Residents from three districts in north-western parts of the country have been trained on how to repair boreholes that were installed in their communities.

The training that benefitted more than 20 people was provided by volunteers from Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica). It was conducted in Musanze District last week.

The move aims at helping communities to acquire practical skills that will enable them improve access to safe water, manage and maintain boreholes in case of a breakdown, according to Innocent Ndayambaje, a principle engineer at Water Sanitation Corporation (WASAC).

Ndayambaje said people were left without clean water for weeks whenever a borehole experienced a dysfunction, adding that during such breakdowns, technicians from WASAC or Jica volunteers had to fix them.

Since 2012, Jica has been placing volunteers in the water sector to work with communities to improve the access to safe water in Eastern Province.

In Burera, Musanze and Rubavu districts, Jica manages 29 boreholes built by Wash Project.