ZINWA: Creating a water secure Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe, like any other country, has not been spared the effects of climate change. In recent years, the country has experienced extreme weather conditions ranging from heat waves, droughts, cyclones to flooding. These extreme weather patterns have left sad tales of crop and animal losses, poor harvests for farmers relying on rains and severe water shortages in both urban and rural areas. All these point to the potentially devastating effects that climate change can inflict on any country’s socio-economic development.
With this in mind, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) being the Government’s water resources management lead agency, is working quite hard to put up infrastructure that help create a water secure Zimbabwe.
A number of projects are underway while others have since been completed as ZINWA forges ahead to help Zimbabwe withstand and mitigate the impact of climate change with particular emphasis on mitigating the impacts of floods and droughts. The projects, serving the twin functions of providing raw water for domestic requirements in urban areas and providing water for agriculture, will certainly play a more pronounced role in sustaining the current positive socio-economic trajectory the country is in.
The construction of the new water infrastructure is consistent with Section 5 of the ZINWA Act which mandates ZINWA to “take appropriate measures to minimise the impact of droughts, floods and other hazards” in the country. It is also in line with the benchmarks that the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) has set for the attainment of water and food security in Zimbabwe; with irrigation expected to play a highly central role.
In recent years, ZINWA has been working tirelessly to put together a solid infrastructure base that would allow for the establishment of a country that is water secure now and in the future. That water infrastructure base should provide a springboard for the country’s socio-economic take-off towards Vision 2030. The water infrastructure that ZINWA has been and currently is working on seeks to address issues of equitable access to water by all citizens for both domestic and commercial water use.
Some of the infrastructure that ZINWA has constructed in the past few years include Tugwi-Mukosi Dam, Bubi-Lupane Dam, Marovanyati Dam, Wenimbi Pipeline, Mutange Dam, Matezva Dam, Mtshabezi Pipeline and Muchekeranwa Dam. These pieces of infrastructure have gone a long way in improving Zimbabwe’s ability and capacity to alleviate the impact of drought as they provide irrigation water to various communities around the country.
Going forward, ZINWA is constructing a number of dams in different parts of Zimbabwe to further hedge the country against the impact of droughts. Among these dams are Semwa Dam in Rushinga which is capable of irrigating 12 000 hectares of land in the arid district and also provide a reliable source of raw water for the growing Rushinga Growth Point.
ZINWA is on course to soon complete Gwayi-Shangani Dam. The dam, located in the Hwange District of Matabeleland North Province, is set to become the country’s third largest inland water body after Tugwi Mukosi and Lake Mutirikwi which are both in Masvingo Province. With a capacity of 650 million cubic meters of water, Gwayi-Shangani Dam is part of the long term solution to the water challenges that have perennially afflicted the City of Bulawayo. It is a vital and first component of the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP). A pipeline expected to be constructed between the dam and Bulawayo will pave way for the establishment of a greenbelt in the drought susceptible province of Matabeleland North.
While working on the long term solution for Bulawayo, in 2020 ZINWA also successfully rehabilitated the 20 boreholes at the Nyamandlovu Aquifer and also implemented the Epping Forest Bulawayo Water Supply Augmentation Project to help alleviate the water situation in Bulawayo.
Construction of Tuli-Manyange Dam in Matabeleland South Province is also underway with the dam being constructed to provide irrigation water to the Gwanda and Gwaranyemba Communities. TuliManyange Dam will irrigate 1000 hectares of arable land in the region which traditionally receives very low rains and is susceptible to successive drought.
Other dams whose construction is underway include Silverstroom Dam and the Dande Dam and Tunnel both in Mashonaland Central. ZINWA also expects to begin the construction of Ziminya Dam in Nkayi and Vhungu Dam in the Midlands before the end of the year.
Providing reliable sources of raw water for urban areas is also a priority area in the current programmes. To this end the construction of Kunzwi Dam has commenced and is expected to be completed by 2023. Kunzwi Dam has been touted as part of the long term solutions for the water challenges in the country’s capital; Harare. To help improve the water situation in the growing towns of Chivhu and Bindura, ZINWA is currently constructing Chivhu Dam and Bindura Dam. In addition to the dam, Chivhu is set to get a new, bigger and modern 450 cubic meters per hour water treatment plant which should also be completed this year in a development that will address the current water challenges being experienced in the town.