The Water Resources Management Authority – WARMA has renewed forty-one (41) licenses of the registered drilling companies as of April 2020. This is in contrast to 2019 were over 100 drilling companies had been registered.
In view of the above, the Authority is calling on members of the public to verify with WARMA before engaging any drilling firm for borehole drilling services, to ensure that only fully licensed companies are engaged.
WARMA has the mandate to effectively manage Zambia’s water resources, be it surface water or groundwater and not only in terms of quantity but quality as well.
According to a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by WARMA Public Relations Officer Joshua Kapila, the Authority has resorted to caution members of the public on the matter due to several complaints that WARMA has been receiving based on the substandard works that part of citizenry has been receiving from suspected unregistered and unlicensed drillers.
He said the general public will avoid wasting their financial resources through shoddy or substandard services, and simultaneously be protected by the Authority against such vices. If one uses a registered and licensed company for drilling, they have a regulator who they can report to were the service received is sub-standard quality.
WARMA is further warning all unlicensed drilling companies for the 2020 season, that it is a punishable offence under the Statutory Instrument (SI) 19 of 2018, to conduct drilling works without obtaining a license from the Authority, hence calling on such drilling firms to adhere to the regulations contained in the SI 19 of 2018 by renewing their licenses or register their firms with WARMA.
Furthermore, the Authority is calling on the general public to avoid polluting water by adhering to the guidelines as stipulated by the Ministry of Health in the wake of the Corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic saying the importance of clean water in curbing the pandemic cannot be over emphasized due to the life-saving nature the commodity has in preserving human lives and prevention of mass devastating diseases such the Corona Virus (washing of hands & hygiene), Cholera, Dysentery among other pandemics.
