Pascalinah Kabi
THE Transformation Resource Center (TRC) has called on government to enact a law making access to clean water and sanitation a basic human right in line with the 2010 United Nations General Assembly Resolution which declared clean drinking water and sanitation a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights.
The UN resolution further states that universal access to sanitation is not only fundamental for human dignity and privacy but is one of the principal mechanisms for protecting the quality of water resources.
Addressing the media ahead of World Water Day, the organisation said it was disturbing that access to water and sanitation was not a basic right in Lesotho.
Lesotho will commemorate World Water Day on 31 March in Mokhotlong with six high schools engaging in debates, poems and wastewater model presentations under the theme “Wastewater”.
TRC officer Hlalele Hlalele said Mokhotlong was chosen to host the event because it had a fast growing urban community council on the back of a thriving mining industry, livestock and the binational Polihali Dam water project.
“The growth is also discernible in commerce, hospitality as well as residential housing,” Mr Hlalele said, adding that this led to the increased use of water and the discharge of effluent.
He warned that improper management of effluent could contaminate water inflows into the Mokhotlong and Senqu rivers and ultimately affect the quality of water in the Polihali Dam.
He said this would further affect the lives of 19 million people from Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia whose lives depended on water sources from this country.
“On the other extreme there is possibility that communities downstream of Mokhotlong sewerage treatment plant might face potential danger of using polluted water due to the defective sewerage treatment plant,” Mr Hlalele said.
He said Mokhotlong was faced with frequent water supply interruptions despite being located in the water hub, adding, this was due to the antiquated, dilapidated sewerage treatment plant and few sites were connected to the sewer line.
“In actual fact sites that are able to connect to the sewer line are only those found in the hospital area due to geographical challenges. Alternative services (tankers) provided by Water and Sewage Company (WASCO) are not reliable to the clients,” he said.
He said that it was disturbing that the water quality provided by WASCO to its clients did not meet the minimum standards of 90 percent set by Eastern and Southern African Water and Sanitation Regulators Association (ESAWAS).
“In the 2017/18 WASCO proposal to LEWA, it was reported that water quality varied between 98.2 and 75 percent. According to ESAWAS 2015 the WASCO average of 81.7 percent in 2016 report, falls below the acceptable standards of 90 percent set by ESAWAS for residual chlorine and bacteriological parameters. This means the water quality is a problem.”
Mr Hlalele said WASCO had fallen behind its own target of 6 000 for water connections for the 2016/17 “as it only achieved 2 550 by September.”
He said that this coverage was “skewed” with Maseru leading at 47.14 percent, Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek, Quthing and Qacha’s Nek stood at 18.67 percent while Berea, Leribe, Butha-Buthe, Mokhotlong and Thaba-Tseka at 34.2 percent connections.
He said the minimum connection standards set by ESAWAS was 75 percent; with Lesotho only achieving a countrywide 60 percent coverage of the urban population.
“This means the water quality is a problem. We urge WASCO to improve the quality of water it provides to citizens, we cannot afford to drink water below set standards as reflected in the documents we have cited.
“We urge the government to include in the current reforms, access to water and sanitation to be provided as rights to citizens as this will improve services to the public.”
Mr Hlalele further urged government to start implementing the Sustainable Development Goal 6 of ensuring availability and sustainable water management and sanitation for all as well as making cities and human settlements inclusive, resilient and sustainable.
He said the implementation of this goal would work as a benchmark and yardstick to Lesotho’s development adding “we call for the protection of Orange-Senqu River basin through sustainable growth of Mokhotlong town and other riparian towns.”
WASCO Public Relations Officer, Lineo Moqasa said she would only comment after reading the reports TRC had alluded to.