July 19, 2017
VIOLET MENGO
Mansa
WATER is fundamental to all life. Thus,
no one can be lifted out of extreme poverty without adequate access to water.
Water crisis is a looming threat to many countries
including Zambia. The crisis in Zambia manifests itself through severe droughts
caused by climate change.
Drought causes crop failure, resulting in many farmers
and people mostly in rural areas live in abject poverty.
According to WaterAid report of 2014, five million
Zambians lack access to clean water.
And the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council
(NWASCO) says the water sector is still facing a number of challenges.
NWASCO Director Kelvin Chitumbo says among the
challenges is the drying of dam reservoirs and rivers and low yields from
boreholes due to climate variability and anthropogenic activities.
He adds that low investments from year to year have
hampered significant progress in service delivery adding that although there
has been an improvement in the amount of funds disbursed to the sector, it
continues to remain far below the total investment needs.
Government budgetary allocation for water supply, sanitation
and water resource management and development for 2017 national budget is K487 million.
Since necessity is the mother of invention, Government
through the Ministry of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental
Protection is trying ways of conserving water to fight water scarcity thereby
increasing productivity among people.
The ministry has been engaged in rain harvesting, an
initiative which aims to ensure food security and rejuvenate water sources
thereby improving ground water levels in parched areas of the country.
Rainwater harvesting is a technique used for
collecting, storing and using rainwater for landscape irrigation and other
uses. The rainwater is collected from various hard surfaces such as rooftops
and/or other man made above ground hard surfaces.
Permanent secretary Edward Chomba said rainwater
harvesting is considered the answer to Zambia’s water woes.
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| Dr Chomba |
He says the practice has been sporadic in many parts
of the country, but Government has taken up a stance to develop the technique
of harvesting rain for sustainable use when there is no water.
Although the practice of rainwater harvesting has not
been used so much in Zambia, it has been in existence for a long time and
countries such as Kenya and Uganda have been harvesting rainwater.
Dr Chomba said Government is constructing new dams to
harvest rainwater while rehabilitating old ones to make sure irrigation is done
properly and people can use water for domestic and farming purposes
effectively.
According to him, this is in the wake of climate
change that contributed to reduced rainfall resulting in less productivity
among the people.
Much work is underway towards meeting the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, particularly those emphasising eradication of
extreme poverty and hunger.
In doing that, dams are being constructed to uplift
the living standard of the people in rural areas.
“A good example of some of the dams that have been
constructed is the Chikowa dam in Mfuwe and Chibalashi in Mansa,” Bishop Chomba
said.
Chikowa dam costed about US$1.5 million, constructed
within six months.
“We have been able to harvest 240, 000 cubic litres of
water out of the 37 million water that has passed through the dam in the
2018/2017 rainy season,” he said.
In Mansa, the construction of the K7 million
Chibalashi dam is complete, financed through a loan from World Bank.
Dr Chomba said Chibalashi dam is a marvel as 3 point 1
cubic metres of water has been harvested on a project that also took six months
to construct.
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| Chibalashi Dam |
The construction of Chikowa and Chibalashi are part of
Government’s ambitious programme to increase agricultural production and ensure
availability of water especially in rural areas.
With this development, Bishop Chomba points out that
people’s livelihood will change because they will use harvested rainwater to
irrigate their vegetables and be able to grow tubers and other crops to become
food secure.
While Chikowa is near completion, the Chibalashi dam
is complete and Integrity Construction Enterprise handed over a certificate of
completion of works to Government.
Climatic changes have resulted into erratic rain
patterns, negatively affecting small-scale farmers who entirely depend on rain
for production.
Scaling up irrigation and rainwater harvesting is
anticipated to enhance productivity.
In trying to ensure that people are sensitised on the
importance of rainwater harvesting in the country, networks have been developed
in areas where dams have been constructed to ensure sustainability and
protection of the infrastructure.
“We used to spend sleepless nights, thinking about
sourcing water for daily needs. All that changed after the government constructed
the dam for us, we no longer face the challenge of water for our gardens and
other domestic uses, a woman resident of Chibalashi area said.
In 2017 the ministry will construct 11 dams in
selected areas of the country and this is expected to enhance availability of
water and agriculture production among the people.
In ensuring water availability, the Ministry of
Agriculture is also constructing dams in selected areas of the country. K238
million under the ministry has been set for the development of dams across the
country.
With such
action from Government, many rural people’s lives will be transformed and the
country’s attainment of the SDGs on poverty alleviation will be met.
Ends…..
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