| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11824 Posts |
 Posted - 15 Aug 2006 : 12:26:44
|
MUDDY WATER IN NDOWEN NIANI
By Abdoulie G. Dibba
 Access to clean drinking water is a basic human right, yet after 41 years of independence, Gambians are still grappling with access to clean drinking water.
Residents of Ndowen Village in Niani (the village where the chief lives) are not exceptions to this hardship. A visitor to the village discovered that the wells in Ndowen are very deep. Even though we are in the rainy season, a time when the water level is expected to rise, the waters in the wells of Ndowen are still muddy. According to the visitor, the women have bitterly complained about their plight, regarding portable drinking water. The women in Ndowen lamented that they have to allow the water to stay for 3 to 4 hours in order for mud to settle at the bottom of the container after that they filter the water to drink. Even with that, the women complain that they are not free from drinking muddy water since no amount of filtering can remove all the mud from the water.
Comment: The Government, the relevant council, NGOs and Embassies may wish to take note of the information.
Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No.65/2006, 14-15 July, 2006
|
|
|
kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2006 : 19:16:56
|
njucks
Gambia
508 Posts
Posted - 02 Aug 2006 : 11:52:25
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by ranga
How far from the sea is the water in the Gambia river saline? I assume this point changes with the tides. Has that point moved up the river over the years for some reason? In general is there shortage of drinking water in Gambia?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ranga, Kondorong said there is salt up to Farafeni, so that must be about 200KM up river!!!. i dont know how true this is. ... there is no shortage of drinking water in The Gambia, there is enough for everyone.
Njuks
I hope this posting by Foroyya now quenches your thirst about water shortage in the Gambia. It is a real issue in the country side from lower saloum to uppper saloum, and Sami and Sandu and Wuli. The norther part of the Gambia is hard hit due to expansion of the sahara dersert.
I like the picture posted here. This is the pulley system for drawing water and in many cases donkeys and horses draw water. These wells are so deep that you can only see the water when the sun is highest in the sky and its rays reflect inside the well.
What you see in banjul and Fajara is not what obatins in the whole of the country. There are many who have not been touched by any serious advancement.
Infact in 2001, one world bank chief came to the Gambia and wanted to stay in a village that is barely living on nature. He settled in Sami District which borders with Niani District where NDOWEN village is. I know the village where the world bank official stayed. That is why i said that in the early days of the TV, pictures of rural life was to the dismay of many who never had gone pass the airport gates in Yundum.
Ndowen village is where the former chief Dodou Ndow traces some family ties. Dodou Ndow was replace by Saderr Manneh i believe who was the father of NGAI Manneh, the then Registrar of Gambia College. Saderr Manneh was replaced by Jalamang Keita who died some years ago. Its has been all muddy since the death of Jalamang. It appears that the position of chief has gone back to the NDOWs again.
Ndowen had always had a seat in the Chief's council.
|
 |
|
|
Newfy
Western Samoa
462 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2006 : 19:42:49
|
The poor of the urban areas do not escape toxic exposure or floods either. Whither goes urban development, go problems. They are not insolvable if there is people power including in planning which is not greed based...
http://allafrica.com/stories/200608100829.html |
|
|
|
Momodou
Denmark
11824 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2006 : 19:50:35
|
quote:
Originally posted by kondorong Dodou Ndow was replace by Saderr Manneh i believe who was the father of NGAI Manneh, the then Registrar of Gambia College. Saderr Manneh was replaced by Jalamang Keita who died some years ago. Its has been all muddy since the death of Jalamang. It appears that the position of chief has gone back to the NDOWs again.
Ndowen had always had a seat in the Chief's council.
Hi Kondorong, the following is a correction! Dodou Ndow replaced Saderr Manneh and Jalamang Keita replaced Dodou Ndow.
The current chief from Ndowen replaced Jalamang, he had a seat in the conncil of both former chiefs.
You are right, this village also uses donkeys and horses to draw water because the wells are very deep. |
|
|
|
njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2006 : 20:02:28
|
Kondorong
i am not interested in the Forooya article. i think you misunderstand. i am not saying everyone has access to water, obviously that is not the case in Gambia or in India!!
what i am saying is that as a resource, underground water is available, and its there. you cannot look at it by just looking into a well. the depth of aquifers vary from place to place. in the kombos for example like in Bijilo near the coastal road its not very deep, few km away in Kombo Wellingara it can be very deep. if there was a borehole in Ndowen everyone would be drinking clean water.
there is also something you need to understand technically. a well has limitations. the water comes from the sand and the more you take out the more water 'comes in'. so the deeper the well the more difficult hand pulling becomes and it can dry up quickly. this doesnt mean there is no water but the well is not used up alot.
Access and means to access the resource has nothing to do with the quantity of the resource available rather it only influences the rate you exploit it.
|
|
|
|
kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2006 : 20:04:40
|
| you are always right. |
|
|
|
kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2006 : 20:10:20
|
quote:
Originally posted by Momodou
quote:
Originally posted by kondorong Dodou Ndow was replace by Saderr Manneh i believe who was the father of NGAI Manneh, the then Registrar of Gambia College. Saderr Manneh was replaced by Jalamang Keita who died some years ago. Its has been all muddy since the death of Jalamang. It appears that the position of chief has gone back to the NDOWs again.
Ndowen had always had a seat in the Chief's council.
Hi Kondorong, the following is a correction! Dodou Ndow replaced Saderr Manneh and Jalamang Keita replaced Dodou Ndow.
The current chief from Ndowen replaced Jalamang, he had a seat in the conncil of both former chiefs.
You are right, this village also uses donkeys and horses to draw water because the wells are very deep.
Thanks for the correction. I missed the sequence. Infact Saderr Manneh eldest son, stood against Jalamag keita in the chieftaincy election and lost. He later became Jalamang's Court Scribe. That is real democracy and good neighborliness rith there which in our present day politics is impossible.
|
|
|
|
gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2006 : 21:52:51
|
Part of why I support the work of Action Aid in the Gambia is that they see a clean water supply as a basic human right and a PRIORITY. I think it comes before anything else in the impact it has.
Action Aid has built many wells in the interior of Gambia.
Beacon community college is suporting a project to rebuild and make safe the main well at Kolior. When we first visited there were bats (and their droppings) living in the well.
At the coast they need to think carefully of the impact on the amount of water used of various development projects. Golf courses? Swimming pools?
Tourists buying land in villages need to be aware that their developments can affect the water table for the WHOLE village. Ecologically sound developments are fine, but we need to think carefully about the impact we have. |
|
|
|
MJT
Germany
45 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2006 : 22:20:42
|
Thank you gambiabev!
You are right we have to think very carefull. |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
Topic Locked
