Central African Republic: Clean drinking water remains a luxury
For people in the Central African Republic, clean drinking water is hard to come by, owing to a lack of investment in the water supply and treatment network, the long-standing armed conflict in the country and – for women and girls – the threat of sexual violence on the long treks to collect water.
Milène, a 29-year-old mother of three, is standing in the scorching midday sun, drenched in sweat, as she struggles to fill three 20-litre jerrycans with water.
“If I head into the bush to fetch water, armed men might attack me and do bad things to me. Besides, the water there isn’t safe to drink. That’s why I stand in line here, along with everybody else, at the fountains in town,” Milène tells us, resignedly. “But because there are so few public water fountains, we have to come either at the crack of dawn or just after noon to get any water.”
Between 2013 and 2020, the town of Bambari, in the central part of the country, became the scene of multiple violent clashes between armed groups. In this area, access to drinking water has always been difficult. People used to head into the bush, walking for five kilometres or more to fetch dirty water; many of them fell ill, and some even died. After the armed conflict broke out, these water sources were abandoned, as women and children didn’t want to risk crossing paths with armed men on deserted roads.
Humanitarian organizations have tried to improve access to water in Ouaka Prefecture by installing water supply points. For example, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has installed a dozen or so standpipes, as well as water supply points, in the towns of Bougouyo and Ippy. However, the demand for water outstrips supply, and local people – men, women and children – still need to wait in long queues to collect water.
A woman draws water from a borehole dug by the ICRC in the village of Goya to improve the community’s access to drinking water.
Forced displacement strains water resources
In urban areas, the arrival of large numbers of people displaced by the armed conflict has increased demand for drinking water. Evelyne lives in a camp for displaced people in Bougouyo, some 80 km from Bambari. She describes her struggle to get safe drinking water: “There’s a river near the camp. Although the water isn’t very clean, we drank it and used it to wash ourselves and the dishes. Our health suffered, as people fell ill with diarrhoea, stomach pains and vomiting. Now we have access to drinking water, but there isn’t enough to go round.”
The situation is no better in the western part of the country. The Central African water distribution and treatment company, SODECA, is working with the ICRC to help people in the market town of Bouar, where both the host community and the people displaced by violence from other parts of the country face a shortage of drinking water. Water-borne diseases, linked to the consumption of contaminated, untreated water, are rife. SODECA does not currently have the human or financial resources to expand its network to meet growing needs or ensure an uninterrupted supply.
The partnership agreement between the ICRC and SODECA aims to improve this situation. To date, 15 neighbourhoods in Bouar have been connected to the water supply network, with other neighbourhoods set to join them soon.
However, SODECA does not operate throughout the whole of the Central African Republic and is only able to meet approximately 30 per cent of the drinking water needs of the country’s six million inhabitants. Remote regions are particularly poorly served, while in urban areas water is often supplied to disadvantaged neighbourhoods through informal networks.
In 2023, ICRC deliveries of fuel, spare parts and water treatment products to SODECA enabled nearly 160,000 people in Bangui and Bouar to access safe drinking water. Moreover, some 60,000 people have regained access to water following repairs to water pumps in seven prefectures affected by armed violence. However, despite our efforts and those of other organizations, much remains to be done.
Un soutien continu sur l’ensemble du territoire
As part of a cooperation agreement with the government ministry responsible for development, energy and water resources, we are continuing to support SODECA’s work; this includes digging 11 new boreholes and repairing or installing 150 handpumps in Nana Gribizi, Ouaka, Ouham, Ouham-Pendé, Bamingui-Bangoran, Haut-Mbomou and Basse-Kotto Prefectures.
We are also supporting a SODECA project in Bouar to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy, and will finance a study on a master plan for the local water supply system. As part of our work in the area, we will also deliver water treatment products to the SODECA treatment plant in Bangui and the subsidiary plant in Ndélé, in the north-east of the country.
In rural areas, we are helping the national water and sanitation agency and the regional water authority to repair hand-operated pumps, dig new boreholes and install solar-powered water supply systems. The support provided will include training for water point committees and repair specialists.
According to ICRC water and habitat engineer Haroune Ousmane, until the security situation in the Central African Republic improves and the ICRC is able to operate throughout the country, “communities should take responsibility for properly maintaining the water supply installations provided by humanitarian organizations, so that they continue working over the long term.” He adds that, to prevent water-borne diseases, people must have access to proper sanitation facilities and practice good hygiene, in addition to having access to clean water.
