Give The Poor Free Water

IT looks like the supply of basic services is becoming unaffordable to some people in Namibia.

One can say this because there has been an increase in the number of people in the cities and towns in Namibia who have had their water supplies disconnected. Even in the rural areas, there have been increased complaints of water points being closed down as a result of non-payments.Is this an indication of Namibian people becoming more and more poor as we accelerate past years into our independence? I am tempted to say yes.This is because more and more reports from socio-economic studies indicate that the number of people in Namibia living below US$1 appears to have gone up.To be more specific, the latest UNDP report indicated that between 35% and 56% people in our country live on amounts of less than US$1 and US$2 per day.Life expectancy and the standard of living in Namibia is on a continuous decline.Are these indicators, and many more, not evidence of poverty wagging its tail among our citizens? Are these indicators not good enough to ensure a mandatory free quota of water supply to the poor on daily basis? There are people who are saying that water is not expensive.These are the people that I beg to differ with.If you take into account the fact that up to 35% (700000 people) of our people live on less than US$ 1( N$6) per day, then access to water is even more crucial.We must all embrace the idea of the free quota of water supply to all our citizens who live below a certain level.But how do we go about implementing this? My suggestion is that all local authorities must have income databases of the owners of the houses in their administrative territories.This database can be verified with the database of the receiver of revenue and should be updated on a yearly basis.All residents within that particular local authority should have their houses installed with pre-paid water meters and be supplied with a pre-determined free quota of water on daily basis.This supply of free water is to be credited, through the computer system, to all magnetic water meter cards of all residents.Then the pre-identified poor residents are exempted from paying for this free quota supply of water while the rest of the residents have to pay for this water which was initially supplied to them as a free quota.If these poor people want to use more water than that is supplied through the free quota system, then they must start to pay.I understand that NUNW claims that the pre-paid system is unconstitutional and has been abolished in other countries like England.However, I am of the opinion that if the pre-paid water supply system is applied hand-in-hand with the free quota of water approach, then its unconstitutionality starts to evaporate and its effectiveness and efficiency are all what will be left for us to appreciate.D Uuyuni waKamati KatuturaEven in the rural areas, there have been increased complaints of water points being closed down as a result of non-payments.Is this an indication of Namibian people becoming more and more poor as we accelerate past years into our independence? I am tempted to say yes.This is because more and more reports from socio-economic studies indicate that the number of people in Namibia living below US$1 appears to have gone up.To be more specific, the latest UNDP report indicated that between 35% and 56% people in our country live on amounts of less than US$1 and US$2 per day.Life expectancy and the standard of living in Namibia is on a continuous decline.Are these indicators, and many more, not evidence of poverty wagging its tail among our citizens? Are these indicators not good enough to ensure a mandatory free quota of water supply to the poor on daily basis? There are people who are saying that water is not expensive.These are the people that I beg to differ with.If you take into account the fact that up to 35% (700000 people) of our people live on less than US$ 1( N$6) per day, then access to water is even more crucial.We must all embrace the idea of the free quota of water supply to all our citizens who live below a certain level.But how do we go about implementing this? My suggestion is that all local authorities must have income databases of the owners of the houses in their administrative territories.This database can be verified with the database of the receiver of revenue and should be updated on a yearly basis.All residents within that particular local authority should have their houses installed with pre-paid water meters and be supplied with a pre-determined free quota of water on daily basis.This supply of free water is to be credited, through the computer system, to all magnetic water meter cards of all residents.Then the pre-identified poor residents are exempted from paying for this free quota supply of water while the rest of the residents have to pay for this water which was initially supplied to them as a free quota.If these poor people want to use more water than that is supplied through the free quota system, then they must start to pay.I understand that NUNW claims that the pre-paid system is unconstitutional and has been abolished in other countries like England.However, I am of the opinion that if the pre-paid water supply system is applied hand-in-hand with the free quota of water approach, then its unconstitutionality starts to evaporate and its effectiveness and efficiency are all what will be left for us to appreciate.D Uuyuni waKamati Katutura