Drinking Water in Tajikistan

MaximsNewsWATER: 18 August 2009 - World Bank: Nowadays, the water in Tajikistan's capital runs mostly clean and clear out of the city's taps. Fresh, drinkable water is a new thing for the residents of Dushanbe who, until very recently, had to boil their water, which was thick with mud and a source of disease.

Hurbi Safarova used to get her grandchildren to help her lug gallons of water up four flights of stairs to her apartment. Once she had it, shed boil it and even then she wouldnt use it for baby formula and didnt like to give it to the kids to drink.

SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Hurbi Safarova, grandmother:
Before, we used to boil the water before giving it to the children and now the water is clean and the children can drink the water without any worries.

The city of Dushanbe, with help from the World Bank, now provides clean water to 75 percent of its people. Much of it comes from this reservoir just outside the city.

Workers test the system several times a day.

Khairulloev Murodovich runs the program and sees water as a metaphor for life.

SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Khairulloev Nasrullo Murodovich, Dushanbe water canal:
Clean water means clean life, clean house, clean apartment—thats what clean water is.

It also cuts down on waterborne illnesses. Typhoid outbreaks are less common, which is important in a place where much of the population is under the age of 15, and particularly vulnerable.

These two old friends, lifelong Dushanbe residents, remember the days of dangerous water.

SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Charos Mirzomahmoudova, Dushanbe resident:
Before when the water was murky, we didnt allow the children to drink it and before, doctors were going from door to door warning people not to drink it.

SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Farmida Ismoilova, Dushanbe resident:
There were water borne infectious diseases, and now that the water is clean, we dont have to worry about it.

The next project for Dushanbes authorities is to pipe fresh clean water in the apartments of the 25 percent of the city that is still without it. That will require more work, and a larger investment.