Water tanks can help alleviate poverty in South Africa

The installation of water tanks at a household level in poor communities can help to alleviate poverty. In South Africa, many households rely on water that must be physically collected and carried back to the home, usually by womenfolk.

Here are some ways that water tanks could help to alleviate poverty:

• A water tank at a poor, rural household, whether filled by rainwater, municipal bowsers or both, frees up countless hours of water collecting activities. This time could be spent on craft-making, entrepreneurship, or it may free up the women in the household allowing them to be gainfully employed. It also frees up time for education opportunities, especially for girls and young women.
• Water collected from local streams and rivers is often polluted with chemicals and full of pathogens. A water tank, properly maintained, ensures that the household can have access to safer water and thus lead a healthier lifestyle. Rainwater collected off rooftops must be filtered or boiled before drinking though.
• Depending on the size of the water tank, there may be enough water available for irrigating crops around the household, improving yield and possibly taking food-growing from a subsistence level to where excess harvest can be sold to supplement income.
• Again, depending on the size of the tank and amount of water available, this water could be used for washing clothes – another time-consuming activity that many poor rural women engage in – much of the time being spent travelling to or from the river or dam to wash clothes.
• Personal hygiene can be improved by having easy access to water from water tanks.
• A sense of independence can be gained by ownership of a water tank. Poverty stricken communities are often psychologically depressed, further inhibiting upliftment. Gaining some water self-sufficiency could boost a household’s morale and thus help them to begin uplifting themselves.

In South Africa, water is a basic human right but unfortunately a huge majority of poor people, especially in rural areas, do not have access to safe water and sanitation. Water tanks supplied on a household level could be part of the solution until municipal water connections can be installed.

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JoJo Tanks South Africa offer a wide range of products such as plastic water tanks and chemical tanks to suit every household, business or agricultural need, including silo tanks and silo tank stands as well as other high quality JoJo Tanks products.  See JoJo Tanks’ VERTICAL TANKS, HORIZONTAL TANKS (transporter tanks), STEEL TANK STANDS and OTHER JOJO PRODUCTS and see JoJo Tanks’ NEW 6000 LITRE UNDERGROUND TANKS. Also see our FAQ and WATER TANK PRICES.