Residents of several villages in Vientiane have had water shortages for the past several days, forcing them to use drinking water for bathing.
The director of Vientiane 's Water Supply Enterprise, Mr Daophet Buapha, responded to complaints yesterday with the explanation that two of the four pumps at the Kaoliew water plant were broken, and enterprise employees were in the process of repairing one of them.
Some residents in the area, particularly in the villages of Thongpong, Nalauw and Nongteng, complained to relevant officials for not informing them ahead of the situation.
Since 2005, the water supply in these areas has usually been available two or three times a day, and villagers collect it in big tanks for long-term use.
But starting from the Lao New Year period last week, water has been unavailable, forcing some to collect water from wells, and buy large amounts of drinking water for bathing, driving them to complain to the water supply enterprise.
One woman from Nalauw village in Sikhottabong district said that two days ago, she bought 10 containers of drinking water, eight more than she would usually have to buy.
“We don't know what to do now, and we want officials concerned to address the issue,” she said.
Mr Daophet maintained that the enterprise planned to buy one new pump next week, and complete repairs on the other pump this week.
But the water shortage will continue in some areas, and he urged villagers to collect as much as they could in tanks in the meantime.
Mr Daophet accepted that there had been a failure to inform villagers about the situation, and thanked Vientiane Times for informing the public of the situation.
“We will make a statement to inform people again about our water situation,” he said.
The director also admitted that his enterprise did not have trucks with water tanks to provide water for people. “We have only one truck at the moment, and we mostly focus our water service at Km 6 along Kaysone road,” he said.
Water shortages have occurred regularly in Vientiane for a number of years. The two water plants in Kaoliew and Chinaimo villages can only pump 100,000 cubic metres of water per month, which falls short of demand by around 20,000 cubic metres.
The villages worst hit by water shortages include Dongdok, Sivilay, Huayhong and other communities located on higher ground.
The expansion of Kaoliew water plants from 20,000 to 60,000 cubic metres started its construction this year and will be completed in 2009.
However, some villagers remained wondering why, if the water production did not meet demand, officials concerned continued installing water supplies in other houses, as this would be sure to make the situation even worse.
Water shortages are most frequent during the dry season, when water levels in the Mekong are very low, and water plants can't pump enough water to fulfil their total capacity.
Lao New Year is also a period of heightened water use, when Lao people enjoy splashing water on each other as part of religious festivities, and also to refresh themselves from the heat of the hottest month. However, water shortages in the future could make the three-day holiday less enjoyable for many.
the shortage of water supply has been very serious for along time. this has forced many families for example those in thongpong village especially those areas far from the main road to dug a well or to collect water from other's well far away or even worst buying drinking water for daily use.
what is the company doing now???????? the answer is hardly doing anything but keep on collecting monthly fee for water meter, and explaining that the pumps were broken. I always heard this kind of story. are they broken that often???? if so, why not buy a new one? you know that water is one of the vital factor for living. so please do sth quickly to solve the situation
I think it is a not a matter of who has money to pay for water supply each month, but it is a matter for all, to help each other save water as much as we could before we may have no more water to save !!
