Water

Water is life and as such it is indispensable in every man’s way of life. Lack of potable water ranked fifth out of the twenty major development problems promised in the medium term development plan for the district.

Due to the active implementation of a community water and sanitation programme in the district, problems such as poor quality of water, inadequate supply, long distances covered by women and children to fetch water and the existence of water borne diseases that characterized the district have generally reduced but are not completely eliminated.

At present, all the settlements have some sort of potable water in the form of boreholes or hand dug wells.  Only Tepa has pipe borne water. The main problems that inhibit the adequate supply of potable water include;

•  The inability of some communities to pay part of the capital cost and raise money for the operation and maintenance of a sufficient number of the boreholes. This has led to inadequate supply.

•  Weak capacity of the local people to maintain the water pumps. Some communities still depend on the water and sanitation officers for repairs.

• High level of contamination of water (especially n wells) in the process of drawing water. Even though all the settlements have access to wells and boreholes, the supply is inadequate. The situation is worse in the dry season.

The situation therefore calls for the training of community members to manage, operate and maintain pumps; measures to improve supply and  proper education to ensure proper handling of water and the facilities.

Sanitation

Access to sanitation facilities is very poor in the district. Most of the households depend on free range defecation, 42% use KVIP, 41% use traditional pit latrines whilst only 3% use water closet for human waste disposal.

Domestic waste is disposed off through open dumping on refuse sites; some of which are not well managed. Littering of polythene and other plastics especially in Tepa is already making the streets dirty.

Daily sweeping within and outside houses has kept the villages neat but contributes to erosion in some villages as it clears compounds of any plant cover. If the district is to attract the necessary investors and tourists, then access to potable water and sanitation facilities must be improved.