Gatumba has been without drinking water for a year as cholera cases reported
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Iwacu Burundi
Wikimedia Commons · Usage libreIn Mahotera, in Gatumba district, Burundi, taps have been dry for more than a year following floods on Lake Tanganyika, forcing residents to use underground water of uncertain quality. Cases of cholera have been reported and a jerrycan of drinking water costs 2,000 BIF, Iwacu reports.
Residents of Mahotera hill in Gatumba district, Burundi, say they have not received drinking water from Regideso for more than a year. Cases of cholera have also been reported in the area, according to Iwacu Burundi, citing residents.
Espérance Nimbona says a neighbour was hospitalised two weeks earlier after suffering severe diarrhoea and was diagnosed with cholera. With no running water, some residents turn to water drawn from underground, whose quality is uncertain. Candide Nikwibitanga, a mother of three, says she uses it for cooking and sometimes for drinking because she cannot afford to buy drinking water. A jerrycan costs 2,000 Burundian francs (BIF).
The price of a 20-litre jerrycan delivered to the home also depends on distance and transport. Vincent Nibitanga, who lives in Gaharawe, says he pays 4,000 BIF for delivery by bicycle taxi, without being able to check where the water was drawn from. Residents denounce what they consider abusive practices concerning the source of the water being sold.
The shortage in Gatumba comes amid reported difficulties with water supplies in other neighbourhoods in Burundi. In Kanyosha, residents of Bujumbura had also reported cuts lasting several days, in an article about water shortages published on 19 October 2026.
