What if a well-intended programme to democratise water management is really a poverty trap?
This is a question a soon to be published study on Namibian rural water supply poses to decision makers. Sipoya Ntumbankuru doesnt know yet how she will pay for the water she just tapped from the water point in Epingiro, deep in the Kavango woodlands of northern Namibia. Ever since she was chased away from a neighbouring village – accused of witchcraft – she has had to fend for herself. Ntumbankuru, well past 65, still makes the daily trip to her only source of income; a small sorghum field over an hours walk away. Perhaps the harvest will be good and she can pay her water bill in kind. But her strength is leaving her and already she needs help lifting the heavy water drum on her head. What will happen when she cannot work the field anymore? In theory every household in Epingiro pays the equivalent of $1.50 U.S. per month to the local Water Point Association (WPA). Those with livestock pay a dollar extra. This goes towards the diesel that the borehole pump uses and to pay the pompa boy
