Margibi County – Acute shortage of safe drinking water and poor sanitary conditions still remain a challenged in most rural communities across Liberia.
James Gboto, Nagbos town chief, told FrontPage Africa that residents of his town have been fetching water from uncovered wells and the bush for sanitation.
The town, Gboto said, has over 250 dwellers and is among several other towns in the area that lack access to basic water and sanitation facilities.
But the hope of the inhabitants of fetch water was often dash during the rainy season due to flood, prior to initial interventions by Red Cross.
At the same time, the Town Chief of Kpuzu Town, Philip Isaac recounted how dreadful it was for his people to fetch water from unsafe site.
According to him, Du-River, which passes through the area, was the only source of fetching water but inhabitants used the same water for latrine purposes or sometimes the bushes.
“Our people used to go all the way to the Du-River to get drinking water and if the water dries, we have to dig near us to get water,” he said.
“Red Cross came to help us, they gave us hand-pump and toilet and we tell them thanks for all the good they do for us because we don’t have anything to give them, but want for them to do more and more,” he said.
I did not have safe drinking water, that Red Cross makes me to be drinking safe water.
“Addressing the critical needs of affected people in the area will support and promote protection, dignity and enhance their resilience.” The exposure of this affected population to unfavorable conditions makes them highly susceptible to a number of health and livelihood challenges.

Nanbo and Kporzu Towns get WASH facilities The Liberia National Red Cross (LNRC) with assistance from the Japanese government through the International Red Cross has provided 30 hand pumps, to supply safe drinking water to Nanbo and Kporzu Towns, located in Lower Margibi County, right off the RIA (Roberts International Airport) highway.
The assistance came through a LNRC project titled: ‘Enhancing Response and Recovery capacity and support to the Population affected by Floods in Margibi and Montserrado counties.’ The US$539,729 project targeted 31 communities in the two counties.
In Margibi, 98 families received cement, zinc, and planks.
What they have done for us only God will pay that.
Our people have been dying of diarrhea and another sickness because of the bad water.
We don’t even know how to say thank you to Red Cross,” said Nanbo Town Chief, James Gboto.
“Since I started knowing myself, this is where we have been drinking from.
It is not enough, but we’ve been managing because we have no other alternative.” Nanbo has over 250 dwellers and is among several other towns in the area that has lacked access to Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
We have been suffering for a very long time,” Town Chief James Gboto said.
“We also set up a mechanism to make communities prepare for and take action in response to future alerts and threats of flooding.” Meanwhile what is lacking now is health centers in the two communities.

Margibi County – Acute shortage of safe drinking water and poor sanitary conditions still remain a challenged in most rural communities across Liberia.
James Gboto, Nagbos town chief, told FrontPage Africa that residents of his town have been fetching water from uncovered wells and the bush for sanitation.
The town, Gboto said, has over 250 dwellers and is among several other towns in the area that lack access to basic water and sanitation facilities.
But the hope of the inhabitants of fetch water was often dash during the rainy season due to flood, prior to initial interventions by Red Cross.
At the same time, the Town Chief of Kpuzu Town, Philip Isaac recounted how dreadful it was for his people to fetch water from unsafe site.
According to him, Du-River, which passes through the area, was the only source of fetching water but inhabitants used the same water for latrine purposes or sometimes the bushes.
“Our people used to go all the way to the Du-River to get drinking water and if the water dries, we have to dig near us to get water,” he said.
“Red Cross came to help us, they gave us hand-pump and toilet and we tell them thanks for all the good they do for us because we don’t have anything to give them, but want for them to do more and more,” he said.
I did not have safe drinking water, that Red Cross makes me to be drinking safe water.
“Addressing the critical needs of affected people in the area will support and promote protection, dignity and enhance their resilience.” The exposure of this affected population to unfavorable conditions makes them highly susceptible to a number of health and livelihood challenges.

Locals Demand Environmental Cleanup – China Union Plans Restart.
“We drink water from a well that is muddy, because China Union has polluted our creeks with their chemicals,” says Oldman Sackie, born in 1946, 20 years before the mining began in the area."
China Union’s 25-year Mineral Development Agreement with the Liberian government required the company to contribute US$3.5M to the counties of Bong, Montserrado and Margibi each year in a Social Development Fund that was to be spent on county infrastructure improvements including water and sanitation projects, clinics and schools.
Since the company pulled out, residents of affected towns and villages say the water pollution has increased, leaving the inhabitants with no choice but to continue drinking waters from polluted creeks.
“But the company has polluted the water.
Sometimes the water can run people stomach (diarrhea), but we are still drinking the water because we do not have any other choice.” In nearby Bloumue Town, Chief Sekou Sumbai says residents are also suffering from similar issues, drinking from a nearby creek that is in the same condition as that of Neploleh Kollie Town.
"They would have said ‘If our water will be polluted during your operations, then we need an alternative source of drinking water,’” said Speare “The environmental degradation in these towns and villages is so huge, you see the sewage pipes of the company, emptying into the various water bodies in these towns and villages located under the mines."
The government agency responsible for oversight, the National Bureau of Concessions, says that it inspected the operations of the company a few months after it began and before they pulled out, and found out that it was not operating in accordance with the agreement regarding pollution and environmental degradation.
The Superintendent’s office has refused to turn the money over to my district office.
“We do not see what development is being done with the money, but if the money was given to my office, we would have built hand pumps and provided safe drinking water for the people."