By Olimatou Coker
Residents of Touba Mouride village in Niamina Dankunku District have appealed to the government and others to intervene as the community faces acute water shortage.
The community with an estimated 1,236 people queue to access water from the only community hand-pump that appears to be drying down.
Speaking to The Standard on the issue, secretary of the Village Development Committee, Sambou Mbye, said they are currently having only one functioning water system which was dug in a form of borehole and later turned to a hand pump due to unavailability of water tank, pipes and solar panel.
“We are always faced with challenges when the only hand pump is out of service. That forces us to go to neighbouring communities in search of water for survival.”
Located on the southern part of Central River Region, Touba Mouride is 12km away from Choya village. The village was founded in 1949 by a well-known marabou Sering Abdoulie Nget. Most of the villagers are farmers.
Mr Mbye said the community’s population is rapidly increasing, which he said is putting more demand pressure for potable water.
Due to the population increment, women would be seen queuing at the only hand pump for hours for water. “The situation is becoming worse every day and it will worsen further if intervention is not made considering thousands of people attend our forthcoming annual gaamo,” Mbye said.
The village is well known for rain-fed farming and horticulture in the dry season which requires large anounts of water.
According to Mr Mbye, because of the water scarcity, many women are abandoning their horticultural gardens, which he said is their economic mainstay.
“Touba Mouride has large numbers of domestic animals and most of the farmers are at their wit’s end to get good drinking water for their animals,” he lamented.
