drinking water returns in trickles to Bukavu

in Bukavu a demonstration against the war in the East

After a week of shortage, water began to flow again in the taps since Friday evening but not in sufficient quantity according to the Bukavians.

1 min

With our correspondent in Bukavu, William Basimike

In front of the tap, Paulin Ndanda, a resident of the Nyalukemba district, watches the last drops of water fall into his container. “ I’m waiting to see if she’ll come back to draw water. It lasted less than an hour. I have four cans and the first one is struggling to fill “, he explains.

In certain neighborhoods, poor residents without water try to find solutions, such as digging small wells in marshy valleys, at the risk of their health. Mizo Makombe Kabare, head of the League of Service Consumers in Congo Kinshasa (Licoski), refers the authorities to their campaign promises:

The affected population could be around a million inhabitants. If the government was able to mobilize a billion dollars to organize the elections, it is time for the head of state to mobilize more than a billion to rehabilitate the network that allows us to have water. »

The regional director of the drinking water distribution company Regideso discusses technical and financial problems.

Regideso faces a need of around 70,000 cubic meters per day while current production is around 40,000 cubic meters per day, which means that we have a deficit of around 40% and this already poses a problem. drinking water supply. We managed to benefit from funding from the French Development Agency which will allow us to finance the Mpungwe project which will allow us to produce an additional 25,000 cubic meters per day. »

Regideso denounces the anarchic construction which damaged its pipes, and the unpaid bills estimated at more than five million US dollars owed to it by its 31,000 subscribers, including state services.

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