Drinking safe water vs availability of water storage facilities

“Drinking rain water has been practiced in Hulhumeedhoo since our memories” told a Hulhudhoo local who is concerned over deteriorating drinking water situation in the island. Many people built water storage tanks using cement during early 1990s, latter people adopted using ‘black rubber tanks’ issued by the government. Today, every household demands for these water storage facilities, but few have received them from the government over the past ten years.

In Hulhudhoo many people have registered their household names with Hulhudhoo Office as immediate needy for these facilities. “We have registered our household name no sooner did the request for registration was issued by the government” said a Hulhudhoo woman. So far selected people from the island have benefited from this program. However, former minister of environment Mr. Ahmed Abdulla had revealed in February 2008 that Mrf13 million was spent in 2007 on providing water tanks to atolls and that Mrf19 million would be spent during 2008. He had also mentioned that foreign donors were demoralized and some even stopped funding as few islands were using the tanks that were sent in the firs phase. “Maradhoo has received 381 tanks last year and thousands of tanks are being unloaded to Hithadhoo now, what about us” complained a Hulhudhooan. Distribution of present water storage facilities in the country is carried out as part of tsunami recovery efforts and providing safe drinking water to the people by Ministry of Environment and foreign donors.

In this season most of the households are suffering water shortages, making them use public water storage tanks to meet the day to day needs. There tons of water storage capacity in Hulhudhoo alone. These massive tanks are place in Hulhudhoo Office, Corner Park, and Mosques. Every night fishermen take hundreds of liters of water from these massive public water storages, leading to faster diminish of water supply. “Look, these storages are setup for the people who has no fresh and safe water storage facilities in their home, but the local fishing vessels are taking hundreds of liters of water from these places every night”, complained a frustrated local.  

If the current water drought persists for another twenty days in Hulhumeedhoo, analysts say "there would be a catastrophe in the island". There are almost four months before the usual rainy season to come, until then we must find out appropriate measures to utilize the public water storage facilities.

Posted by Hulhudhoo Today on 2:51 PM. Filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Feel free to leave a response