NAIROBI, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The East African Community (EAC) member states plan to implement policies reforms in order to achieve water security, an official said on Friday.
Christophe Bazivamo, deputy secretary general in charge of productive and social sectors at EAC told journalists in Nairobi that a significant portion of the population in the trading bloc lacks access to clean water and proper hygiene despite the region being home to some of the greatest water sources in the world.
"The EAC is currently developing partnership with non-governmental organizations in order to commence work on the formulation of the EAC water framework as part of strategies to achieve water security," Bazivamo said.
He said that the six-member trading bloc is home to three notable water bodies and systems including the Lake Tanganyika which is the greatest single reservoir of fresh water on the continent and the second deepest in the world, Lake Victoria which is Africa's largest fresh water lake and the world's second largest freshwater lake by surface area as well as the Nile River Basin.
Bazivamo observed that despite presence of huge water resources, the distribution of water varies significantly within the region.
The region is still grappling with the problem of open defecation and lack of adequate toilets especially in the densely populated slums in major cities, he said.
Bazivamo said key issues facing the bloc include depletion of natural resources due to rising population pressure; over-exploitation and unsustainable agricultural practices; pollution, poor waste management; rampant conversion and destruction of wetlands in ecosystem; and a lack of systematic, knowledge, data and monitoring of groundwater.
He said that so far the region has put in place policies to mitigate some of the challenges such as the EAC climate change policy, EAC climate change strategy and the EAC climate change master plan.
