500 Thousand People Got Access to Drinking Water in Niger

With the “TIKA-West Africa Access to Drinking Water” Project held by Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works, approximately 500 thousand people reached drinking water in Niger, 66 % of whose surface area consists of desert. 

TIKA continues its operations for access to clean drinking water in countries in need. Water and sanitation projects are vital for Niger where it is so hard to access to drinking water and drought is at the highest level at a certain time of the year. Thanks to water tunnels done by TIKA, people get access to drinking water and also water need of cattles which are the biggest source of income of Nigeriens are fulfilled.
Upon the request of Ministry of Water and Environment and Ministry of Secondary Education in Republic of Niger; 45 water wells were dug for schools and mosques in Niamey, capital of Niger, in addition to 214 water wells which previously was dug in the highest populated one, Maradi, and different parts of Niger.   
TIKA Coordinator Mete Han Özer gave information about the water wells and told that the result of many illnesses in Niger comes from insanitary water supplied from River of Niger and these illnesses affects especially children; and the only way to solve this problem is to drill professional water wells. He added that TIKA regularly does water analysis of wells and pays attention to public health. He also stated that life of Nigeriens has changed since 2009, when the beginning of water wells drilled in different parts of Niger, and sanitation projects will continue at full steam.