World Water Week: Connecting communities to Water in Mozambique
For 1.2 billion people - nearly a fifth of the world's population - access to safe drinking water remains a distant dream. Women and girls are particularly affected - they walk miles every day, fetching and carrying water for their families, which means they miss out on opportunities to work and go to school.
Every day this week we will present to you a story from the field. Today, take a look on our project in Mozambique.
Connecting communities to water, Mozambique
Only 670 thousand people (38%) have access to adequate drinking water in Maputo, the capital and largest city of Mozambique with population of 1.8 million. 48% of the people live in absolute poverty.
Therefore, the EU decided to help and improve the situation in the capital of this African country. The Maputo Water Supply Project aims to improve water supply services in the Greater Maputo Metropolitan Area by helping to develop and rehabilitate the city’s water supply system. This will meet increasing water demand and increase service coverage.
The results are expected to be impressive; coverage will rise from 670,000 to 1,500,000 people (or from 38% to 73% of the resident population).The project will also increase water production capacity by 4000 m³/hour.
The project is co-financed by the Commission, the European Investment Bank, the French Development Agency and the ORET programme of the Dutch Foreign Ministry. Total EU support amounts to over €80 million, of which €25 million is paid by the European Commission.
