The Ministry of Water Development Sanitation and Environmental Development has registered 19,000 boreholes under the water verification exercise in Lusaka province aimed at ensuring safety of the water from domestic boreholes. The Ministry has also through the Water Resources Management Authority – WARMA register 100 borehole drilling companies in an effort to monitor their activities in the province.
Speaking at the borehole water verification exercise flag off in Lusaka on August 20, 2019, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Bishop Eddie Chomba said the verification exercises which has targeted 3, 000 boreholes in Lusaka is aimed at ensuring people have access to safe and clean drinking water.
He added that the Authority has since recruited 1,000 interns to supplement staff that will go round to collect water samples and inspect the quality of boreholes that are being drilled.
Bishop Chomba said the water exercise is a manifestation of government’s commitment through WARMA to regulate the management of water resources in order to distribute to the country and sustainably ensure that the development agenda anchored in the Seventh National Development Plan is adhered to.
He has disclosed that Zambian has currently lost about 3 cubic kilometer of water underground due to climate change hence the need to manage the resource and equitably distribute it to the people who require it.
“We cannot survive without water because we need it not only for humans but environment and wildlife. We are aware there is industrialization of infrastructure and roads around the country but at the wake of industrialization, environment is tempered with, trees are cut down punitively and dams are contaminated because of our activities hence the need to put in place regulations and laws that will be able to guide the way forward by ensuring people have access to clean and safe water,” he said.
He has since appealed to the members of the public to register their boreholes with the WARMA and have their water sources test for safety purposes and comply with the regulations and standards that will be given by the Authority.
