All water is State water

agriculture, which usually goes unrecognised.
It is something so critical that all farmers tend to see its importance when it is no longer available and this critical component is water.
Water is the key determinant of how much a farmer can produce.
Lack of the resource will result in crop losses or diminished yields.
It is therefore imperative that all farmers be aware of how they can legally access this resource.
Water, like any other critical and strategic resource such as land, wildlife, minerals and even grain, has laws and regulations that govern its use and exploitation, the ultimate goal being to make it as accessible to everyone as possible.
The objective of regulating the resource is also to ensure that its use and exploitation is as beneficial to the people as possible.
It is against this background that the Government saw it prudent to promulgate the Water Act of 1998 and the Zinwa Act of 2000.
Subsequent to the promulgation of these two laws, various Statutory Instruments have been put in place as a means of addressing water challenges and issues.
These regulations also helped in the addressing imbalances in accessing water that had been brought about by the Water Act of 1976.
It is the objective of this article to unpack some of the critical components of these laws since they have a direct bearing on the day-to-day activities of the farmer and at times the ordinary man.
The major highlight of the Water Act is Section 3. Section 3 of the Act vests all water rights in the President.
Section 4 of the same Act is also apt as it clearly states that “no person shall be entitled to ownership of any water in Zimbabwe and no water shall be stored, abstracted, apportioned, controlled, diverted, used or in any way dealt with except in accordance with this Act”.
This section prohibits the private ownership of water in Zimbabwe.
Very often, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority has been called to intervene in disputes where new farmers have clashed over ownership of water in the dams on the farms they had been resettled.
Very often, the Authority has been called to try and resolve disputes where certain farmers claim ownership of water on the farms, to an extent that they deny other farmers access to the resource.
It therefore becomes imperative for farmers to know and understand that all water is State water and no one can claim the water to be his or her private property.
All rights upon the water can only be conferred in terms of the Water Act only.
This is opposite to the old Water Act where water could be privately owned.
Section 4 is so apt that except in terms of the Water Act no water can be abstracted, stored, diverted or in any way dealt with.
In recent cases, Zinwa has had to intervene after some farmers built small dams and blocked rivers that run through their farms without permission as required in terms of the Act.
These provisions, however, do not affect the use of water for primary purposes.
The Act describes primary water use as reasonable use of water for basic domestic human needs in or about the area of residential premises.
Other uses include the support of animal life, other than fish in fish farms or animals or poultry in feedlots; for the making of bricks for the private use of the owner, lessee or occupier of the land concerned or for dip tanks.
Any other use of water outside the description in the Act is regarded as commercial use and thus requires a permit in terms of the Act.
Section 32 of the Water Act deals with water use and further clarifies the issue of primary and commercial water usage.
Any person, in terms of the provision, can abstract water for primary purposes as long as the section is not misconstrued to mean the conferring of a right that the person concerned does not possess such as the right to occupy or enter a property.
Any use of water outside the primary use requires a water permit and such use is subject to charges and levies that are provided for in terms of the Act.
Farmers are therefore encouraged to approach Zinwa or their respective catchment councils and apply for their water permits before they plant their crops.
The same applies to any farmer wishing to construct any storage works on a public stream or river.
This requirement is not only legal, but administrative as well as it allows Zinwa to do the proper allocation of available water to suit the competing interests of the water users.
A water permit, upon being granted, will specify the quantity of water one can abstract from a dam, river or stream.
Such information is vital for the farmer as it helps him calculate the size of land he can put under crop.
The water permits will also allow Zinwa to know the water use patterns around the country and this also assists in planning water use policies for future purposes.
A good example of how using water without permits can be detrimental to the farmers can be hypothetically presented. 
Suppose we have River A, whose catchment area spans through a major irrigating area.
Down the river, there are farmers X and Y irrigating without permits and their activities are not known by Zinwa.
Then farmer Z approaches Zinwa and applies for permission to construct a dam near his farm, which is upstream of the river.
Because Zinwa is unaware of the activities of farmers X and Y downstream it grants permission and Z proceeds with his project, the effect would be that X and Y would be starved of water downstream and their crops will die.
Such farmers will have no one except themselves to blame.
Such scenarios can simply be avoided through applying for water permits and using water legally.
It is therefore important that farmers realise the risks which they expose themselves to by illegally using water.
Farmers should start by approaching Zinwa before committing their resources to farming.