Author: Taufiq Ihsan, Lecturer of Environmental Engineering Department, Universitas Andalas

More than 2 billion people around the world do not have access to safe, uncontaminated drinking water. Around 418 million of them live in African countries. The problem is most acute in rural communities, where people’s primary water sources are rivers, lakes and hand-dug wells, which are often contaminated with harmful pathogens. This contamination is caused by inadequate sanitation facilities, open defecation practices, and agricultural runoff, and it has dire consequences. Waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea claim hundreds of thousands of African lives each year. Children are especially vulnerable to these diseases because of their developing immune…