Indicators of drinkable water supply

Water plays a vital role in human life. It is estimated that approximately 2.6 billion people worldwide do not have access to hygienic water, and about another 900 million do not consume safe water.  Since water is a fundamental premise for a healthy life,  it has been a determining factor in population’s migration from one place to another.

From this standpoint Albania can be considered a “blessed “ country. Nevertheless, a good part of the population is deprived of water supply, and even the luckier part is subject to limited supply according to a predetermined schedule.

Presently the Water Supply and Sewerage Sector performs its function by virtue of the interaction of the  Water Regulatory Entity (WRE), Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MPWT), interested Local Government Units, as well as agencies who offer services related to water supply and sewerage management. Until 2010, the sector included 56 companies, of which 43 are licensed, 5 have expired licenses, and 8 had never applied for a license although this is a legal requirement.

Despite numerous water sources, according to the data from 2010, 19.7% of the total population living in monitored areas under GDWSS’s jurisdiction are not serviced by the drinking water supply network. The majority of this population lives in rural areas (67%), whereas the urban areas benefit from a more improved supply network.

Of the total population that get water supply, 78% lives in the city and only 22% live in rural areas. A comparison between the urban and rural areas would show that 9.2% of the urban population and 43%  of the rural population do not get drinking water. Clearly, the rural areas suffer from a supply discrimination, a long way from meeting the basic supply needs and even farther from a 24-hour supply.

It must be pointed out that studies rank the availability of water supply as one of the most important indicators of life quality and an important explanation of the reasons that drive population migration from rural areas to urban areas.

As far as the population that has no access to the water supply network, it must be pointed out that these people can gain access to water through individual wells (which does not exactly make their lives easy) or can gain illegal access to the water piplines serviced by the above-mentioned water companies, however due to the fact that they are not registered, these companies classify them as unserviced habitants.

Finally, one can say with certainty that meeting the objective to service 83% of the rural areas by 2015, when only 43% of them have this service in 2010 will pose a formidable challenge for the government and its budget.