By Kuda Pembere
About 11 percent of the Zimbabwe’s rural boreholes were dysfunctional by August due to increasing use at a time when the country is enduring the effects of the El-Nino driven drought.
This was said by United Nations Chidren’s Fund Zimbabwe (UNICEF Zimbabwe) Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) specialist Tariro Mavi at a press briefing on Wednesday.
Mavi said they observed an increase of borehole damage occurring each month. She said more than 90 percent of the boreholes they surveyed in rural communities have broken down.
“So, we’re seeing boreholes even breaking down more frequently and currently by August all the 6,000 of the 6,028 boreholes had broken down, which speaks to about 11% of the boreholes in rural communities were not functioning.
“And we’ve also seen a trend when we’re analysing the data that we are collecting as UNICEF, that the breakdown is increasing incrementally each month, also speaking to the high need for water within communities,” she said.
Distressingly, 4 percent of Zimbabwe’s boreholes, according to Mavi are drying up.
“So, what we’ve seen happening in Zimbabwe right now is 4% of our boreholes within Zimbabwe are currently drying up due to the drought.
“We are even seeing the numbers increasing because there’s now more usage of the boreholes because there’s no adequate water,” she said.
Zimbabwe’s second capital Bulawayo hit by drought, Mavi also said, has increased water rationing.
“When we look at our urban settings, I’m sure most of us can attest to this. We really have water challenges in the urban areas. When you look at Harare, I think most of us in here do know our taps are dry. There’s not enough water.
“Within Harare, the issues, our dams are full, but we just do not have enough foreign currency to be able to procure the water treatment chemicals that we need.
“But when you look at big cities like Bulawayo, they’ve been drastically affected by the drought. Their water storage dams are below 20% which is way below the normal average that we have around at this time of year which is normally about 50%.
“So, when you look at Bulawayo, the water rationing has drastically increased and households are getting water at least once a week which is very, very low,” she said.
While over 3 000 boreholes have been drilled under the Presidential Borehole Drilling initiative, UNICEF is also chipping in with technical support in the form of training and capacitation.
“To date they’ve drilled over 3,000 boreholes and 50% of these have been capacitated. What UNICEF has done is to request for the WASH partner sectors to also be allowed to support the government in equipping the boreholes that have not been equipped.
“And that authorization has come through. So as UNICEF, we will be also providing the spares for the hand pumps to actually support this initiative that the government is doing. And also through our core sector leadership, we’ll also be engaging with other partners to also come to the table to also support these initiatives.
“Again, UNICEF is a technical partner to the government. So in the next coming months, what we’ll also be doing is strengthening the government’s capacity in terms of borehole drilling. We’ll be providing training on that aspect to also strengthen the initiative under the presidential borehole drilling,” Mavi said.
Amidst the growing concern of the drying up of water sources and ground water, UNICEF is working alongside Government and other agencies to determine ground water yields in Matebeleland South or North.
“So UNICEF is working to do a rapid groundwater mapping to be able to determine the underground yield in identified areas. But the government of Zimbabwe also has ongoing initiatives where they’re doing groundwater monitoring with support from different agencies.
“So, there’s that prioritization that we are going to be strongly monitoring and mapping the underground water and even in our key strategies for the response groundwater mapping and monitoring is being prioritized because we can’t keep drilling in the same areas and doing the same business as usual because we need to have a stronger understanding of our aquifers,” she said. “We’re also going to be collaborating with the agencies that have already started this exercise so we can also help inform our current interventions as well. “
She added the mapping exercise will start mind-next month.
“Okay, so we are starting with just one area that’s been identified by the government for us in Matabeleland and south or north.
“And it should take us about one to two months to do the initial work. But this is just at the beginning. There’s a lot of work that’s required in terms of groundwater mapping and monitoring.
“It’s actually a lifetime investment that we need to work on. So, for the initial work that we’re doing as UNICEF, we anticipate it will start in mid-November, and by December we should be able to have results,” Mavi said.
Under the Presidential Rural Development Programme, the government through the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) expects to drill and equip a borehole for each of the country’s 35 000 villages, 9 600 boreholes for schools and 4 500 boreholes for youth centres by 2025.
In a statement, ZINWA said at least 164 villages, 44 schools and 20 youth centres benefitted from the 228 village, school and youth business units established under the programme.
“Since the launch of the Presidential Rural Development Programme in 2021 communities have benefitted from the programme with some beneficiary villages earning as high as US$3 000 in dividends and as much as US$50 in monthly payouts,” said ZINWA corporate communications and marketing manager Marjorie Munyonga.
“Of the 228 villages, schools and youth business units, 58 are in Manicaland Province, 16 in Mashonaland West, 37 in Mashonaland East, 34 in the Midlands and 10 in Matabeleland South.
“In Matabeleland North province, 26 village, schools and youth business units have been established while a total of 33 have been established in Mashonaland Central,” she said.
