Water contamination in Tanzania | DW Documentary

A forgotten hygiene scandal: 2.4 billion people worldwide must manage without a toilet. Every day around 1000 children die from contaminated water.

In Tanzania, a German non-governmental organization called BORDA is building small, decentralized wastewater treatment units. Without proper water supplies and access to sanitary facilities, poverty cannot be eradicated. Only the healthy can earn a living, and staying healthy calls for clean water and well-functioning sewage systems are needed to stay healthy. If poverty falls, the birth rate decreases. The experts from BORDA (Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association) say this would be a significant step forward for Tanzania, where families currently have an average of five to six children. In Dar es Salaam, its staff are building and operating sanitary facilities with local colleagues. For example, small companies such as “Sanitation on Wheels” empty latrine pits and transport the excrement in handcarts to the local sewage treatment plant. In addition, the water treated in the sewage treatment plants can be used to irrigate small allotments and the biogas the plants generate can be used for cooking. Public toilets, sometimes with showers, are run like small micro-enterprises and provide jobs. Improved hygiene leads to better living conditions and enables the residents to live a dignified life in an environment that at last no longer stinks and makes them ill.