Water unsafe for settlers along Bumbu River

By CLEMENT KAUPA 
THOUSANDS of families living in congested settlements along the banks of Bumbu River in Lae, continue to drink its untreated and unsafe water.
Settlement communities of Igam, Taraka and Bumbu have been using the river for years because they do not have a treated water supply and proper toilet facilities.
Everyday thousands of people flock there to wash, relieve themselves and fetch water from holes dug into its sandy banks in their attempt to get clean drinking water.
Overcrowding in recent years has sparked fears of pollution and waterborne diseases.
Louie Kawale, a 45-year-old father of three and long-time resident of Kamkumung, said following the ethnic clash last year, the settlements had been filled with displaced settlers from the trouble zones.
Kawale said pollution was now a major concern, compounded by irresponsible business houses that dumped industrial waste into the river.
He blamed the use of river water as the cause of diseases such as diarrhoea and dysentery that had taken their toll on settlement children.
An observation of the crowded Kamkumung area showed the possibility of a high rate of child mortality, mostly due to water-borne diseases. 
From a random enquiry of four families, two reported having lost a child each to acute cases of dysentery, allegedly from drinking “dirty water”.
A wide variety of skin infections are rampant among children in these communities.
“I have been drinking water fetched from Bumbu for a very long time, but I am now afraid for my children,” David Africa, another father and long-time resident of Kamkumung, said.
Kawale and Africa are calling on the Morobe provincial government to seriously consider the plight of the thousands of people living in these settlements.
“We urgently need a proper water supply,” Africa said.