In the capital’s outlying neighborhoods, access to drinking water has long been an arduous struggle. Women would rise before dawn to queue in front of water tankers, spending hours and a significant portion of their budget to obtain water that was often of dubious quality.
The PEPS (Potable Water Supply and Sanitation Project) has transformed this reality. With support from international partners, kilometers of pipelines have been laid, pumping stations have been upgraded, and thousands of households have been connected to the public water supply network.
In Mpila, Talangaï, and Ouenzé, the taps are now flowing. For families, it is a double liberation: liberation of time, as the hours once spent searching for water are now devoted to work or children; and financial liberation, as tap water costs far less than water from street vendors.
“Before, I spent almost as much on water as on food,” says a mother from the Mpila neighborhood. “Now, I turn on the tap and the water comes. My children are less sick, and I have more time to take care of them.”
The project does not stop there. In 2025, the government adopted the PEEDU program, a multi-year urban investment plan for Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, which includes not only the extension of water networks but also electrical modernization and the fight against erosion and flooding.
This improvement in access to drinking water reflects the priority given by President Denis Sassou-Nguesso to the fundamental needs of the population. His commitment to inclusive urban development is realized every day in neighborhoods where water now flows from the tap, bringing health, dignity, and progress.