Govt mobilises $7m to avert water crisis

Harare is now left with five months’ supply of water.

The capital needs 800 megalitres of water a day and is currently able to pump slightly over half this amount.

This has forced the council introduce water rationing.

Bulawayo has, since 1984, been under a permanent water rationing regime as the city struggles to save whatever amounts of water it has.

This week, the city decommissioned Umzingwane Dam due to low water levels, worsening the plight of residents under-going a strict water supply regime.

Upper Ncema Dam was decommissioned in July, leaving the city relying on Insiza, Inyankuni, Lower Ncema, and Mtshabezi which are holding an estimated 30,5 percent of their cumulative capacity.

Zimbabwe National Water Authority, the country’s water utility, has repeatedly warned that serious water shortages in some areas in the country are likely to persist owing to the prolonged drought.

In a recent report the water authority said: “While the responsibility to come up with cost effective and quickly implementable measures lies with Government, Zinwa and other relevant stakeholders in the water sector, the success of such measures is dependent on the commitment of all water users to practice water conservation.”

Despite facing financial constraints, Government has so far drilled 1 600 new boreholes, repaired 10 220 boreholes, rehabilitated 32 piped water schemes and provided 1 660 schools with latrines.

“In order to reduce the impact of the drought on communities relying on surface water for household use, water is being released from upstream dams to their communities,” Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri was quoted as saying in the media.

“This has already been done for Gwanda Town from Mtshabezi Dam, for Ngundu, Gororo and Lowveld from Muzhwi Dam.”

With the support of the World Bank, the Government has also been working to address the impact of climate change on the availability of water by integrating sustainable water development and management into the country’s National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) and into the proposed National Climate Policy.

Under the NCCRS, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) mobilised about US$4 million to support climate change initiatives to benefit up to 10 000 smallholder farmers in three districts in the country.

The UN agency says the fund will help to construct and rehabilitate dams, irrigation schemes, rainwater harvesting and boreholes drilling in Chimanimani and Buhera districts in Manicaland province and Chiredzi district in Masvingo province. The project was launched in Mutare last year, with a US$1 million batch being released each year.

Experts say water continues to be undervalued and badly managed in Zimbabwe and most other parts of the world.

They say the symptoms of lack of attention can be seen everywhere. In addition, they say most countries do not adequately monitor either the quantity or the quality of water resources and wastewater in particular, and the monitoring of sanitation and drinking water also remains a challenge.

“Too many countries respond to water-related disaster emergencies but do not integrate water risks in development planning,” an expert noted in a UN report.

“Water is distressingly underfi compared to other types of infrastructure. Lack of adequate access to drinking water and sanitation plagues billions of people, especially the poorest.”

By 2050, growing demand for cities and for agriculture would put water in short supply in regions where it is now plentiful — and worsen shortages across a vast swath of Africa and Asia, spurring conflict and migration, the bank said.

They urge Governments to fast-track institutional reforms, boost funding, eliminate corruption and strengthen capacities in their water services sectors. — Zimpapers Syndication. to