ECHO funds water supply in southern province

The EC, through its Humanitarian Office (ECHO), has granted the International Rescue Committee (IRC) some €200,000 (US $248,240) for the rehabilitation of water-distribution facilities in Burundi's southern province of Bururi. The IRC and the local water distribution company, REGIDESO, signed an agreement on 8 July, under which REGIDESO is to provide a 10 percent discount on the cost of accessing clean water for some 50,000 people in Bururi's commune of Rumonge. Residents of Rumonge, located near the shores of Lake Tanganyika, had resorted to drinking water from the lake, without any treatment facilities. Construction of the water facilities began on 25 February. So far, ECHO's funding to the IRC for its aid programmes in the southern provinces of Bururi and Makamba totals more than €992,500.