Access
In 2010 only 61% of the population of Zambia had access to an improved source of water supply and 48% had access to adequate sanitation, according to UN data calculated on the basis of national surveys, including most recently the Demographic and Health Survey of 2007. Concerning water supply, there is a stark contrast between urban areas (87% access according to the UN, 78% access according to the regulator in 2010) and rural areas (46% access according to the UN). For sanitation, access rates are only slightly higher for urban areas (57% according to national surveys, 54% according to the regulator in 2010) and rural areas (43% according to the UN). In urban areas, only 41% have access to water connections in their house or yard and 49% rely on water kiosks and standpipes. The share of those with access to house connections has actually declined, while the share of those served by kiosks has increased. According to National Water and Sanitation Council director Kelvin Chitumbo, Zambia has achieved the Millennium Development Goal for drinking water, but is off track to reach the goal for sanitation.
Water kiosks, which were first introduced in Zambia in 2005, are operated by private individuals who have signed an agreement with water utilities and municipalities. The kiosk operators buy piped water in bulk and sell it at a slightly higher regulated price of about 1 US Cent per 20 litres to users who carry the water in gericans to their homes. The kiosk operators supplement their income by selling various other items of daily life. There were about 170 water kiosks in Zambia in 2008, providing water to 200,000 people. Another 100 kiosks were expected to be added in 2009.
Concerning sanitation, only 29% of the urban population are connected to sewers and 30% are served by septic tanks or improved household-level latrines. While these figures are low, they are actually higher than the average access in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Lack of access to water and sanitation has significant negative social impacts, in particular on girls and women who are often in charge of collecting water for their villages and homes – sometimes walking extremely long distances to do so. After that girls are too tired to come back home and concentrate on education.
Read more about this topic: Water Supply And Sanitation In Zambia
Famous quotes containing the word access:
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—Jean François Lyotard (b. 1924)
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—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“In the greatest confusion there is still an open channel to the soul. It may be difficult to find because by midlife it is overgrown, and some of the wildest thickets that surround it grow out of what we describe as our education. But the channel is always there, and it is our business to keep it open, to have access to the deepest part of ourselves.”
—Saul Bellow (b. 1915)