Water lilies on Shire River chocking submersible water pumps in Liwonde

Liwonde residents have for a long time being experiencing dry taps due to challenges that Southern Region Water Board (SRWB) was facing to pump water from the Shire River, which is heavily polluted with water lilies that have been chocking submersible water pumps.

Following Liwonde residents’ strong protests over the poor water service delivery, SRWB came up with an innovation by constructing a solar-powered borehole drilling system to address the situation and it has worked wonders — as attested to by representative of the community, Ken Ndanga on Friday during a site visit by deputy Minister of Water & Sanitation, Liana Kakhobwe Chapota to appreciate the project.

Ndanga, a well known journalist cum-politician and social issues activist, said they now have the luxury of running taps and took delight that they can afford having some cold showers since this is a very hot weather area.

“I can safely say that we are now having an interrupted water supply [through this solar system of pumping water], which was never there before in the past months as we kept experiencing dry taps,” he said.

“It came to a point where we, as angry community members planned to hold demonstrations, but SRWB management swiftly engaged us, saying they were doing something about it.

“We put on hold our plans to demonstrate — waiting to see what SRWB management was up to and to our relief, we finally had our taps flowing uninterrupted.”

Ndanga said it was pathetic that the scenario was in the midst of the cholera outbreak; that their district hospital was in dire need of constant flow of water as well as the hospitality industry in need of the much needed water supply.

“We used to have just 2 hours a day of supply of water and after that we could stay several days on dry taps, but now we have the luxury of having cold showers as you are all aware that here in Liwonde the weather is very hot,” said Ndanga, who doesn’t mince words and calls a spade by its name.

In his remarks, SRWB Board chairperson, Brown Mpinganjira said the solar-pumped borehole system is a short term measure as they have secured a loan with the European Investment Bank and Exim Bank of India for a massive water pumping system which will cater for Liwonde, Balaka and neighbouring parts of Mangochi District.

After being appraised of the challenges being faced by the water pumping from the Shire River due to the water lilies and its accompanying debris — that led to the solar-powered borehole drilling — the Deputy Minister said they will liaise with the Ministry of Natural Resources on the way forward to clear the river of the water lilies challenges ahead of the massive project to afford Liwonde and Balaka of the much-needed clean potable water.

“Thus is part of the sustainable development goals number 6 that globally people should  have access to clean and safe water by the year 2030 and the government is working towards it,” she said, while taking cognizance that President Lazarus Chakwera recently commissioned Kamuzu Dam 1 as well as another project in Nkhata Bay.

“Liwonde communities shouldn’t be having challenges in water supply when they have the Shire River at their disposal. It’s unfortunate that the debris on the river [by the water lilies] has necessitated SRWB to opt for borehole drilling.

“However, this is for the short-term as soon, we will embark on the massive project for Liwonde all the way to Balaka and the neighbouring communities of Mangochi District.”

The tour of Liwonde was an extension of Kakhobwe Chapota’s visit of another massive water project that SRWB has completed constructing at Nkhudzi Bay in Mangochi through which residents should expect their taps to start flowing on Monday.

The deputy Minister was taken on a tour of the station, the reservoir tank at the top of Nkhudzi hill as well as the intake, and she expressed her satisfaction and delight, while describing the project as a impressive milestone achieved by SRWB and its construction contractor.

“I am very convinced that a commendable job has been undertaken here and I applaud SRWB and the constructor for a job well done in their mandate to provide the people of Mangochi access to clean water they have not had for quite a long time,” she said.

“We are happy to have reached this far as our target for completion has delayed for one year because of the interventions from other stakeholders, who took matters to the court.

The project attracted controversy early last year when civil society organisations (CSOs) — National Youth Climate Change Network; Center for Environmental Policy & Advocacy and Movement for Environment Action — obtained a court injunction stopping its implementation, citing that they feared the project would harm the environment in the national park.

But traditional leaders in Mangochi, led by Senior Chief Nankumba, stood up and told three civil society organizations to immediately vacate the injunction to allow the project to move on.

They were backed by another CSO, Forum for Social Economic Development (FOSEMA) and the chiefs maintained that some of the supposedly concerned people in the three CSOs were not even residents of Mangochi, who did not know the importance of the project.

A few weeks later, the Supreme Court in Blantyre stayed the injunction that granted SRWB granted permission to restart the project, which stalled for some months.

For this project, Board chairperson, Mpinganjira said the successful completion of the project was a milestone for SRWB as over 92,000 households will benefit from this pumping station.

He said: “For a long time, people have raised concerns that water from Lake Malawi has been underutilised. And it’s even ironic that people of Mangochi have not had access to clean potable water yet they are surrounded by a huge mass of water.”

He added that the benefits include low tariffs for low income earners as they will now be charged half of what Water Users Association (WUAs) currently charge.

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