Linking poverty levels to water resource use and conflicts in rural Tanzania

摘要

Water scarcity is an important environmental constraint to development. Water availability is closely linked to human welfare and health by affection nutrition status and quantity of drinking water especially for the poor. It has impacts on household labour because of the time and energy spent in obtaining it. These problems are more keenly felt among the poor households and in the agricultural subsistence economy. in many areas, the demand for water has been increasing due to rapid population growth, economic development, and climactic change. Water scarcity also stimulates social conflicts between various water users: individuals, communities, industries, livestock, wildlife, agriculture etc. Consequently, local communities have evolved strategies for coupling with water stress and drought. These strategies include use of various sources of water, inaction to strict bye-laws regarding the use of water, crop diversification, wage labour, and possibly seasonal migration. The available strategies are likely to vary from one area to another. Some of these actions have measurable longterm demographic consequences, particularly if water stress is severe or repetitive. Although most governments and donor organizations often put much emphasis on the provision of water for drinking purposes, there is clear evidence that the supply of water for other uses has equal importance especially among rural communities. This observation suggests that putting too much emphasis on drinking water needs, addresses a rather insignificant part of the problem of water resources and biases the range of solutions which are likely to be proposed for perceived shortages. The presence of other water uses necessitates the provision of multi-purpose water sources that can serve a number of contrasting functions. This demand-responsive approach can enable the local communities and the poor households to choose the type of services they require on the basis of perceived needs and their ability to manage the water scheme.