AfricaPress-Tanzania: SERENGETI Breweries Limited (SBL) has made significant strides in supporting government efforts to increase access to safe water and sanitation facilities in order to reduce waterborne diseases to community.
According to SBL Corporate Relations Director, John Wanyancha, the brewer considers water to be key in the country’s future prosperity and that’s why it has always been ready to collaborate with the government and other partners in facilitating the country’s access to safe and clean water.
“SBL has a policy commitment towards the wellbeing of communities in the country with Water of Life (WOL) being one of our four priority areas that our company has defined in its objective to provide social support to improve the social welfare of Tanzanians”, says Wanyancha, describing other priority areas as, provision of Skills for Life, Environmental Sustainability and Promotion of Responsible Drinking.
For example, since 2010 to date, SBL has partnered with WaterAid and Amref to commission a total of 18 boreholes across the country with the main focus being the neediest areas that had hitherto been deprived of this critical resource.
And of recently as the whole world navigates the novel Covid-19 pandemic, a major spotlight has been on the availability of water to all, considering that the liquid is not only vital for all known forms of life but it now serves as a critical and essential element in combating the ruinous scourge.
During these life-threatening times, health experts have touted hygiene as being the single most important requirement that will save humanity against an imminent Apocalypse wrought by the viral disease.
Besides other equally important requirements such as strict adherence to the laid-down health guidelines and protocols such as the use of personal preventive equipment (PPEs), frequent hand-washing with soap and water remains the most crucial, yet simple-to-apply preventive measure-with water being the catalyst and the fulcrum around which the entire hygienic standards revolve.
In the recent past, the Tanzanian government, organizations and other players at many levels, have been working hard to end what has been labelled in some quarters as ‘Water Crisis’-in order to ensure that clean and safe water is available to all.
The SBL for example, has been providing the missing link in commissioning water projects that are now supplying clean and safe water to millions of Tanzanians.
He said SBL’s water projects collectively provide water to an estimated 2 million people-freely providing safe water to drink and for other domestic chores and most importantly, enabling Tanzanians to engage in basic hygiene practices like regular hand-washing, which is fundamental to maintaining health, especially this time of Covid-19 crisis.
“Our projects, besides directly helping the communities, have had ripple effects on the neighbouring institutions such as the Karatu project that has been expanded to serve four schools and a dispensary as well as the Pasua project in Moshi that also serves three secondary schools and a nearby public market,” he said.
He adds that the boreholes, which are strategically drilled near the brewer’s agri-business locations, also provide irrigation water to over 400 farmers whom SBL supports to boost their production-also provide water that ensures constant supply of the commodity to the beer-maker’s three brewing plants located in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Moshi.
Popularly known as Water of Life (WOL), SBL’s water projects are a major boost to the government’s efforts in providing water to all Tanzanians through its self-imposed target of bringing clean water within easy reach of all the country’s 57 million people by 2025.
