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Michael Magoronga
Midlands Bureau
LAST month, a 47-year-old woman was mauled by a crocodile while fetching water for domestic use from Mundi Dam in Mberengwa, Midlands Province.
Ms Thokozile Gumbo’s body was later retrieved from the dam after days of searching. It emerged that the community borehole has since dried up as climate change continues to take its toll on humans.
The sad incident brought to the fore the need to ensure that women have safe water sources nearby to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.
Zimbabwe is among several SADC countries that have declared the El Nino-induced drought a State of Disaster after rainfall patterns were disrupted, resulting in little to no rainfall.
Water bodies are drying up because no significant rains were received during the 2023/24 rainfall season.
The situation has left humans, livestock and wildlife in a dire situation.
A few boreholes that still have some water are constantly breaking down due to overuse as they are now supplying water for both humans and livestock.
Women and girls are the worst affected as they have to source water for household chores from distant places.
Travelling long distances to access water exposes the women and girls to abuse and brings with it health risks, especially when they resort to unsafe water sources.
Inadequate water supply hinders proper menstrual hygiene management thereby affecting girls’ school attendance. In some cases, girls end up dropping out of school to fetch water for the family.
The shortage of water also negatively impacts women who rely on subsistence farming and gardening.
A recent master plan for Zibagwe Rural District Council brought out key issues affecting water provision in the district.
At a time when the country is pinning its hopes on irrigation for food security, it is however disturbing that in some areas, mining activities and stream bank cultivation are causing serious siltation, leaving more women exposed to the effects of drought.
In Zhombe and Silobela, under Kwekwe District, most water bodies have dried up mainly as a result of human activities.
Engineer Jameson Mikuku who helped to draft the Kwekwe district’s master plan, said access to water is a big challenge in the district as the population has grown by 13 percent according to the last population census.
This has resulted in the growth of new settlements which are using existing boreholes.
“Borehole water is the most utilised water with about 50 percent of the population relying on borehole water. RIDA data shows that there are a total of 1 063 boreholes, out of these only 692 are functional while 371 are broken down. Borehole breakdowns are increasing the distance travelled to access clean water from between two kilometres to 15 kilometres in some wards,” said Eng Mikuku.
He said most dams had dried up due to siltation caused by mining and stream bank cultivation activities.
“There is a need to mitigate siltation of dams by rezoning land uses around rivers and dams for example, providing a clearly defined servitude along rivers and dam areas. Gwenzi Dam which supplies water to Zhombe and Zhombe Mission has had its holding capacity reduced to about 25 percent due to siltation caused by these activities,” said Eng Mikuku.
Midlands provincial irrigation Engineer Shingirirai Zano gave a synopsis of how dams have dried up in the Midlands Province.
“We have a serious challenge of water bodies having dried up mainly due to mining activities and stream bank cultivation. While the majority of these human activities take place upstream of the catchment, they are also occurring within the river basins because people have relocated to river banks due to climate change,” he said.
Eng Zano said one of the largest irrigation schemes in the province, Exchange Irrigation Scheme, has not been spared.
“We secured funding for the expansion of the irrigation schemes but when we carried out feasibility studies, it proved that there was not enough water for the expansion of the programme due to siltation. Basically water used to last three years, but it is now lasting one year or less. We continue discouraging people from staying along river banks so that we preserve the little water that is available now,” he said.
Eng Zano said most dams including Sebakwe and Mbembeswane among others, have faced similar challenges.
The situation points to a food crisis and women are the worst affected when families have no food.
Zibagwe Rural District Council vice chairperson, Dr Idirashe Dongo confirmed that the water crisis is affecting women.
“All the 33 wards in our district are affected by water challenges. While dams have dried up, the water tables for existing boreholes have gone down. This has left communities stranded, especially women who are expected to provide for the family. They have to travel long distances to access water from the remaining boreholes,” she said.
Dr Dongo said while some women depend on men to fetch water for them using scotch carts, some families do not have these.
She said the council was therefore working on repairing and deepening boreholes among other interventions.
“As a council, we are deepening the existing boreholes in line with the Second Republic’s endeavour of having boreholes in every ward. We are also ensuring that the boreholes are solar powered and that they have gardens, washing basins and that they can also supply dip tanks. This makes it easy for the community particularly women who are tasked with fending for the family,” she said.
The situation is dire at schools where girls are the worst affected when there is no water.
A Government development partner is assisting in the construction of girl friendly toilets with the main emphasis being water provision.
“We have constructed girl friendly toilets at Tombankala and Donjane primary shools. Nyakwati and Ntobe primary schools have also benefited from our youth for water projects where we are drilling boreholes and installing solar systems. The toilets have solarised boreholes and are installed with mirrors among other amenities for the benefit of the girl child,” said Mrs Lynah Matsikiti, Plan International area manager.
The Government has also embarked on a borehole drilling programme which is set to ease water challenges.
Zinwa Midlands provincial water Engineer Arthur Gukutu said to date, they have drilled 46 boreholes across Kwekwe District with women in mind.
“We have equipped these boreholes with solar pumps and 10 000 litre tanks while some have bush pumps. Our major aim is to replace bush pumps with taps for ease of operation. We are also implementing what we call community business units which means they come with half a hectare plots for the benefit of the community,” he said.
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