Three water issues that concerns Liberia are: availability, sanitation, and health. Liberia does not have an abundant supply of
water today. Just this month, a hospital
in Liberia was struggling to keep adequate amounts of water. Aaron B. Massaley, St. Timothy Hospital’s
Chief Administrator, was interviewed and explained the issues of clean
water. He stated that the hospital needs
100 to 500 gallons of water a day and the only way they can accomplish that is
by walking to the top of a hill and filling buckets. That is only part of the problem; he goes on
to say that they then need to chlorinate the water manually. This is the only way St. Timothy Hospital can
achieve that 100 to 500 gallon mark (Liberia:
Water Crisis in Robersport City, 2013) . On a micro level, a major Liberian hospital
is dealing with all three problems that are facing the majority of
Liberians. Some Liberian’s think that
the hospital is lucky to live so close to water and have the technology to
convert that water so that it is drinkable.
Students who live in Liberia also understand the thirst for water. Sarta, a female student, spoke about the
struggle of being a female student and the lack of useable water. She said that she starts her day at 4am by
walking miles to find water. If she has
problems locating water or doesn’t get enough water she will be late for
school. Also, knowing that she must get
water in the morning she doesn’t spend enough time studying at night. Street vendors sell clean water in sachets
that student can buy. The cost is $0.30
a day, adding that up for the year comes to $36. If Sarta spent that $36 for water she would
not be able to afford to go to school.
She is not alone, “90% of Liberians live on $1.25 a day.” Liberia is HOT, thus people including
students sweat. They cannot concentrate
on their studies if they are worried about how they are going to get water to
drink.
Many
places in Liberia don’t have any clean water.
Liberia does have a water and sewer corporation processing plant. Additionally, some of the cities have pipes
that deliver water. One would think that Liberia would be efficient enough to
supply citizens with clean water.
Unfortunately, that is not the case.
The problem is the pipes that supply the homes, business’, and
schools. The main pipe lines are too old
and rusty to drink. Because of the out dated pipes, only 25% of Liberians have
access to safe drinking water. The country is in big trouble concerning
their future. If the government cannot
guarantee safe drinking water for the people, how can they educate the
young? Many Liberians must make a choice
of clean drinking water or education.
Humans are hard wired to find a way to live, so it is not a real choice. Water sanitation is a problem that leads to
major health issues for Liberians. 50% of all
Liberians have no access to a toilet and use streams or open areas. Outbreaks
of water-borne diseases like cholera occur regularly. As many as 20% of the
deaths in Liberia are blamed on water and sanitation problems
“The poorest
quintile is almost 7 times more likely to practice open defecation than the
richest. Open defecation costs Liberia US$11 million - yet eliminating the
practice would require less than 350,000 latrines to be built and used” (Boley, 2013). Sanitation is just the tip of the iceberg. A question that needs to be answered is how
are these practices changing the psyche of Liberians?
Help
for Liberia maybe on the way. Liberian
President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, spoke to the U.N. high-level Panel of Eminent
Persons about global water supply and sanitation issues. She stated that $260 billion in economic
losses annually is directly linked to that issue. WaterAid, a NGO, said that annually 2.5
million people worldwide would be saved if they had access to safe water and
proper sanitation. WaterAid is a charity that helps poor countries with water
and sanitation. Some organizations are stepping up to try and
solve this problem. It is no surprise
to anyone that life needs water. Thus,
the lack of clean water becomes a human rights issue. In 2002 the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights expressed, "The human rights to water is indispensable for leading a
life in human dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human
rights".[WU4]
The UN agrees with that statement. Resolution
64/292 explains [WU5] that
it is a human right to clean water and sanitation. They also called upon government and organizations
to provide financial resources to improve or develop technology that will
provide safe, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all (Liberia: Water
Crisis in Robersport City, 2013) . People in these poor countries are dying
because they don’t have access to clean water; and the ones that are not dead
are slowly dying trying to quench their thirst.
Bombs from terrorists are not killing these 2.5 million people every
year. It is the countries and their
citizens who turn a blind eye to this natural genocide. Liberians cannot turn on a faucet or push a
button to get water to drink. Most must
walk miles to a hole or a stream, which more than likely is contaminated. Most don’t have a toilet to flush. Men, women, and children walk through human feces
and urine because of pipes backing up.
The water issue in Liberia is a sad and dangerous cycle in Liberia. Human waste destroys the local water supply,
that contaminated water will then kill the people. They must then use valuable time and energy
to find water, instead of using it to get educated. Education is the missing evidence that will
get Liberia off of death row.
Works Cited
Boley, T. (2013, March 20). Liberia: Water and
Sanitation Problems Driving Childern From School. Retrieved from
allafrica.com: http://allafrica.com/stories/201303210872.html?viewall=1
Liberia: Water Crisis in Robersport City. (2013, April 15). Retrieved from allafrica.com:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201304151832.html?page=2
Project Liberia 2013. (n.d.). Retrieved from wavesforwater.org:
http://www.wavesforwater.org/project/Project-Liberia
