Tanzanian Visitor Tours Water Facility
Guest is collecting knowledge about U.S. water treatment processes
Semu Nassari (left), a representative from the Evangelical Church in Tanzania, speaks with Fremont Water Treatment Superintendent Steve Lamale (center) and Mayor Jim Ellis (right) during a visit on Friday, May 17, 2013. / Chike Erokwu / News-Messenger
FREMONT — This close to the Great Lakes, with reliable sanitation infrastructure, it’s easy to take water for granted.
However, 8,000 miles away on the east coast of Africa is Tanzania, and in the middle of that country is a city called Dodoma.
Like many cities in developing countries, the people of Dodoma do what they can do ensure potable water. Women and children are said to wake up early in the morning and walk miles from the village in search of water. If they are lucky, they walk for miles back home carrying massive jugs of water on their heads.
People go to great lengths to obtain water, and the same could be said for native Tanzanian Semu Nassari. During a cross-cultural exchange visit between Fremont’s St. John’s Lutheran Church and the Evangelical Church in Tanzania, Nassari had the opportunity to meet with city officials and learn about the nation’s water treatment process.
“The good thing that I’ve learned is that water is being seen as a very crucial and important piece for the people (of Fremont),” said Nassari, through a thick east-African accent. “The government has invested a lot to see that their people have clean and safe drinking water.”
Nassari met with Mayor Jim Ellis and Water Treatment Superintendent Steve Lamale Friday morning to tour the city’s water treatment plant. Nassari took notes as he and and David Shoub, director of youth and family services for St. John’s Lutheran Church, made their way around the plant.
Nassari explained the daily water problems Tanzanians face. Lamale did his best to explain how things work in America as well as what could be done to ease some of those concerns.
“Sometimes we might find (people) drink from the same pools as their livestock,” Nassari explained. “Most of them don’t take the time to treat water, (but) we have some chlorine pills they can (use) to treat it in their homes.”
The water color— Nassari said it’s usually brown — does not change after treatment.
“Chlorine isn’t as effective in dirty water,” Lamale said. “It’s much more effective if you clean the water first then add the chlorine.”
Nassari said there are two major problems Tanzanians face in obtaining potable drinking water. Many cities in Tanzania lack the water infrastructure to disburse water to all homes in a given area. Those cities with water infrastructure often face corruption, as Nassari said illegal sales and vandalized infrastructure pose a threat to the water as it is transported to homes.
Add that to a poor economy, limiting government funding, and it becomes nearly impossible to guarantee clean water in all homes.
“Most of the sources of water in the community are contaminated,” Nassari said. “The government is putting (in) a lot of effort, but due to the minimum budget of the government caused by the economy, the government has not been able to see that people are accessing clean and safe water.”
Nassari said knowledge and education on water treatment policies will help Tanzanians break free from age-old beliefs about water purification.
“We train them on how they can filter water with the tools that they have,” Nassari said, “like pills of chlorine, boiling water and using water disinfectant.
“The challenge we are getting is that because of the level of education, some will say that if you boil water, for example, you will kill the water,” he said.
Lamale put Nassari in contact with Water for People: an international non-profit organization that helps people from developing countries develop locally sustainable drinking water resources, sanitation facilities and hygiene education programs.
“We take our quality of water here for granted,” Lamale said. “When they discovered chlorine, a lot of the cholera and diphtheria really dropped off. Chlorine gets a bad name, but we might not be here (without it).”
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