About 66% of the Mozambican population does not have access to drinking water in the country, despite the fact that about a thousand boreholes are drilled every year, said on Tuesday the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources.

"In Mozambique the statistics show that we have about 66% of the population without any safe source of water," Carlos Mesquita, Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources told Radio Mozambique.

Carlos Mesquita was speaking in Maputo during a ceremony to celebrate the World Water Day, which is being held this Tuesday.

According to the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, the availability of water in the thousand boreholes drilled each year in the country is "limited" due, among other reasons, to low flows, pollution from the excessive use of agricultural fertilizers, disorderly settlements, and also because of prolonged droughts.

According to the responsible, with the effect of climate change, there is "a reduction in the availability of water" in the country, suggesting, therefore, the "construction of groundwater collection infrastructures.

To face the problem, the use of "desalination, in regions where the underground water is brackish", can be another alternative, said Carlos Mesquita.