Choking the gift of life

25 Sep, 2020 - 00:09 0 Views
Choking the gift of life Gardening and laundry activities happening along the Mwerihari river banks are posing a danger that has the potential to take away the gift that comes with Marovanyati Dam. There is urgent need for awareness campaigns as the villagers are evidently unaware of the consequences of their actions

The ManicaPost

Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Senior Reporter

LITTLE nude bodies covered in sand can be seen frolicking up and down Mwerihari River in the drought prone Buhera district.

The children have no care in the world and are only interested in cooling down their little bodies that have been subjected to the scorching sun.

As they play, they cover their bodies with mud as a way of protecting their skin from the sun’s heat.

When they have had enough of playing on the river bed, they dive into the water for a cool satisfying swim before heading back home.

Of course, it is not the children only who enjoy the cool waters of Mwerihari.

Even grown-up men and women partake in the pleasure.

While the grown-ups do not play in their birthday suits, they enjoy cold baths in the river.

This is often after watering their vegetable gardens on the river banks and washing their clothes in the river.

As one stands near Marovanyati Dam wall, they can see clothes and blankets hanging to dry on huge boulders for kilometres on end, and the gardens that seem to be growing each day.

Mwerihari River flows through the belly of Marovanyati Dam in Buhera District before flowing into Murambinda, where it is providing water for irrigation, industrial and residential use.

It goes into the canals that feed Murambinda Irrigation Scheme where 34 families are using it to sustain their lives.

It is also taken to the treatment plant before feeding the ever growing Murambinda Growth Point population with potable water.

Mwerihari also feeds Dorowa Mine and other small industries in the surrounding areas. In future, it will supply water to two more irrigation schemes that are being planned. Along the way, it passes through so many other villages that are getting drinking water for themselves and their animals.

Mwerihari is as life giving as it gets.

However, before Marovanyati Dam was constructed, the flow of water in Mwerihari River was being affected by the perennial dry spells that are synonymous with Buhera District. The area is one of the driest in the country and is prone to droughts.

The river and other water sources in the district have often been drying up in summer, thereby leaving people and their livestock stranded.

The dam started feeding water to the community in 2017 and water woes are now a thing of the past.

However, the activities happening along the river banks are posing a danger that, if not stopped, will take that gift away.

According to a Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) engineer, Engineer Alouis Katsande, the activities taking place along the river banks are slowly getting out of hand.

“As you can see, over the past three years, water has been flowing from the dam into the river which feeds the pick-up weir that supplies the irrigation scheme and residential areas. Villagers along the way are also getting water, but they are now doing their activities right in the river.

“Agriculture activities along river banks can cause siltation of the river and limit the flow of water into the weir. We have engaged Chief Makumbe on this issue and he has promised to engage the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to conduct awareness campaigns in the communities. They need to be educated on the dangers of their activities,” he said.

Indeed, awareness is needed urgently as the villagers are evidently unaware of the consequences of their actions.

Ms Jesina Mangongo of Dzoma Village proudly spoke about her thriving garden on the river bank.

“We now have vegetable gardens and we are also washing our clothes here. Besides that we now have a guaranteed source of clean water for domestic use,” she said.

She, however, said she has never thought about the other people using the same water downstream.

Another villager, Ms Anna Chingovo, said they do not get drinking water from the river.

“We come here to wash our clothes as the boreholes currently do not have enough water for us to do so. Since we cannot carry the water back home, we do our laundry here. We know there are other people who use the water downstream but we have never thought about how our activities might harm them,” she said.

Mrs Tryphine Taguta said they have no choice but to do their laundry in the river since boreholes are drying up.

“We cannot use the boreholes closer to our homes as they are not yielding enough water. We therefore come here to bath and do our laundry. We always come here after every two or three days,” she said.

While the villagers are happy that they now have access to water for their day-to-day use, they are not worried about crocodiles. They argue that since no crocodile attacks have been recorded, it means they are safe.

They are also not worried about siltation as they believe that water is a finite resource, a gift from God.

Unbeknown to them, water gives life when it is given the chance to do so.

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