A growing nationwide water shortage is said to be raising serious public concern across Liberia, as thousands of residents struggle daily to access safe drinking water amid worsening supply disruptions affecting homes, schools, markets and health facilities.
The deepening crisis has triggered criticism of the country’s aging water infrastructure and intensified calls for immediate intervention from both government and private institutions.
Citizens in several parts of Monrovia said they have gone weeks without regular pipe-borne water, forcing many families to depend on unsafe wells, creeks and expensive sachet water for survival.
Reacting to the situation, Rhema Spring Natural Mineral Water Chief Executive Officer, Payma Christopher Quoiquoi, described the shortage as a national emergency that threatens public health and human dignity.
Speaking to journalists at the company’s headquarters in Brewerville, outside Monrovia, the CEO condemned the prolonged water interruptions and called for urgent collective action.
Quoiquoi criticized what he described as longstanding structural failures within the country’s water delivery system, warning that the situation could spiral into a full-scale health disaster, if immediate measures are not taken.
He said ordinary Liberians continue to suffer while institutions struggle to address the growing demand for safe and affordable water.
“The issues of fuel shortages, high tariff on private institutions, and the issues of boreholes are affecting the entire sector.
This is not just a shortage; it is a crisis of dignity and health,” Quoiquoi declared during the press briefing.
However, the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation said the crisis is being driven by several factors, including the prolonged dry season, repeated electricity outages affecting water pumping operations at the White Plains treatment plant, and major leakages within the country’s aging distribution system.
Officials disclosed that more than 40 percent of treated water is reportedly lost through damaged pipelines and illegal connections before reaching consumers.
The revelation has sparked criticism from residents who have argued that years of neglect and poor maintenance have left the national water system near collapse.
Communities including Clara Town, Logan Town, and Chicken Soup Factory have been among the hardest hit, with residents reporting that pipe-borne water has not flowed for more than three weeks.
In many areas, women and children are now forced to wake before dawn to search for water, often walking long distances with buckets and containers.
The economic impact of the shortage is also becoming severe.
Traders and business owners said the price of sac of water has sharply increased on local markets, with a sac reportedly rising from L$75 to nearly L$90 in some communities.
Residents fear the continuous increase could place safe drinking water beyond the reach of many struggling families.
Yet, Quoiquoi has urged private companies to play a greater role in addressing the emergency, stressing that humanitarian intervention should not be delayed by politics or bureaucracy.
“We cannot sit and watch our people suffer. Government is doing its part, but the private sector must also step up.
Water is life, and life cannot wait for bureaucracy,” he stressed.
However, he further dismissed claims that Rhema Current’s intervention was politically motivated, insisting that access to water should remain a non-political issue.
“Thirst has no political party. When a child cries for water in New Georgia or in Pleebo, the sound is the same,” the CEO noted.
Meanwhile, Managing Director Mo Ali of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation has acknowledged the gravity of the crisis and revealed that the corporation is seeking approximately US$35 million to rehabilitate Monrovia’s aging pipe network, much of which has reportedly remained unchanged for nearly five decades.
At the same time, the Ministry of Health has issued a public health advisory, urging citizens to boil or chlorinate water collected from creeks and open wells to prevent outbreaks of cholera and diarrhea as frustrations continue to mount across the country.