By Emma Black
Mayor of Freetown addressed the critical water situation
Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone, continues to grapple with an ongoing water crisis, with numerous communities facing severe shortages, during a recent community engagement held in 2024, the Mayor of Freetown addressed the critical water situation and outlined the efforts being made to tackle it through the Transform Freetown project.
“Last year, while engaging with communities, we discovered that access to water was the number one priority for residents of Freetown,” the mayor stated, “People are facing significant challenges in obtaining clean water, which has led to a host of social issues, ranging from teenage pregnancies and children missing school to businesswomen struggling to maintain their operations.”
Areas most affected by the crisis include Mount cut, Mount-Aurole, Wilberforce, and Signal Hill, where residents still struggle to access clean water, young girls, in particular, are forced to travel long distances to fetch water, putting them at risk of assault.
Amata Kallon, a resident of the Grassfield community, expressed her relief regarding the project’s impact, “Previously, we had many complaints about children being assaulted while collecting water, now that the Freetown City Council has provided water access to over 60 communities, these concerns have significantly diminished, parents can now be informed about when their children leave to fetch water and when they return.”
In the PWD Black Hill Road community, 60-year-old Mariatu Sesay praised the initiative. “Since the Freetown City Council introduced this project, I genuinely believe God has answered our prayers.
We no longer see teenage pregnancies in our area, as young girls now have convenient access to water within their communities.”
the water supply is still insufficient to meet everyone’s needs, community members have developed a fair distribution system, residents with more than two buckets allow those with fewer containers to fetch water first.
The taps operate from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, then reopen from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Each household contributes 100 Leones per bucket to maintain the system.
Despite these improvements, the mayor underscored the necessity of long-term solutions, emphasizing the importance of environmental conservation, “we must stop cutting down trees, avoid constructing in unauthorized areas, and bring an end to plastic pollution, without trees, our water sources face the risk of drying up, exacerbating the drought situation in Sierra Leone.”
She urged residents to participate in the ‘Freetown the Tree town’ initiative, highlighting the significance of sustainable environmental practices to secure the city’s future water supply.
the Transform Freetown water project has provided much-needed relief, the fight against Freetown’s water crisis is far from over. Authorities and residents must collaborate to implement sustainable solutions that ensure access to clean water for all communities.
