The ManicaPost
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Senior Reporter
A TOTAL of 152 water points in Manicaland Province have totally dried up, while another 143 are almost dry owing to a receding water table caused by the poor rainfall season last year.
This has put hundreds of communities at risk of having no water supplies until the commencement of the rainy season, potentially affecting humans and livestock.
To mitigate this challenge, the District Development Fund (DDF) says it will submit a request to Treasury for the release of funds to drill more boreholes in affected areas in order to complement the ones that are already being funded under different initiatives.
The most affected district is Buhera, where 58 water points out of the 1 436 boreholes and deep wells have completely dried up. A total of 88 are now yielding less water.
In Chimanimani, 41 water points are dry while three more on the verge of drying up; while Mutasa has 24 dry points and 24 low yielding ones.
Nyanga and Makoni have 12 and 11 dry water points respectively, with another nine and 12 yielding lower than usual water supplies. Chipinge has six dry points and seven low yielding points.
According to DDF provincial water engineer, Engineer Daniel Chinyowa, the need for more boreholes is urgent since many areas were affected by the successive droughts that hit the province during the past two seasons.
“Water tables are receding and we are having challenges with water points that are drying up, particularly the hand dug wells. There are some generally drier areas that are affected. For instance in Nyanga, we have the Ruwangwe area. Areas in Buhera South and Chipinge South were also affected. We have to mitigate this by drilling more boreholes. In the worst case scenario, we may have to truck water to where it is needed,” he said.
“Funding for this will come from Treasury. We will provide a provincial overall oversight for the provision of water supplies in these areas. At the moment we are in the process of gathering data for affected water points.”
He said some areas that usually have adequate water supplies have also been affected due to the past droughts.
“There are areas that rely on spring water (muchururu) from mountains. Some of these springs are drying up. We intend to analyse the situation in the whole province because areas that were not being affected before are now being affected due to the changing rainfall pattern changes,” Eng Chinyowa said.
Farmers in most parts of the province have been hard hit by the drought, thereby resulting in the depletion of pastures and water points for livestock.
With livestock competing for water sources with humans, some farmers have resorted to selling their livestock to middlemen at very low prices.
Fortunately, DDF is undertaking to drill boreholes across the country. A total of 162 boreholes out of a possible 200 having already been drilled across the province under the China Aid initiative, while another 16 are expected to be drilled at identified health care facilities across the province.
Although the China Aid initiative is going on well, the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down progress on some of the work.
Eng Chinyowa said fuel shortages have also been a challenge as some of the drilling equipment is parked.
“We are committed to move with speed to fix all broken down boreholes and drill new ones. With the support from Government and its partners, we are confident of covering more ground and making sure that everyone has access to water,” he said.
Zimbabwe has been making progress in achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 which advocates for access to clean water and sanitation for all by 2030.
However, droughts that have affected Southern Africa over the past few years have affected these efforts, particularly in rural areas.
The UN says achieving SDG 6 requires governments to invest in adequate infrastructure, provide sanitation facilities as well as protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems.
