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Elita Chikwati Senior Reporter

The Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate is seeking Cabinet approval to declare the country a water shortage area as the situation has worsened due to the El-Nino-induced drought which is the worst in 25 years.If the provision is granted, the ministry will be able to redistribute water so everyone benefits.

Most dams have dried up while water tables in most areas have declined to 100 metres instead of the normal 80 metres.

Government has since availed $7 million towards drought mitigation.

Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri yesterday appealed to the public to use water sparingly for domestic, industrial and agricultural purposes.

She said the $7 million released by Government would be channelled towards emergency responses in all areas including borehole repairs, borehole drilling, piped water schemes repairs, water supply stations, upgrades and new water conveyance systems where required.

“Guided by the same Act, Section 61, I will once again be approaching President Mugabe seeking to declare the whole country a shortage area.

“This provision, if granted will allow me to redistribute water resources for the common good of everyone,” she said.

Minister Muchinguri said Government had availed funds for emergency drought response measures being implemented through the Zimbabwe National Water Authority.

This resulted in Lupane, Kotwa, Mutawatawa, Esigodini, Marula, Maleme, Chindunduma, Mapako, Mutumba, Goromonzi and several other centres being connected to new water sources.

The mitigation measures are being implemented targeting the most critically affected areas at any given time.

On the other hand, local authorities have introduced water rationing schedules while ground water levels have also been declining due to the limited recharge this year.

Areas such as Gokwe, Buhera, Dotito, Maranda, Tsholotsho and many other areas in Matabeleland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East and also Manicaland have recorded water tables lower than 100 metres as compared to a normal water table of around 80 metres.

“As of today (yesterday) national dam storage levels are averaging 41,9 percent below the normal average of 62, 3 percent for this time of the year. Government continues to monitor several water supply dam levels for both our urban and rural centres,” she said.

Due to the drying up of Harava and Seke dams, Upper Manyame sub-catchment council is now releasing raw water from Dema dam to these dams so that water treatment at Prince Edward Water Works continues.

Morton Jaffray has continued to treat water from Lake Chivero, but due to its poor quality nine chemicals have to be used for treatment.

“I want here to urge our local leadership, Members of Parliament, Local Government structures to be proactive by reporting any deteriorating water situation to the local ZINWA or District Development Fund office for onward transmission to my office.

To date 1 600 boreholes have been drilled, 10 200 boreholes repaired, 32 piped water schemes have been rehabilitated while 1 660 schools have been provided with latrines.

Minister Muchinguri said to reduce the impact of the drought on communities relying on surface water for household use, stock watering and for their community gardens; water was being released from upstream dams to these communities.

This has already been done for communities downstream of Shangani Dam up to Jotsholo, for Gwanda town from Mtshabezi Dam, Ngundu, Gororo and Lowveld from Muzhwi Dam, among others.

ZINWA is also responding to emergency water situations in Nembudziya, Mberengwa, Guinea Fowl, Zimunya, Chitakatira, Great Zimbabwe and Gwelutshena. Emergency interventions in these areas are almost complete and will bring a huge relief to residents, while work is set to commence in Mt Darwin where a new water conveyance pipeline will be constructed to bring water to the centre from Ruya Dam.

Minister Muchinguri complained of bad practices which she said where causing siltation of dams.

A number of dams and weirs were said to have lost from a quarter to over half of their storage capacity due to siltation.

“Bad land use practices such as stream bank cultivation, illegal settlements, settling on wetlands, mountain slopes, indiscriminate cutting down of trees and burning of grass will cause the washing away of top soil into our water,” she said.