The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure Acting News Editor
WATER crisis is one of the severest threats facing Buhera, a rural district already ravaged by hunger, poverty and diseases like HIV and AIDS and Tuberculosis.
Buhera’s economy is hinged on subsistence cultivation of millet, groundnuts, roundnuts, sorghum alongside small livestock and cattle ranching. It is the driest region in Manicaland where rainfall is unpredictable – the onset of the rainy season is frequently delayed, mid-season dry spells protracted, sometimes lasting 30 to 50 days and the rains often stop early before crops reach maturity.
It has an average rainfall below 500mm per year, making reliable supply of water the missing link in its developmental thrust. Water security helps to reduce poverty, advance education, productivity and living standards.
Buhera experiences hot summers of between 30 to 40 degrees Celsius, meaning its population, estimated at 280 000, requires unrestrained access to water. So bad is the situation on the ground that women and girls travel long distances to fetch water. Major rivers, including Save, have dried up. Livestock scramble for the same water points with people.
In some cases young children are allegedly collapsing as result of dehydration. Though some homesteads have private wells and jojo tanks to store water, these dry up due to continuous abstraction. Some are digging shallow wells along dry riverbeds.
Buhera Rural District Council chief executive officer Dr Emily Chibvongodze said the water situation was dire.
“The district is water stressed. Water scarcity is a major headache,” said Dr Chibvongodze.
She said shortage of water was directly linked to limited rains and high rate of evaporation which have left the district with a telling imbalance between dwindling supply and increasing demand. Streams in the district are seasonal and dry for most of the year; putting to the fore the need to invest in ground water to support domestic and productive needs of the community.
Dr Chibvongodze said there is need to construct new water sources – dams, weirs, deep wells and drilling boreholes.
“We have a population of about 280 300 people against 1306 water points. Normally each water point should serve about 250 people. There imbalance makes our situation dire. We have areas without boreholes and people walk long distances to access water,” she said.
“Some boreholes have water, but were decommissioned after being contaminated during Cyclone Idai. They are a write-off. China Aid has drilled some boreholes and 485 were rehabilitated through the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) programme. Marowanyati Dam is almost complete, and more such interventions are required to save the situation,” said Dr Chobvongodze.
She said UNICEF has funded a piped water scheme in Ward 19 where six villages, comprising of 1601 households, two schools, a clinic and dip tank are connected. The piped water scheme, she said, will be replicated in other wards funds permitting.
“The villages now enjoy safe piped water. Previously, they used to draw water from unprotected sources along Nyazvidzi river. The villages were frequently ravaged by cholera prior to the intervention,” she said.
But the district’s rivers – the bigger source of water – are fast drying up. Save river dried up in August. Its ecosystem and biodiversity are under threat due to excessive human interference. The remnant forests along it also in danger, as trees are cut indiscriminately to obtain wood for fuel. In light of the seasonality of these heavily silted rivers, groundwater becomes the main source of water for domestic and agricultural use.
Mrs Brandina Dhege, 46, of Zvavashe village, said the unreliable water situation was brewing conflicts among villagers, especially in the Hande area.
“They do not want to see us (strangers) fetching water there. That borehole belongs to the school and a few from that village. We are not wanted near it. We are regarded as outsiders and they chase and accuse us of depleting their water,” said Mrs Dhege.
“Nearby water sources are closely guarded by their communities. People are fighting over the little available water points, even in irrigation schemes.”
Hande river dried up in June and Mrs Dhega and other women use hoes and shovels to dig the riverbed in search of water trapped deep in the sand.
“There are no boreholes in Zvinavashe village. I have been fetching water from this river from my childhood. At 46, I am still fetching water from the same river, meaning my village has not developed. Water is a basic necessity of life, and it is not pleasing at all. This water is not safe for drinking, but what can we do? We have no option, but drink it. This area is very hot with temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius. This demands that we drink a lot of water,” she said.
Miss Theressa Mahwite (20), of Zvinavashe village, said the pressure on water resources goes hand-in-hand with deteriorating quality.
Lack of clean water, she said, is a plague affecting thousands of folks in the district, who have to fight water borne diseases arising from it.
“We survive on unclean water, never mind the associated dangers. We are between a hard rock and hard surface. If we don’t drink, we die of dehydration and if we drink from unprotected sources we get diseases. We are in dire need of help,” she said.
A joint report titled: Profile of Save Sub-catchment in Buhera District by Oxfam, UNDP and Government collaborate such fears:
“However, in years with below average rainfall most streams dry up by April. Groundwater, which is the main source of drinking water in wards 25, 28 and 30 of Buhera District is characterised by high levels of turbidity. High turbidity in groundwater has negative implications for human health considering that pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and protozoa typically attach to particulates. Several of the 28 water samples from wards 25 and 28 tested positive for salinity. 47 percent of groundwater samples, including from boreholes, as well as unprotected shallow and deep wells in the three wards tested positive for faecal coliform bacteria.”
From the 1980s onwards, there were more drought than wet years, with the highest frequency in the 1990s, leading to severe shortage of water for humans and livestock, crops and animals in the district.
This is attributed to the El Nino weather patterns and climate change that give rise to harsher and more frequent droughts in the region. Scientists predict that as temperatures continue to rise with global warming and populations keep on growing, the district will experience harsher water shortages – and will need to find clever solutions to ensure there is enough water for its inhabitants.
