$1 billion needed to provide clean water for half those without

Tanzania's government said on Tuesday that it would need US $1 billion to halve the number of people who do not have access to clean water, which is currently 14 million – 39 percent of the population. The government launched its 10-year water plan on Tuesday to coincide with UN World Water Day, which was observed worldwide. "The country's target for 2015 is to improve the situation, so that 87 percent of people in urban centres and 77 percent of those in villages have easy access to clean and safe water,” Ali Mohamed Shein, Tanzania's vice-president, said. In his speech in the southern town of Mtwara, he said only 73 percent in urban centres and 54 percent in rural areas had access to safe water. To achieve its 2015 target, he said the government, in collaboration with external donors, would need to invest $1 billion into water supply projects - an average of $100 million annually. He said provision of water was a government priority, and that a project to draw water from Lake Victoria was ongoing. Under this project, estimated to cost $178 million, water would be supplied to villages and towns in the northern regions of Mwanza and Shinyanga, Shein added. He also decried the pollution of water sources by industrial waste, saying this killed aquatic life and contributed to the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery. He urged the public to protect water sources from pollution and to avoid farming or felling trees close to riverbanks. Shein said those operating irrigation schemes should balance their needs with environmental demands to avoid disrupting the ecosystem.