By Momodou Darboe
The crumbling water supply infrastructure in the Kanifing municipality is causing widespread water shortages in several parts of the local government area.
Nawec Managing Director, Nani Juwara, recently told Coffee Time on West Coast Radio that electricity generation has taken the lion’s share of his institution’s investment over the years, thus leading to a decaying water infrastructure.
The current water predicament of several areas of the Kanifing municipality from parts of Old Jeshwang to London Corner, Dippa Kunda to Kanifing has been causing misery to households for weeks with no apparent end in sight.
The government has installed water tanks in some strategic locations of the municipality but considering the magnitude of the household water requirements, the tanks couldn’t meet the demand.
As early as 4:00am, women and girls could be seen scurrying from one few available water source to another to scavenge.
Several people in the water shortage-stricken communities told The Standard that the current water situation is causing many challenges.
“Man cannot subsist without water and when we have to go for weeks and months without it, you know how that can feel,” pointed out a concerned Dippa Kunda resident; a view representative of the general mood in the affected areas.
The Standard has been reliably informed that a group of aggrieved, water crisis-hit London Corner women had already taken their case to veteran parliamentarian Halifa Sallah.
Nawec and the government have faced social media ridicule for their perceived inability to square up to the country’s water woes.
Both Nawec and government insist significant work is underway to tackle the water challenge.
