Drinking from stagnant water amidst peace propaganda

In Koch County of Unity State, in the north of South Sudan, thousands of people survive by drinking from stagnant waters and streams, highlighting the need for action from authorities.

The region lacks standing water facilities like water tankers, pipes and boreholes. Both humans and cattle drink stagnant water from streams as the few boreholes there were destroyed during the 20-month conflict and not renewed.

“The issue of [clean] water is very serious,” said Peter Gatmai, a resident in Bauw village of Koch County, urging the Ministry of Health to react.

UNICEF and other aid agencies are making some headway in distributing water purifiers to locals, according to Christine Ochieng, a Water and Sanitation Specialist working with UNICEF currently based in Bauw. “In this location, there are no boreholes and most of the people are drinking direct raw water from the river.”

She highlighted a recent rise in water-borne diseases such as typhoid and diarrhoea among others. Ochieng said they distribute “Pure”, a chlorine and aluminum sulphate, that kills germs and bacteria in the water.

Ochieng added that UNICEF also distributes soap for washing, which cannot be bought at any local markets, and provide jerry cans and buckets for water.

But Beny Makony, a Public Health Officer in Koch County, said the efforts fall short of effecting a big change. According to him the efforts by UNICEF are “not yet a solution because the chlorine that they are giving is not enough”, he said, adding that each batch of Pure is only enough to sustain a family for one week.

He argued that when peace returns they will reopen all the health facilities, renovate boreholes and treat the water. The protracted conflict which broke out in late December 2013 has made it almost impossible for places like Koch to provide for its citizens.

They face the onerous task of rebuilding several parts of South Sudan harmed by the conflict, as defined in the peace agreement signed by President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar in August.

The challenges are enormous in Koch as Makony explained: “We are now lacking referral system where we can refer patients, we don’t have the drugs for the patients while facing many different diseases, including malaria, which is on the rise now. Malnutrition is on the rise and we have so many cases of diarrhoea and pneumonia,” he said, adding that maternal mortality was also running high due to a lack of services.