“The Liberian government submitted information to the World Health Organization and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program that estimated 8 percent of households in urban areas have piped water and 88 percent have access to an improved water source. Living in the heart of the the Liberian capital, civilian Eugene Seoh should be one of the few Liberians who do have piped water. He does not.
“Theophilus Addey, the acting deputy national coordinator of the Liberia Reconstruction Development Committee, said these figures are just a guide for the government.
“Not only the numbers are questionable; the government is also making suspect claims about specific water access projects. The managing director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation, Nortu Jappah, said in an interview in November that he and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had recently opened a water main to serve the string of neighborhoods along Somalia Drive. The area has not had piped water for more than two decades.
“Access to sanitation is very low — just 25 percent as of 2008, according to World Bank statistics. Civil society groups in Liberia argue that the current water situation is actually not much improved.
“In 2008, the Liberian government launched the Poverty Reduction Strategy, or PRS, to chart the nation’s course to development. Among other goals, the plan promised that access to water would double in four years.
Since then, little has been done to replace old infrastructure damaged during Liberia’s civil war, according to Silas Siakor, director of the Sustainable Development Initiative Liberia.”
Read More: PBS
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