Workshop stresses importance of clean water

The First African Water Week opened on Wednesday in Tunis with a call by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, Donald Kaberuka, for more efforts to be made to ensure that water security is a reality on the continent at both the national and regional levels. Speaking during the opening ceremony, Mr. Kaberuka reminded more than 400 participants at the conference that only 4 per cent of Africa’s annual renewable water resources had been developed for irrigation, water supply and hydropower use, compared to 70 to 90 per cent in developed countries. About 340 million Africans lack access to safe drinking water and almost 500 million lack access to improved sanitation facilities. In Rwanda this week, a two day sensitisation workshop aimed at highlighting on the importance of maintaining clean water source, took place. The workshop was organised for university students in order to teach them about how to protect water sources and the environment. Twenty five students from Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), the National University of Butare and Umutara Polytechnic University took part. The work shop was organized by the Confidence Building and Stakeholders’ Involvement (CBSI). The national project coordinator, Rugumire Makuza Emmanuel, told the participants to take an active role in teaching the population about having and maintaining safe and secure water. Members pledged to work hand in hand with grass root leadership to foster awareness about the importance of having clean water. Eugène Mazimpaka, one of the participants, and a student at Umutara Polytechnic University, expressed shock after reading the words of Professor Wangari Mathai, a Kenyan laureate who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2004. “Water will be costing as much as petrol, fifty years from today”. “Let the masses protect the scarce resource,” said Mazimpaka. Ends