South Kivu: A network of standpipes under construction by an association in Fizi

Uvira, April 24^th. 2025 (CPA) – A drinking water network of 22 standpipes connected to a tank with a capacity of 120m3 is under construction in the village of Munene in the territory of Fizi, in South Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an association source told us on Wednesday. ‘With these 22 standpipes, each with 2 to 4 taps connected to a 120m3 reservoir for a population estimated at 9042 people, i.e. 1507 households, various localities will be able to put an end to the consumption of unhealthy water from Lake Tanganyika and the small rivers that run through them, but also spare women and girls from all forms of rape and sexual violence, which they are sometimes victims of along the way in search of water’, said Olivier Songa, project manager at the Association des femmes pour la promotion et le development endogène (AFPDE). The localities in question are Munene, Ilakala, Mitambo and Katobe in the Nundu health zone, in the Fizi territory of South Kivu province, which will benefit from these standpipes resulting from this drinking water supply, which is the fruit of a partnership between AFPDE and the German NGO Action Medeor, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. The work is being carried out as part of the project to ‘provide emergency aid by supplying vital health, water and sanitation services to 500,000 people, particularly Burundian refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees and the vulnerable local population in the health zones of Nundu, Fizi, Uvira, Ruzizi, Lemera, Nyantende and Kaniola in South Kivu’.  According  to Mr.  Machinda Abandelwa, head of the village of Munene, this water supply system will not only reduce the incidence of water-borne diseases, including cholera, which makes the villages the epicentre of this disease in this health zone, but will also reduce the distance people have to travel to draw water. ACP/