MPs fury as Hippo View Lodge discharge their sewage into Shire River
Hippo View Lodge and Shire Lodge, which belong to Siku Group of Companies and situated along Shire River in Liwonde, discharge their sewage in the river, about 20 meters away from where the Southern Region Water Board (SRWB) pumps water for its customers, Nyasa Times understands.
This has attracted mixed reactions with some people wondering how the facilities could be allowed to operate with sewer system ending in the Shire River, thereby polluting the its waters.
It is also believed that communities in Liwonde and surrounding area have been drinking contaminated water.
The development compelled the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and government officials, mainly from the Department of Tourism inspect the facilities on Saturday to appreciate the situation.
The Committee gave the Department of Tourism until Monday, October 2 2017 to provide them with a report on the matter.
Siku Group of Companies, also owns Sun and Sand Holiday Resort in the Lake Shore district Mangochi.
Chairperson for Committee Welani Chilenga told public broadcaster MBC to have personally seen the discharge when he visited one of the lodges recently.
While owners of the facilities refuted the claims, spokespersons for SRWB, MacDonald Phiri, confirmed in an interview monitored on public broadcaster that the utility body is aware of the development and that they once reported it to the Department of Tourism way back, but nothing has happened.
In July this year, similar situation was experienced in Area 18 in Lilongwe where residents consumed sewer contaminated water.
The Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) described the 18 Area sewer contamination water saga as one of the many incidents happenig in the country.
Cama Executive Director John Kapito urged water service providers to have monitoring and inspection systems to ensure and guarantee safety of their customers.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
so sad
The problem is with the toothless Public Health enforcement officers. I worked in Liwonde in the 90’s and our company was mistakenly shut down for 2 weeks for alleged breach of effluent disposal. We were in the clear after we showed them our effluent treatment records In the end, the culprit was the new Hospital which was in the process of being disinfected and this resulted in the death of fish in the biological treatment ponds at the sewerage plant. In the Hippo Lodge case, it should have been closed until they put proper sewage disposal measures in place. They… Read more »
Nothing is going to happen here.
That’s rubbish, how can you do this to your fellow human beings.
Ndiye kuti bibi ndi deal. It must be nutritious. All these years of bibi eating no kudwala. kkkkkkkk.
#OnlyInMalawi: So, it turns out, we all have been drinking sewer contaminated water all along, yhoo. We laughed at our A/18 friends when that incident happened, now they will laugh at us. Ironically, the SRWB “reported this long time but nothing was done”. I wonder what else we’re being made to drink / eat from these companies, Eish.
In countries where standards are seriously enforced these facilities would have been closed immediately. It is very sad to hear that the S R W B is aware of the situation and reported to department of tourism and nothing has been done.yet, did not apply pressure to the concerned department of tourism to take action and still continued to supply contaminated water to its clients.
This country has so many Specialists in Public Health. Kodi ma Public Health Officer alikuti mdziko muno abaleeeeeee iiiiiiiiii.
R u serious kuti mukuzindikila lero??this started way back during v time of Kudya discovery,so these mwenye pipo increased the volume mbola mu shire,check any fish u can buy pa Liwonde check
Koma bibi nde yadyebwa mokwanira apa!