The solution is well in hand

Many girls and women in the Zavala district of Inhambane province in Mozambique used to spend much of their day fetching water. They would walk up to 15 kilometres to a river, then carry huge 20-litre plastic jugs of water on their heads on the return trip. Many of them also carried their babies in a sling.

Getting water this way has several consequences-none of them good. Girls who fetched water often missed out on school. And even those who did go to school often faced a water-fetching trip after class.

What's more, water taken from rivers was not always safe for drinking. ''We suffered from the water we used to get from the Dongane River,'' says Catarina, an elderly woman who lives in the community of Ngulele. ''It was very dirty, and it gave us health problems.'' Cholera is the most common disease contracted from untreated river water. The average life expectancy in Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world, is 49 years.

The solution to these concerns was clear: a network of well-placed wells accessible to the population. In response, Cowater, a Canadian firm funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), took up the challenge in 2000 of designing and implementing a sustainable water supply system in the province. The goal of the Inhambane Rural Water Development Program (IRWDP) was to ensure that the people living in communities had no more than five kilometres to walk for water, and that the water was potable.

Two types of wells were built, depending on the depth of the water table: hand-operated units for water found within a depth of 45 metres, and electric pumps powered by solar cells for use deeper than 45 metres.

Solar-powered units are more costly than hand-operated ones, but in addition to working at greater depths, the solar-powered pumps don't break down as often. When the sun is shining, the solar panels generate enough electrical energy for water to be collected continuously and stored in big plastic tanks. It takes 1.5 hours to fill one of the 5,000 litre tanks. Several large tanks are needed for when it is cloudy and the solar-powered pumps are shut down completely. What happens in the rainy season, when it is often cloudy? No problem: it's the rainy season, so there's lots of clean water falling from the sky that can be stored in earthern pots.

The construction of wells has been very successful. There are now water points in 260 communities serving 130,000 people in five districts. And the people who benefit from the wells are also committed stakeholders. Each family in a community contributes 50 meticais (approximately $2.50) to a well project, and a committee made up of local residents manages the well's operation and maintenance.

Catarina says her local well, which was built in fall 2004, has made all the difference to her community. ''Now the water is good: it does not have any problems,'' she says. ''And with the well nearby, we do not have to go down to the river to fetch water."

The population in Ngulele has grown, and with that growth comes a higher demand for that most precious of resources: clean water. ''Now that there are many more people here, we would be pleased to have another well!'' says Catarina.

Providing clean drinking water is an integral part of CIDA's priority theme to increase food security. It also helps contribute to achieving Millennium Development Goal #7 which includes cutting by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.