Half of the population in Yumbe district lack acesss to clean water (Courtesy Photo)
 
URN NEWS

Recent statistics from the Yumbe district Water department reveal a dire situation, with over 300,000 individuals, constituting 50 percent of the population, lacking access to clean and safe water services.
 
Despite efforts to improve water infrastructure, the current safe water coverage in the district stands at 50 percent, significantly below the national target of 68 percent. 

This deficiency means that approximately half of the villages in Yumbe district lack any safe and clean water sources.  
 
Bernard Magara, the District Water Officer, highlights the disproportionate impact on women and children, who bear the brunt of inadequate access to safe water. 

Beyond compromising their health, the scarcity of safe water adversely affects their productivity, as significant time is spent searching for water sources.   

Dina Shadia, Refugee Welfare Council III chairperson for Zone 3 in Bidibidi refugee settlement, calls upon the government and development partners to prioritize the establishment of improved water sources.
 
She emphasizes that the absence of safe water forces women to undertake long, risky journeys to fetch water, often during nighttime.   

Yumbe district chairperson, Abdulmutwalib Asiku, acknowledges the gravity of the low safe water coverage, particularly in host communities compared to refugee settlements. He urges implementing partners to allocate more resources to host communities to mitigate conflicts over water resources.  

The situation underscores the urgency of addressing the water crisis, as highlighted by the World Health Organization's estimate of 1 million deaths annually due to diarrhea from unsafe drinking water, sanitation, and poor hand hygiene..