ABSTRACT
The lowland parts of Kondoa District, Central Tanzania, are dry and hot. Rainfall is scarce and erratic (Ngana 2004; Yanda 1995). For half the year many villagers get their water from pits dug deep into dry riverbeds – sometimes 10 km or more away from their homes. Some families use as little as 20 litres per day for drinking and cooking, which leaves little for washing; you just do not wash yourself or your clothes regularly during the long dry season. A few villages have access to drilled boreholes or piped water through a gravity scheme, and there the situation is of course different. But for most villages water is a major problem.
