"Water, water everywhere...

...and not a drop to drink.”

Whoever wrote that must have visited Kigoma once.

Outside my window lies 17% of the world’s fresh water. Lake Tanganyika fills a deep pocket of the lower end of the Great Rift Valley, the divergent plate boundary for the African and Indian tectonic plates. I have heard that a seismograph in Burundi has registered up to 60 earthquakes in the lake per day. If this rifting continues, one day Lake Tanganyika may become an ocean.

The lake is very deep, with depths reaching 1,470 meters (4,823 ft) in the northern basin of the lake, not far from where I live. So with the world’s second largest freshwater lake at our fingertips, why do so many people have to live without their basic water needs met? How is it that many people who live on the shore of Lake Tanganyika only consume about 25 liters of water per person per day – well below demand – whereas the US average, from New York City to the green lawns of Arizona, can and do consume 350?

I attended a lecture last night by a Tanzanian hydrogeologist who explained his hypothesis for why this is the case:

- Power outages; in order for 65% of the demand for water in this community to be met, the current water pumps would need to operate for 20 hours per day. Instead, they run for 18 hours per week, due largely to the scarcity of power.

- Inadequate and aging infrastructure; not only are there not enough pipes to circulate water through the community, but the pipes we currently have were laid in 1960 (and retrofitted in 1985), and it is estimated that 45-55% of the water that passes through them is lost to leakage (compared to the global average leakage rate of 10%).

Pollution is likely also a factor, as the water at the very edge of communities is so often polluted, and at times contaminated with cholera.

And let’s not forget the crocodiles. They are not common here, but a few rumors are probably all it would take to keep people away from the lake shore for a while (that's all it would take for me!).

So it is a tragedy and an irony that so many people go without water when water is in such abundance here. The good news is that there are Tanzanians who understand these issues, and who are bringing them to the attention of the officials who need to hear them.

Last week, men began digging-up the road which runs in front of my house; and last night on the way to the lecture, I noticed pipes lying next to the channels dug in the road. So it looks like part of the matter is already being addressed.

Hopefully additional taxes (including almost 30% of my salary) will go to employing people to continue to build the local infrastructure. Because everybody needs water.