By Newman Anthony Levey in Bo.
Residents in Bo have told Politico that they have gone three months without water supply from the Sierra Leone Water Company (SALWACO). The situation has affected residents and businesses within the city.
Bo is the second capital of Sierra Leone, and the shortage of water supply by has left thousands of people in the city reliant on boreholes. But as the dry season intensifies, most of the boreholes are expected to get dried up.
Francis Kopoi, a SALWACO customer, wondered why officials of the company have not even checked his section, Njagboima, to rectify the situation.
"The source of water in our section is borehole. It is not even purified. Members of this community have reportedly been affected with diseases like Cholera and Diarrhea,” Kopi said.
Entertainment spots like guest houses, hotels and clubs have also been affected, because of the volume of water they use. Schools and hospitals have not been spared by the crisis either.
Lansana Sawei, Station Manager of SALWACO in the district, said they were struggling with electricity to power the system to water supply. Sawei said they were also struggling financially because of the huge debt customers owe the company.
"The management of Salwaco wants to firstly engage the debtors to make commitment about how to be paying the money and if that fails we will be left with no option but to take legal action against them," he told Politico.
Sawei said customers in Bo city owed SALWACO more than Le1 billion, noting that the company had just agreed a deal with the African Development Bank, which had approved a loan that would finance a project providing pipe borne water for up to 2,000 people in the city.
There is however no timeline for this project yet.
Meanwhile, the situation of water shortage in the city will just get worsen as we go deep into the dry season.
The company has called on residents to be calm whiles they figure a way out of it.
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