Kazungula, Sunday (December 3, 2023)
A Civic Leader in Kazungula District, Southern Province, is concerned that Government’s goodwill to drill many boreholes in his ward is now a waste of resources because of high salinity levels making water to taste salty.
The challenge in the Climate stressed Sikaunzwe Area negates Zambia’s progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 6 which advocates for improved Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) by 2030.
Sikaunzwe Ward Councilor, Oscar Sililo, said everyone relies on one borehole at the clinic which has fresh water but is not enough to service 32 villages.
Mr. Sililo said Government has worked hard to drill boreholes in his Ward but are all containing water with high salinity levels while other newly drilled ones emerge as dry boreholes.
He has appealed to Government and well-wishers to assist Sikaunzwe with other alternative ways of providing water such as roof water harvesting.
Mr. Sililo further suggested the need to mobilise resources to draw fresh water from the Zambezi River to Sikaunzwe which is 15 kilometres away, through a piped water scheme.
A teenager of Katapa Village in Sikaunzwe Ward, Falesi Munalula, said women and children queue up around 05:00 hours at the only point with fresh water which is not enough to service the whole community.
This came to light when Zambia NGO WASH Forum officials visited the Ward as part of the implementation of a project dubbed ‘Civil Society for Improved WASH Services supporter by the Danish People’s AID.
But Kazungula Town Council Director Works, Fortune Chileshe, said Kazungula which houses Katombora Constituency is one of Zambia’s biggest districts where Government through the Local Authority is working tirelessly to spread resources to address the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) situation.
Mr. Chileshe said Government is building dams for livestock and sinking boreholes for human water consumption in some parts of Kazungula District.
“We are trying to reach all corners of the Constituency but the demand for WASH services is so huge,” he said.
Mr. Chileshe said while Government has increased resources such as Constituency Development Funds (CDF), it is important that other cooperating partners complement Government efforts to accelerate progress to improve the quality of lives of the people.
“It is in this spirit that Government may not do everything at once, hence making a humble appeal to the donor community as well as non – state actors such as Non – Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to help our communities,” he said.
Mr. Chileshe said NGOs can work with Government to either get fresh piped water from Zambezi River or build a water supply scheme using other available technologies such as a roof water harvesting.
“We already have possible solutions especially on rainy water harvesting but all we need are resources from NGOs working with Government because we can make use of the run off rain water,” he said.
This is contained in a statement issued by Zambia NGO WASH Forum Coordinator, Bubala Muyovwe Mumba.
