Where do the poor and vulnerable stand?

Dear Melissa,

Thanks for your contribution, it would have been a please to chat with you and look at your face, but I guess that is a luxury we cannot afford for now because your profile picture is just showing vegetation. We would be happy if you would upload your picture in there.

On the topic, I can say why I brought it up was from a recent experience I had in transit< I was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of a woman fetching was from a pothole that had developed on the very road I was travelling. What kept me wondering was what she wanted to use the water for. Regardless of that I think it is not a healthy development for one to get her source of water on a highway pothole with its attendant risk factors. One could get knocked down by a passing vehicle, one could also be fetching water that has been contaminated by a variegated array of substances. That took me back to the work we have been doing in Nigeria, whether it had any impact at all. When you go to big towns now because of the failure of the public water supply system, so many well to do individuals have sunk private boreholes for their household uses and reticulated within the confines of their residence not regarding the outsiders. This was actually what prompted me to start this discussion, I don't how it is in other countries but I know that in Nigeria, some cultures don't permit the sale of water that water is a natural resource given by God. Where I come from, food is even served to strangers talk more of water. Seeing that one has constructed a water source and is marketing will result to a wide range criticism, except where the water point is owned by the community. To me, the best approach is to facilitate using the demand driven approach the establishment of a community water source, I see it as a more workable option for water supply here. i don't know how it works elsewhere.

Private companies now control the water supplies in some areas. Often, this creates a more efficient system and allows more people access to available water. Yet, while water companies are able to update water systems, making them more efficient and more accountable to consumers, they can also make water very costly to the poor. In addition, many people believe that water is a public resource, and should not be owned by individuals or corporations. I simply belive poor people need to take community actions. Charles it will be good to hear from you that how community can solve their water problem.