Sierra Leone

=== Potable water supply ===

{{Main|Water supply in Sierra Leone}}

The water supply in Sierra Leone is characterised by limited access to safe drinking water. Despite efforts by the government and numerous non-governmental organisations, access has not much improved since the end of the Sierra Leone Civil War in 2002, stagnating at about 50% and even declining in rural areas.<ref name="JMP water">WHO/UNICEF [[Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation]] (updated March 2010) {{cite web |url=http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/SLE_wat.pdf |title=Estimates for the use of Improved Drinking-Water Sources, Sierra Leone |access-date=6 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226083443/http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/SLE_wat.pdf |archive-date=26 December 2011}}</ref> It is hoped that a new dam in Orugu, for which China committed financing in 2009, will alleviate [[water scarcity]].<ref name="Orugu">{{cite web |url=http://www.ooskanews.com/middle-east-africa/china-lends-288-million-usd-sierra-leone-orugu-dam |title=China Lends $28.8 Million USD to Sierra Leone for Orugu Dam |publisher=OOSKAnews |date=15 June 2009 |access-date=20 May 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

According to a national survey carried out in 2006, 84% of the urban population and 32% of the rural population had access to an [[improved water source]]. Those with access in rural areas were served almost exclusively by protected wells. The 68% of the rural population without access to an improved water source relied on surface water (50%), unprotected wells (9%) and unprotected springs (9%). Only 20% of the urban population and 1% of the rural population had access to piped drinking water in their home. Compared to the 2000 survey access has increased in urban areas, but has declined in rural areas, possibly because facilities have broken down because of a lack of maintenance.<ref name="JMP water"/><ref name="Pushak">{{cite web|title=Sierra Leone's Infrastructure. A Continental Perspective |url=http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2011/06/29/000158349_20110629104032/Rendered/PDF/WPS5713.pdf |work=Policy Research Working Paper 571|publisher=World Bank|access-date=6 August 2011|author=Nataliya Pushak|author2=Vivien Foster |pages=31–35|date=June 2011}}</ref>

With a new decentralisation policy, embodied in the Local Government Act of 2004, responsibility for water supply in areas outside the capital was passed from the central government to local councils. In Freetown, the Guma Valley Water Company remains in charge of the water supply.

[[File: Guinea Liberia Sierra Leone Ebola Map August 8 2014.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|A situation map of the [[2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak|Ebola outbreak]] as of 8 August 2014]]