Efforts to stop an Ebola outbreak in Mongbwalu, a gold-mining town in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are being severely hampered by a critical lack of clean water and proper sanitation facilities. Local residents are finding it difficult to follow basic hygiene practices while attempting to guard against the fatal virus.
Residents spend each morning walking several kilometers carrying plastic containers to retrieve water from a natural spring nearby. Public water taps are too expensive for most households, and the area’s groundwater frequently suffers from contamination caused by mine runoff.
“Three water jugs cost 1,000 francs. If you have 10 jugs at home and only 1,000 francs left, plus children to feed, what do you do? That financial pressure is what forces us to walk miles every day to collect free spring water,” said Francoise Ididi, a local resident.
Data from the international poverty and relief aid group Oxfam indicates that safe, reliable water is available to just one out of every five of Mongbwalu’s 140,000 inhabitants. Every small amount of water must be strictly split between cooking, drinking, and cleaning tasks, which leaves minimal supply for handwashing—one of the primary safeguards against spreading Ebola.
“During this Ebola outbreak, it’s important to wash your hands regularly. But if water is hard to find, or if there isn’t enough water in the household, it’s difficult to protect yourself against this disease,” said Isaac Lure, another resident.
Sanitation shortages also plague public areas. At the city’s main market, which draws hundreds of people every day, hygiene stations are largely absent.
“There are no handwashing stations and no sanitizers here. We go the entire day without washing our hands unless we did so at home. The authorities need to take action, because the rule right now is to wash your hands,” said Neema Mave, a vendor at the market.
Although various non-governmental organizations have installed water storage tanks, artisanal gold mining continues to make matters worse by exposing thousands of vulnerable laborers to polluted water daily. Public health specialists caution that the persistent water shortage is intensifying the health emergency, forcing residents to rely on whatever limited water supplies they can obtain.
