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There have been a lot of cases where people, mainly farmers and borehole owners in Harare’s residential areas have complained about Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) personnel visiting their properties unexpectedly and requesting to see records of their water use. In such cases, the people concerned have called or written, through e-mails to ZINWA complaining of unannounced visits. Some have even gone to the extent of threatening ZINWA staff with unspecified action for trying to understand water use at their properties. The same threats have also been issued to various staff members who try to serve water bills or disconnect certain water users.

In urban areas where ZINWA is enforcing people’s compliance with the recent ban on abstraction of bulk water from boreholes in residential areas, some people have even denied personnel entry into their premises.

Investigations on water use in a particular area or at any property are part of the mandate that the Water Act (Chapter 20:24) places on the Authority. 0In most cases, these investigations come after ZINWA receives complaints from people affected by illegal water use or when the Authority, after discovers some anomalies in water consumption patterns.

The Minister, in this case the Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, may also instigate the Authority to carry out an investigation of water use. In such instances, ZINWA would carry out the investigation and report its finding to him.

Section 59 (b) of the Water Act empowers ZINWA to also carry out investigations of water use on its own accord. The section reads: “The National Water Authority may, at its own instance, investigate the abstraction, appropriation, control, diversion or use of water in any area and thereafter direct the catchment council to issue, cancel or revise any permit issued in terms of this part in the are concerned.”

When such investigations are instituted, it is highly prudent for water users to fully co-operate with ZINWA as such investigations only serve to equip the Authority with relevant information for the improvement of service delivery and for benefit of all water users concerned, in particular those in legal use of the resource.

Failure to co-operate with ZINWA in such investigations, especially through denying ZINWA personnel access to premises or failure to produce water use records constitutes a criminal offence with offenders liable to fines, prison terms or both.

Section 118 (j) of the Water Act classifies as an offence when “any person who, without lawful excuse, the onus of proof of which lies on him”, hinders or obstructs any officer or authorised person in the exercise of any power conferred on him by the law. Section 43 of the same Act also criminalises failure to avail, in the prescribed manner, records detailing amounts of water abstracted from a water body.

Even in instances where people suspect illegal water use, they have an obligation report the suspicious activities to ZINWA which will hold their information in strict confidence. These illegal water use activities may include, but are not limited to, illegal water connections, over abstraction of water, drilling of boreholes without the relevant permits, diversion or blocking of river courses, vandalism of ZINWA property and abstraction of water from water bodies without permits or agreements. Reporting illegal water use does not help ZINWA alone, it actually helps the entire country and benefits future generations.

Everyone is duty bound to protect water as a natural resource, in the same manner we protect any other natural resources in the country. Water resources management therefore becomes a collective effort where each one has to contribute.

For more information please contact the ZINWA Corporate Communications and Marketing Department on [email protected] or visit www.zinwa.co.zw. You can also like the Zimbabwe National Water Authority Facebook page.