An appraisal of public water supply and coverage in Mzuzu City,northern Malawi |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Institute of Drug Metabolism, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, Anhui, China;2. Department of Pharmacy, The Second People’s Hospital of Hefei, Hefei 230011, Anhui, China;1. Department of Geography GN 148, Saginaw Valley State University (USA), 7400 Bay Road, University Center, MI 48710, USA;2. Department of Geography, Abdou Moumouni University, Niger;1. Department of Health Outcomes and Policy and Institute for Child Health Policy, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL;2. Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science, University of Florida College of Dentistry, Gainesville, FL;1. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA;2. Engineering Mechanics Program, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA |
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| Abstract: | Literature on water supply and coverage is mixed about whether Malawi will achieve the MDGs by 2015. Mzuzu City is one of the most rapidly growing urban areas that is faced with public water supply and coverage challenges in Malawi. In view of this, an appraisal was done through documentation review, field visits and face to face interviews in order to evaluate problems of public water supply and coverage. It was observed that inequitable distribution of water points, unreliability of the water supply services and financial losses are some of the problems affecting public water supply in Mzuzu City. The financial losses were attributed to poor financial performance resulting from accrued debts by some individual customers and most government institutions, the board’s reliance on loans for expansion of services which has led into more revenue being spent servicing the loan and accrued interests, and high levels of unaccounted for water. This study found out that only 17% of the study population has piped water in their dwelling homes and yards. It was also observed that 51% of the population accesses the water from community stand pipes supplied by the NRWB. This means that only 68% of the study population in Mzuzu City (mostly those from planned settlements) is covered by NRWB and 32% is not covered and relies on boreholes (13.6%), unprotected wells (16.5%) and rivers (1.9%) as sources of water. The percentage composition of the population not covered by NRWB is of great concern and threat to public health and safety. The study recommends that NRWB should ensure that available funds, which would otherwise have been paid out in form of interest, are used on projects in phases to improve water supply and coverage in Mzuzu City. The study also recommends that the government of Malawi should consider converting the NRWB’s loans into grants in order to alleviate the NRWB’s financial losses. Furthermore, the study recommends that the NRWB should equitably increase its customer base. |
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