Water The Zambian government sets aside increasingly larger amounts of money for water access and sanitation each year, but less than half of that money winds up being spent in that sector.
“I can’t afford to get all my water from the tap,” Mwale says.
“It’s expensive.” The Zambian government has allocated huge sums of money to improve sanitation and access to water across the country, but many say they still struggle to get what they need.
In 2015, just 31 percent of Zambia’s 15.4 million people had basic sanitation services, according to UNICEF, the United Nations’ child-advocacy agency, and the most recent population statistics available.
The 2019 budget includes 1.98 billion kwacha ($165.8 million) for water supply and sanitation.
Yet, in a trend going back nearly a decade, less than half of that money is spent each year on those services, says Pamela Chisanga, the WaterAid country director in Zambia.
“We can avoid calamities such as cholera if people have access to clean and safe water.” Dennis Wanchinga, the minister of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection, doesn’t dispute that much of the money allocated for water supply and sanitation is spent elsewhere, but he notes that it’s not being wasted.
Mary Phiri, another Zambian who faces daily water problems, knows how dangerous the consequences of water scarcity can be.
“Sometimes children would drink water from the well meant for washing dishes, because to them, water is water, whether from the well or from the tap,” Phiri says.
Editor’s note: Mary Phiri and Prudence Phiri, GPJ, are not related.