By STEPHEN KAPAMBWE –
The Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) believes the multi-million Kwacha master plan for Lusaka will conclusively address water supply and sanitation challenges obtaining in the capital city.
A growing population, weak regulation and vandalism have over the years led to Lusaka residents experiencing various problems in getting adequate water supply and good sanitation. This has caused communities in some townships like Chalala, Avondale and Chelstone to turn to sinking boreholes for their water supply and use of sceptic tanks in place of sewer lines. But that has not been without consequence.
The National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) recently disclosed that over 80 per cent of boreholes in Chalala Township were contaminated as a result of an interaction between underground water and effluent from sceptic tanks. NWASCO Nwasco Director Kelvin Chitumbo said the pollution was discovered during an annual routine water sampling exercise.
He said boreholes and sceptic tanks were interacting because they were built in close proximity, a problem that could have been caused by failure of property developers to adhere to regulation in locating and construction of sceptic tanks in relation the boreholes.
But in its effort to remedy the challenges, LWSC has instituted measures to deal with the expansion of the city in line with master plans which have already been drawn to address water and sanitation challenges.
LWSC Public Relations Manager Topsy Sikalinda revealed that to start with, his company will intensify rationing of water supply in the city due to a reduction in the daily water production capacity.
“In order to mitigate this challenge the following measures have been taken; with immediate effect, all areas in Lusaka will experience a further reduction in water supply hours. The water supply hours will be reduced as compared to what Lusaka residents used to receive earlier,” he said.
The company is also installing overhead reservoirs in various parts of the city to be used to store and supply water during power outages.
Recently, NWASCO Commercial and Financial Inspector Chola Mbilima urged people to be mindful that just like Zesco which was having problems to adequately supply electricity owing to reduced water levels, water utilities in Lusaka, Ndola, Luapula and North Western Province were also faced with a serious water shortage.
She cited LWSC which depends on underground water from boreholes to supply between 50 and 60 per cent of Lusaka City.
“If you can remember, LWSC last year shut down 50 per cent of its boreholes because of low water levels and they could have had the same problem this year had it not been for load shedding which has prevented them from running their pumps at full capacity,” she said.
The LWSC will also install 10,000 post-paid water metres to help its customers manage their water consumption. This will result in increased water availability to other customers.
In tackling increased demand for the water largely due to a growing population in the city, the LWSC has embarked on the following projects; the Woodlands Rock View water network installation project; the Misisi water network installation project and the construction of twin water treatment plants.
“The first plant would be built under the Kafue bulk project; under this project, a new water treatment plant with a 65 kilometre water line will be constructed at a cost of US$ 65 million.
“The plant will have a production capacity of 50 million litres per day. Construction of this plant will commence in the year 2016,” Mr Sikalinda said.
The second plant is expected to have a water production capacity of 600 million litres per day. The plant will cost US$600 million and is expected to meet the estimated population growth for Lusaka, which is projected at five million by 2030.
In order to mitigate increased sewer related and sanitation challenges which are mainly caused by old infrastructure, the LWSC intends to embark on a number of projects, the first being a US$ 65 million implementation of a five-year Lusaka Sanitation Project (LSP) which will improve sewer and sanitation services in the city by 2030.
Secondly, the utility company intends to upgrade the Ngwerere and Manchinchi sewer sheds, and expand the sewer network across Lusaka at a cost of US$38 million.
Thirdly, a US$14 million will be used on-site sanitation facilities, faecal sludge management and service providers, including construction of decentralized waste water management systems, on-site sanitation and hygiene promotion.
An estimated 180,000 residents in peri-urban areas will benefit from the on-site sanitation component of LSP.
Other projects have also been planned, such as the US$354 million water supply, sanitation and drainage project which is expected to benefit over 1.2 million people. This project will start in 2016.
The project will improve water and sanitation services. It will involve rehabilitation of the Lolanda Treatment Plant in Kafueas well as rehabilitation of the Kaunda Square ponds, besides extension of the water supply network.
The extended water supply network will service new areas like Ndeke, Vorna Valley, Kwamwena, Mutendere East, Mutendere, Kalikiliki, SOS East and Ngombe.
However, the water utility is hopeful that Lusaka residents will supplement all these costly efforts by desisting from vandalising water supply and sanitation infrastructure.
It has become common practice for some people to puncture or block sewer lines with debris like disused car tires so that effluent is illegally channelled to water sugarcane fields and vegetable gardens.
The LWSC has warned that this practice poses a danger to members of the public who unknowingly consume contaminated sugarcane and vegetables.
The LWSC further advised residents to desist from locating buildings on top of water supply and sanitation infrastructure as erring individuals risk prosecution.
With the population of Lusaka projected to rise to five million by 2030, it is hoped that only wholesome, rather than piecemeal solutions, will effectively address the rising water supply and sanitation needs of Lusaka as he city tries to regain its lost garden-city status.