We have had no water closer to our homes. For me, I get water like 3 kilometres from here, at a nearby school and these are communal. We pay K100 for a 20-litre container of water but if you do not have that much, then no water for you," says one of the Misisi residents, Takondwa Zulu.





Ngwenya Dam

Mrs Zulu lives just a few metres away from Ngwenya Dam, which was created as a result of stone crushing. She takes this dam as a second source of water, "We just buy water for cooking and drinking but for other home needs like bathing and washing, we use water from Ngwenya Dam."

Asked whether the dam is safe for anyone to draw closer considering the history of people drowning in the dam, Mrs Zulu says she has no option.

"It's impossible for me and many other residents of Misisi compound to buy water for washing, bathing and watering sometimes. Life has never been easy here in Misisi compound and it worsens because of lack of proper water supply and sanitation. We were happy when we heard that water supply will be brought closer to our homes following a project that Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company was to undertake, but to date, we have had no feedback," says Mrs Zulu.

Residents of Lusaka's Misisi compound have been hit by inadequate water supplies for years and they have a reason not to smile.

This is because the only reliable source to supply water, a project embarked upon by the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC), has been abandoned.

The Ngwenya Dam water extraction plant in the compound has been abandoned because the water has been discovered not to be fit for human consumption.

LWSC spokesperson Topsy Sikalinda says the project has failed due to high levels of pollution that has been caused by pit latrines in the area.

He says treating Ngwenya Dam water will be expensive than extracting water from any other source like Kafue river.

"We had embarked on the water project in Misisi compound but have since cancelled it following the numerous challenges we faced. Among these challenges is refusal by residents to move out of a certain radius to allow commencement of the water project, pollution of the water body by residents through garbage and faecal matter and the huge cost of treating this water," says Mr Sikalinda.

But according to William Kabuku, the project would have narrowed the daily expenses because they (residents) would have been budgeting for water on a monthly basis rather than on a daily basis.

"This failed project is a draw-back. We were counting on it and considering that Ngwenya Dam is not only a danger but also a health hazard, it would have been better if it had some ownership attached to it.

The idea of buying water every day is also expensive," says Mr Kabuku. Misisi compound is home to an estimated 80,000 people, most of them living on less than a dollar per day.

Misisi has been dubbed the 'Cholera capital' of Zambia due to lack of basic amenities such as running water and sanitation provision.

Access to clean water and adequate sanitation are critical in tackling factors related to child mortality and survival, especially given the prevalence of diarrhoea and waterborne diseases and the role of sanitary health practices in preventative and sustainable responses.

These people are dying of poverty because they are not deemed as important enough to receive medical care because of the ever-increasing population and unplanned settlements.

It is believed that the value of life for all revolves around clean water and proper sanitation and this gives the people a sense of dignity and honour.

According to some Misisi residents, water and proper sanitation is everything and it gives someone respect. They vehemently feel that they have been robbed of that dignity because of lack of basic amenities like water and proper sanitation.

 "We need Government through the water utility company to do something if we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target on access to clean water and sanitation by 2015," says Geoffrey Sinkala, a resident of Misisi compound.

In 2000, 189 nations made a promise to free people from extreme poverty and multiple deprivations. This pledge turned into the eight Millennium Development Goals.

Halving the number of people without access to clean water and sanitation by 2015 is part of the MDGs.

According to the United Nations report on Zambia's progress on the MDGs, it is estimated that 4.8 million Zambians live without access to clean water and 6.6 million lack access to sanitation.

Water supply and sanitation in Zambia is characterised by wide discrepancies in access to an improved water source between urban and rural areas but the ever-increasing population seems to render these water sources not enough.

In peri-urban areas like Misisi, access has been substantially expanded through the construction of water kiosks or communal taps.

Many of the homes in Lusaka's compounds were built without planning permission from Lusaka City Council (LCC) and placed in areas not suitable for construction or highly vulnerable to flooding, particularly as drainage channels are blocked by buildings or filled with litter.

 Chanda Kakusa-Makanta, who is LCC spokesperson, said council planning section have tried to bring sanity in Misisi and other townships in Lusaka but are fighting a losing battle as residents continue to build houses without considering provision for water and sanitation matters.

"The issues of water and sanitation in Misisi have at the moment no solution because the residents are not doing their part. Such issues call for mutual action not one sided, so at the moment, the council has little to do for now," says Mrs Makanta.