The students and staff of the Nyabagere I basic school and the Nyabagere I municipal high school as well as the inhabitants of certain districts of the municipality of Bujumbura are alerting. The reason is that the shortage of drinking water has become a headache. Regideso indicates that this is linked to the low production of drinking water
Students and staff of Nyabagere I Municipal High School and Nyabagere I Basic School warn that they are facing a critical shortage of drinking water.
Students and staff of Nyabagere I Municipal High School and Nyabagere I Basic School warn that they are facing a critical shortage of drinking water. In an interview with some officials of these schools on Thursday May 25, 2023, this problem has been observed for almost a year. All taps are dry.
Pupils who wish to drink water obtain this food at home. They return with small cans or bottles filled with drinking water, these officials explain.
In the toilets, they use the water brought by the sentries of these schools. The latter draw it from the Nyabagere river as explained by these officials.
More than 2000 learners not served with drinking water
This situation worries them, because there are many students who need drinking water all the time and in sufficient quantity. The basic school of Nyabagere I has 1512 pupils including 765 girls and 747 boys. At Nyabagere I Municipal High School, there are 866 students including 520 girls and 346 boys. In total, they are estimated at more than 2000 learners.
And the sentries have a hard time satisfying them. That is why they ask Regideso to do everything possible to solve this problem in order to avoid the consequences that may arise from it.
The pupils contacted specify that the lack of drinking water causes them a lot of trouble. They indicate that they have a lot of difficulty when it’s time to go to the bathroom. “There are cases where we find that there is no drinking water, because the quantity served by the two sentinels of these schools has not been satisfactory.“, they argue. If nothing is done immediately, these learners fear catching diseases from dirty hands.
According to the information collected on site, this problem even threatens the inhabitants who live close to these schools. The most affected district is district II of the Cibitoke zone in the commune of Ntahangwa.
Residents who spoke with Burundi Eco say that this ordeal dates back no less than a year. “During the day, all the taps are dry. The water is observed only at night and lasts as long as the dew lasts. Only supply those who do not have a hypnotic sleep“, they lament.
According to the latter, the shortage of drinking water scares them because, as a result, certain activities are slowing down. For example, the owners of cabarets and restaurants are in incredible desolation. They get drinking water from other neighborhoods for money.
The shortage of drinking water is taking on a worrying aspect
The shortage of drinking water is increasing even in the other districts of the municipality of Bujumbura, among others Ngagara, Musaga, etc.
The director general of Regideso affirms that the shortage of drinking water is a reality in certain districts of the municipality of Bujumbura. He points out that this is linked to a low production of drinking water by Regideso. And to point out that it plans to exploit and treat the waters that come from the tributaries of Lake Tanganyika to remedy the shortage of drinking water in the municipality of Bujumbura.
However, most people wonder if Regideso is capable of this, because the annual report at the end of the 2022 financial year from the ministry responsible for finance shows that Regideso’s debt is estimated at more than 92 billion FBu.
