Access to potable water increased over last five years in Rwanda

The proportion of the Rwandan population with access to improved drinking water sources increased from 77 per cent to 87 per cent between 2005 and 2011.

According to the latest Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey, EICV3 report, the proportion of Rwandan households using surface water (rivers or lakes) as drinking water has decreased from 18 to 12 per cent over last five years. "The good news is that rural households can now reach an improved water source more quickly than they could five years ago", the EICV3 Thematic report on Environment and Natural Resources adds.

However, the report also stressed that even though significant progress has been made, there is a clear trend that fewer households receive their water for free when compared to five years earlier.

Although the majority of rural population were still not be using improved drinking water sources in the past,  official statistics indicate that the proportion of  households having access to potable water without paying in these remote areas decreased falling down from from 81 percent  to 69  per cent between 2005 and 2011.

However, population growth and other land related use issues such as irrigation have outstripped the progress in a country where the hydrological network comprising of numerous lakes and rivers as well as its associated wetlands, covers more than 10 per cent of the its entire surface estimated to be 26,338 Square Kilometers.