By Sulaiman Jalloh

Residents of Lordep, Jui Community, east end of Freetown, have informed this medium that since the outbreak of Ebola and the construction of the Jui Chinese hospital they haven’t accessed pure and safe drinking water.

Due to climate change, water scarcity is evident and Lordep, Jui community is no exception. Residents find it difficult to secure this essential resource, jeopardizing their health, livelihoods, and overall well-being. School going pupils struggle to be punctual in school due to the crisis.

For quite a long timw, people in that part of the city have relied on wells and boreholes for water supply. Most of the wells they say are dug near the salt river, thus make it difficult to use for certain domestic purposes.

Mohammed Mohai, a resident, narratd that before the Ebola outbreak, the community used to get pipe born water that supplied the entire Jui community, noting some of them had registered with the country’s water company (SALWACO), but said since the pipes were connected to the Jui Chinese hospital, water supply has been challenging. It should be noted however that Guma is in charge of Freetown, not SALWACO.

He added that most of the wells go dry during the dry season. “Most of the residents have dug wells but as we know most of these wells only serve for a moment. Going deep in the dry season, they get dry,” Mr. Mohai explained, saying most residents who reside along the sea use salt water, a kind of water he said is not good for domestic use.

He emphasized that Jui is a big community, pointing out that for such community to go without pure and clean water is disheartening, while calling on government to consider them. He said they don’t want to see a situation where the government will bring tanks and end up not being useful. “We need pipe born water that runs right across Jui community” he called.

One of the women in the community, who asked for anonymity, said: “Even our children struggle to fetch water before they go to school and most water wells are salty. One cannot use them to do some domestic work not to talk of drink,” noting, having only one tank that holds ten thousand liters, is not sufficient to supply the community while calling for government intervention.

According to her, since the construction of Jui Chinese hospital, residents have been struggling to access pure drinking water, especially during the dry season. This they say continues to affect their livelihood. She said, sometimes, it will take a week before they get water filled to the available tank.

Fatmata Sumah, a student, said school going pupils sometimes go to school late due to the increasing struggle for water in the community. “We are struggling to get water because we don’t have better water facility in our community and sometimes we walk far distance to fetch water,” she explained. Sumah emphasized the effect the struggl has caused in her education, adding that they can’t use the salt water to launder their uniforms, noting the only water tank at times goes for days without water while calling for urgent government’s intervention.