Water provision is key to healthy development of children (SA) - DWAF, 16 November 2006

Date: 16 November 2006
Released by: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF)

Pretoria (South Africa) – The South African government has supplied safe drinking water to some 16 million people since 1994. This has had a huge impact on the quality of life of rural women and children. The Free Basic Water Scheme, which allows each household 6000 litres/month free of charge, has brought further relief, especially in urban areas.

However, the provision of piped water and sanitation to those communities that still do not have these services remains a significant challenge.

The urgency in addressing this challenge is reflected in the impact on the health and education of children.

• In 2004, according to StatsSA’s mortality figures, an average of 12 children aged 0-14 years died every day from intestinal infectious diseases, many of which are water-borne. These diseases were the top cause of natural deaths among children aged 1-4 years.
• An earlier StatsSA study, done in 1999, found that 200 000 children were at risk of missing school because they had to carry water for more than 24 hours a week to meet their households’ survival needs. The extent to which this figure has altered with the ongoing supply of water is not clear. However, 97% of these children lived in remote areas of former homelands where provision of services is most difficult.

Last week, United Nations Development Programme Administrator Kemal Dervis highlighted the extent to which a lack of access to clean water blights the lives of the world's children. Speaking during the release of the 2006 World Development Report in Cape Town, Dervis pointed out that:

• Around the world, nearly 2 million children die every year because they are denied access to clean drinking water and sanitation.
• Globally 443 million school days are lost every year because children are too weak from diarrhoea and other water-related diseases.

South Africa is facing major challenges in its drive to provide basic water to all by 2008 and basic sanitation to all by 2010. In the light of this, clear priorities need to be set regarding which communities should benefit first. A key factor that should be taken into account in setting such priorities is the extent to which provision of water will relieve children of undue hardship and give them a better chance of survival.

The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) has been working with the programme 'Towards the Elimination of Child Labour' (TECL) to develop a tool that will facilitate "child-beneficial" prioritisation of water services. TECL is a joint programme between the SA Government and the International Labour Organisation, implementing key elements of the government's Child Labour Programme of Action.

A very large number of South African children routinely fetch water for household use. In most cases, the time devoted to this work is limited and unlikely to interfere with the children’s schooling or harm their health.
   
“However, a particular group –  some 200 000 in 1999 -  spend so much time on fetching water and doing other household chores that this is deemed to harm their development and education. They sometimes miss school, get to school late or are too exhausted to benefit from schooling,” Barbara Schreiner, DWAF's Deputy Director General: Policy and Regulation explains. “It is this group of children in the deep rural areas that we are concerned about and that we want to assist by expanding services.”
 
“For our project on prioritising water provision, we have done surveys in four areas in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal where the distances between communities and their water supplies are great. In these areas, over 80% of the water needed is physically fetched by children. The survey showed that the children spending long hours on water fetching are behind in school compared to their peers."
   
A pilot project is now being run in Nongoma and Ugu in KwaZulu-Natal. Apart from working with local officials and councillors to develop the prioritisation methodology, the project includes assisting children who have been disadvantaged through carrying water. This assistance could take the form of extra lessons at school or different social and health services to assist the children in catching up.

"We believe that this project, focusing specifically on children, is the first of its kind in the world," says Schreiner. "If it works in Ugu and Nongoma, it could have huge value for similar areas in our country and boost our efforts to reduce harmful work by children under our national Child Labour Programme of Action. The project will also be valuable to other countries facing the same problem."

During the launch of the World Development Report,  the UNDP chief urged South Africa not only to continue expanding access to water and sanitation but also to engage communities to identify the "most appropriate and sustainable solutions" possible given the existing constraints.

"We believe access to water is a basic human right - and we remain committed to universal access to clean water," says Schreiner. "Without compromising this long term goal, we are ready to explore methods that will bring more immediate relief to our children, protecting their health, relieving them of harsh work and giving them an equal chance of education."


Enquiries: Thandi Mapukata
Chief Director Communication, DWAF
Cell: 082 885 3324