Since January 28, 2024, the inhabitants of Mbacké in Senegal have been receiving a continuous supply of drinking water. This is thanks to a new freshwater transfer system, inaugurated by Senegal’s Prime Minister, Amadou Ba. The system stretches 50 km between the towns of Sadio and Mbacké, both located in the west-central part of the West African country. “In Mbacké, the groundwater is saline, with risks for human health and agricultural activities”, says Senegalese National Water Company (SONES), which built the freshwater transfer system.
Indeed, saline water can be harmful to plant growth, with negative impacts on the quality and quantity of agricultural yields. In humans, the main health effect of a sodium-rich diet is high blood pressure, which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, gastric cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, Meniere’s disease and kidney disease.
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To alleviate these two problems, a pumping station with a capacity of 12,000 m3 per day taps the groundwater resources of four boreholes (16,000 m3 per day) at Sadio. The fresh water passes through a 50 km transfer line to Mbacké, where it is stored in a ground reservoir (2,000 m3) and a A water tower (2,000 m3).
A water tower with a storage capacity of 2,000 cubic metres per day©AmadouBa
Nearly 100,000 households affected
Drinking water reaches the inhabitants of Mbacké via a 20 km distribution network. The Senegalese authorities plan to connect 100,000 households to the 50 km freshwater route. This will exponentially improve the supply of fresh water to Mbacké, currently the most populous city in Senegal with 1,359,757 inhabitants, according to the results of the latest general census of 2023, carried out by the National Agency for Statistics and Demography (ANSD). It is followed by the capital Dakar with 1,182,416 inhabitants.
Construction of the freshwater transfer system from Sadio to Mbacké required an investment of 23 billion CFA francs, or just over 35 million euros, provided by the Senegalese government.
Inès Magoum