Two northern towns get regular supplies of water

Residents of Ngozi and Kirundo, two northern Burundian towns, now have access to regular supplies of drinking water following the upgrading of supply systems carried out by the country's water and electricity utility, Regideso, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). ICRC reported on Thursday that it had taken two years to complete the work for Ngozi's 24,000 residents and Kirundo's 6,000. The systems were officially commissioned on 10 and 11 June respectively. In Ngozi, six new spring-catchment devices were installed, a pumping station repaired and another built from scratch, a storage tank and 13 tap stands were repaired - work that enabled the town's water supply to increase by at least 40 percent. Work is in progress to improve the town's electricity supply. In Kirundo, the ICRC has increased available water from some 60 litres per person per day to about 100 litres, by building a new pumping station, laying pipes, and repairing 10 tap stands. The ICRC said its "water and habitat" activities in Burundi included projects to improve the supply of drinking water to urban centres. "One is the installation of a new slow sand filter in the capital, Bujumbura, and the upgrading of pumping stations there," it said. This, it added, would boost the city's water supply by 40 percent, and mostly benefit poorer neighbourhoods. In the last 18 months, the ICRC has also made improvements in three hospitals, two health-care centres and six prisons. Further work is under way, or being planned, at two hospitals and a health-care centre in the country's interior.