The water cuts that occur regularly in many neighborhoods of Antananarivo lead users to find other alternatives in order to have access to drinking water. For the majority of households, the only possible alternative is to entrust a third party with water chores by having water delivered to their homes in the famous yellow cans. At a rate of 1000 Ar per 20 liter container delivered to your home, water costs can rise very quickly. Indeed, in addition to the water needed for cooking and daily toilets, flushing toilets and especially laundry considerably increase water consumption. A household of five, including infants or young children, needs to do laundry at least three times a week. Seven to ten cans per day are then necessary to cover all needs.
Home water deliverers who previously had informal food vendors and households not connected to the Jirama network as their main customers have seen their customers increase up to double since the start of the water shortage in Antananarivo. Queuing at dawn, or even for several days in a row, at public drinking fountains, they fill dozens and dozens of yellow cans to be delivered to customers. These ” professionals » of the water chore carry out several water delivery rounds per day to around twenty customers. A very physical and time-consuming job, they specify, justifying the price asked by the water delivery men. Customers have no other choice than to use their services because they cannot do their own water chores.
Hanitra R.