NYAMAGABE - Water and Energy Minister, Engineer Coletha Ruhamya, on Friday, inaugurated water supply schemes in Mugano Sector in Nyamagabe that will provide clean water to 35,000 residents of the Sector.

The 19 kilometre gravity water network that constitutes 100 water points was constructed at a cost of Rwf600m provided by government in partnership with the Austrian Development Agency and the European Union under the Water and Sanitation Fund.

Speaking at the inauguration, Ruhamya called upon sector residents to ensure a sustainable use of the water systems.

She said that the large sums of money sunk in the project will be justified by a reduction in water borne diseases and other hygiene related diseases.

"Imagine what this money would have done if it was not sunk into this project, it could have been used to build a school or buy medicine for our health centres. Take good care of this water system and ensure its sustainability by contributing to its proper maintenance,” Ruhamya said.

Minister Ruhamya said that 76 percent of Rwandans currently have access to clean water, adding that the target is to have all Rwandans accessing clean water by 2015.

This, she said, will be achieved by repairing existing water networks and building new water systems.

Olivier Machiels, a programme officer at the European Commission, speaking at the event reiterated the EU’s commitment to providing access to clean water.

He said that the EU in partnership with the Austrian International Development Cooperation and the government contributed about 2.8 million Euros in the project to provide clean water to 30,000 people in the districts of Nyamagabe and Nyaruguru.

"The millennium development goal for Rwanda is to reach 80 percent of access to clean water by 2012, this is an ambitious objective but I believe we should go much further and say safe water for all citizens of Rwanda by 2012,” said Machiels.

He said that the EU provides close to 1.5 billion Euros each year for water and sanitation programmes in developing countries, making it the biggest contributor in the sector.

The water project in the two districts started in 2008.
A 92 kilometre water network has been completed in Nyamagabe and 100 water points supplying clean water to 86 939v people. Access to clean water in Nyamagabe has risen from 59 percent before the start of the project to the current 80 percent.

On the same day, a pilot project to construct semi-ecological sanitation toilets (ECOSAN) in households was launched.

ECOSAN toilettes have been successfully constructed in schools and here, they use human waste from the ECOSAN toilets as manure on school farms.

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