Stakeholders in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector have been urged to find ways of ensuring multiple use of borehole water.
Managing director for Pacific Limited whose organisation has been implementing a free borehole rehabilitation across the country for the past eight years Faisal Aboo 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 whereby the boreholes are constructed in such a way whereby the spilt 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 said the idea would require strong coordination from both the private sector and non-governmental organizations to materialise.
Mwandira, however, warned that implementation of such a suggestion should not mean compromising hygiene of the borehole water.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Water and Sanitation James Daile has indicated that that the current government policy is to encourage construction of high yielding boreholes whose water is reticulated into a pipe system to serve a wide population.
He said the water from such high yielding boreholes preserved in tanks could as well be used for such multiple use.
The Population and Housing Census conducted by the National Statistical office in 2018 indicates that about 85 percent of the country’s population have got improved access to clean and potable water with 61.7 percent of them mainly from rural areas relying on boreholes.
