Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene December 2018 Vol.13 No.6 | Page 7

NEWS in brief
who now have access to drinking water.
• Achievable goal for 2020: 100% access to drinking
water for all Mauritanians
For over a decade, the country has been able to meet only
about half its estimated daily drinking water requirement
of 100,000 m3, with a production level of around 55,000
m3 per day, from the only available aquifer, in Trarza, in
the south west of the
country.
This leaves only 68%
of the population
with access to potable
water (at an average
consumption of less
than 50 litres per
person per day), mostly
in urban areas. In rural areas, there are recurrent acute
shortages, leading to migration of people to the cities.
In the face of this critical situation, the former Mauritanian
Minister for Water and Sanitation, Mohamed Abdallahi
Ould Oudaa, announced government measures to urgently
deal with the problem, promising during a plenary session
of Parliament on 31 May 2016 that: “Eighty percent of the
Mauritanian population will have access to drinking water
by 2018 and 100% will have access by 2020.”
After this announcement, sanitation and water supply
projects gained renewed pace in both the capital,
Nouakchott and in various regions. Some projects are
under construction, such as Maghtaa Lehjar and Sangrava
and, especially, the “Aftout Essahli” Nouakchott Drinking
Water Supply Project, which received US$32.5 million in
funding over three phases (2003, 2008 and 2010) from the
African Development Bank.
Around Africa
include design, build, testing and staff training.
One of the last steps in the process, which also includes
the renovation of systems for the transfer of water from
pumping stations on the Senegal River to pre-treatment
and treatment plants, is the refurbishment of the
connection to the treatment plant located at point PK 17
of the Nouakchott city distribution network.
According to African Development Bank water engineer
Jalel El Faleh, sustainable access to drinking water for the
inhabitants of Nouakchott is gradually moving forward, in
a limited fashion due to the lack of a proper distribution
system. Leaks in the old distribution system are another
difficulty. These continue to be significant, leading to
disruptions to supply in some low-lying areas of the city.
Rural areas of the country also suffer regular shortages
due to declining rainfall and the restricted technical and
financial capacity of the Mauritanian National Rural Water
Supply Agency, responsible for supplying more than 800
rural centres of population.
Somalia
EU, UN Launch Urban Water Project in Northern
Somalia
A sustained water system was launched recently by
Somaliland, the EU and the UN Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) in northern Somalia.
According to a joint statement issued in Mogadishu,
some 800,000 people will now have sustainable access
to safe drinking water thanks to the concerted efforts
by Somaliland government, private water companies and
communities.
Further afield, the restoration and strengthening of the
Nouadhibou, Gouraye and Sélibabi projects are ongoing
via the National Integrated Rural Water Sector Project
(PNISER), for which the Bank committed funding
packages, in 2013 and 2014, worth US$13.2 million.
Completing water supply networks
Seventeen of the 22 supply boreholes initially planned
have been built and 9 of 22 new solar-powered drinking
water supply (SDW) systems have been completed, leaving
11 in the reception phase and 2 under construction. Work
has also been completed on the restoration of 10 old SDW
systems. This has meant that 180,000 people living in 450
villages in the areas of M’bout, Monguel and Barkéol have
access to potable water.
There remain a further 947 water supply systems to be
completed in Mauritania. And before this, three pumping
stations with outputs of, respectively, 170,000 m³/day,
160,000 m³/day and 150,000 m³/day will be built, to
“Water is a basic right. It plays a crucial role in our lives. We
are glad that the people of Somaliland and in particular Tog
Wajaale now have access to clean and affordable water,”
EU Chargé d’Affaires to Somalia Fulgencio Garrido Ruiz
said.
Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • December 2018
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