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| Green water supplied by KWSC |
By Winston Muleba JR
Ensuring access to safe
drinking water is a concern throughout the developing world and Zambia
particularly Ndola City is no exception.
The water required for each personal or
domestic use must be safe; free from micro-organisms, chemical substances and
radiological hazards that constitute a threat to a person's health. Regardless
of the situation, residents rely on water for basic needs such
as drinking, showering, cleaning, cooking, gardening and fire protection.
According to United Nations
(UN) “ensuring access to water and sanitation as human rights constitute an
important step towards making it a reality for everyone. It means that: access
to safe water and basic sanitation is a legal entitlement, rather than a
commodity or service provided on a charitable basis; achieving basic and
improved levels of access should be accelerated; the ‘east served’ are better
targeted and therefore inequalities decreased; communities and vulnerable
groups will be empowered to take part in decision-making processes; the means
and mechanisms available in the United Nations human rights system will be used
to monitor the progress of nations in realizing the right to water and
sanitation to hold governments accountable.”
However,
starting late September to date (November), Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company
Limited (KWSC) has been supplying Ndola’s Southern Zone residents with greenish
and smelly water. Nevertheless the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines
for drinking-water quality provide a basis for the development of national statutory
standards that requires implementation so as to ensure the quality and safety
of drinking-water.
Having access to safe water
and basic sanitation is vital to everyone’s life. Intrinsically, the need for
safe drinking water is well acknowledged among the international development
community. Awareness stems from the International Decade for Drinking Water
Supply and Sanitation, the formulation of the United Nations (UN) MDGs in 2000
and the declaration of water as a human right by the UN in 2010. UN Resolution 64/292 clearly states that water
must be of an acceptable color, odor and taste for each personal or domestic
use. And all water facilities and services must be culturally appropriate and
sensitive to gender, lifecycle and privacy requirements.
Ndola City has a population
of over 503, 649 people and is divided into two Zones; Northern and Southern
Zones. And the water that KWSC supply to the Southern Zone is ‘recycled’
water which is tapped from Itawa and Kafubu dams. The Northern Zone is supplied
with underground water. However, KWSC does not only supply
water and provide sanitation services to Ndola district but also extends its
services to Luanshya, Masaiti and Mpongwe districts on the Copperbelt province.
It is believed that the
continuous pouring of untreated sewage and other nutrients from the farms situated
along Kafubu River seems to be contributing to the poor (greenish) quality of
water. Reports show that the sewage water discharged from new Kanini sewerage
treatment plant is far better than the discharges which come from old Kanini
and Lubuto treatment plants.
A report titled ‘Sewerage
water pollution is becoming major problem in Zambia ‘indicates that “Kafubu River
downstream has been destroyed by raw sewage discharge”.
The same report further explains
that “excessive deposition of chemical nutrients in water bodies created by
sewage water pollution degrades the quality of water and reduces the number of
fauna and increases in Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD). The toxins released into
the river through sewage water are consumed by fishes and other organisms, thus
increasing the possibility of these toxins entering the food chain. Various
problems arise with the increase in the amount of these compounds. The drinking
water becomes unsuitable for drinking and irrigation.”
A report generated by ‘Cary
Institute of ecosystem Studies’ explains that “sewage pollution causes
eutrophication; can kill fish and other aquatic life and also affect
biodiversity, amenity value and the use of water. And life threatening
pathogens carried by sewage include cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. Other
diseases from sewage contamination of water include schistosomiasis, hepatitis
A, intestinal nematodes, infections, and numerous others.”
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| Green water supplied by KWSC |
For the period between September to November, residents in the Northern Zone have been turning their taps and access safe drinking water whenever they like but the situation is different for people of Southern Zone, an acute safe drinking is one of the biggest challenges in the zone.
Residents are
suggesting that the risk of drinking green water are just as great as drinking
no water at all. As a result, most consumers are worried of water borne
diseases purporting that green water being supplied by KWSC is not fit for
human consumption and has a strong stench and sometimes contains algae and this
makes it a health risk especially to children who sometimes drink direct from
taps.
In many Townships in Ndola
including but not limited to Southern Zone, Pamodzi, Upper New Mushili, Lubuto
Kopalande, Ndeke residents have embraced the system of using wells as sources
of safe drinking water.
In pursuit of safe drinking
water, some residents have put up boreholes at their houses. And in the recent
past those who have managed to put up boreholes at their households charge
atleast 50ngwee per 20litre to whosoever want to fetch safe water from their respective
boreholes. Those who can’t afford to put up boreholes have instead made wells.
Research show that KWSC faces
a lot of challenges ranging from transport, labour, water quality and vandalism of water
pipes, coupled with theft. Pollution is another challenge owing to farms and human
settlement along the Kafubu River banks, which is the main source of water.
Final sewer effluent discharge is upstream of the water uptake. This
also alludes to poor sanitation in some parts of Ndola especially Southern Zone
which are as a result of human
settlements on water reserves; farming activities along Kafubu river;
overloading of sewer lines owing to overpopulation; illegal allocation of plots
on sewer networks, among others.
In
places like Chifubu, Masala, Kabushi and other areas, water pipes are stolen by
thieves.
Delayed
settlement of debt by government institutions, individuals and other industries
also affect the cash flow of the water utility hence affects it’s operation.
The water infrastructure system is relatively straightforward
but beyond simply turning on the faucet, very few people today think about what
it takes for KWSC to supply safe drinking water. From source to tap, water passes
through three main channels: the pumping station, the treatment facility and
the distribution network. The pumping station serves two primary purposes. The
first is to extract raw (untreated) water from a source, such as a river, using
large pumps, pipes and a power source to drive the pumps. Its second purpose is
to transport the water from the treatment facility to distribution system. The
pumping station, usually situated above ground, requires regular maintenance
and upgrades, as well as sophisticated equipment, in order to perform its
function. After raw water is pumped from
its source, it is sent to a treatment facility. This is where water is treated
to meet the levels of purity and quality set forth by the Zambia Bureau of
Standard (ZABS) and WHO. Increasingly stringent ZABS regulations require
treatment processes to be continually updated and tested, advancing the levels
of technology, skill and chemical solutions used. Treatment facilities are
designed by engineers to meet the specific consumption and quality needs of the
communities they serve. As those needs increase, treatment resources must be
provided so that the facilities can remain in compliance with established
standards. Once the water has been treated it is then becomes ready to enter
the distribution network. The distribution network is the network of pipes that
span fields, mountains and highways so that it can reach homes, businesses,
fire hydrants and a multitude of other destinations.
While appearing
deceptively simple, much planning and investing goes into supporting this
infrastructure system. And much more needs to be done if this system is to continue
meeting the demands of Ndola population. As the population increases, so does
the demand for water, placing further stress on an already strained network.
However, only few consumers of the commodity understand this. As such KWSC face
so many challenges including aging system and financing the upgrades.
Among the different
problems plaguing the pipes, corrosion ranks amongst the most dangerous. This
is caused by a natural reaction between water and metal. Likewise, soil properties
can corrode pipes from the outside. This leads to leaks and creates two
subsequent issues. First, it allows contaminants to enter the pipe and thus,
the water supply. Second, it allows treated water to seep (and sometimes
steadily flow) out of the system and be wasted. And while even the best-run
water systems seep water between the treatment plant and the tap, more
can be done to avoid unnecessary loss of this precious resource.
Once a severe leak is
discovered, the pipes are unearthed and then repaired or replaced. In many
instances, this requires digging up city streets or highways to access the
pipe. Such a procedure can temporarily shut down a community’s water system and
disrupt service. Additional costs accompany this process as well. Roads must be
repaved at the expense of the responsible water authority, traffic must be
redirected, and the public must be notified of potential water boil advisories,
and so on. In extreme cases, eroding pipes cause the ground above them to
collapse, creating sinkholes.
Financing the upgrade
of these aging pipes is another challenge. In fact, municipal expenditures for
water and wastewater infrastructure are one of the highest expenditure categories. The
distribution system is generally thought to be the area that needs the most
attention and investment, directing much of the financing towards the pipes
underground.
The problem, however, is that the cost
of water infrastructure replacement far exceeds the financial capabilities of KWSC
and many other water utility companies.
As a result of the outlined challenges
people in Ndola have limited access to safe drinking water.
The massive water supply
system serving over 503, 649 people is in serious need of replacement,
upgrading and maintenance if it is to continue to support a growing Ndola
population.
And investigation shows that water treatment
is an expensive process and apparently KWSC spends over K1million per month on energy to recycle water for its
system.
While the challenges
outlined above are daunting, they are not impossible. Some of the ways in the company
has proposed to meet these challenges are rehabilitation and replacement of old pipes. The developments and
improvements that have been made can be broken down into two categories:
rehabilitation and replacement.
What happens is that once
a pipe has been scoured, it can then be lined with several types of inert
material. The lining can serve two functions. First, it protects the pipe from
further internal corrosion caused by water reacting with a metal pipe. Second,
it may strengthen the pipe, which is particularly useful as the scouring
sometimes weakens its structure.
To support the
rehabilitation process, monitoring technologies help detect if and where a pipe
is leaking. If a leakage is detected, the pipe is uncovered, examined and
repaired accordingly. And if a pipe cannot be rehabilitated, it is replaced.
Examples of such cases are pipes that have multiple leaks or are structurally
very weak. Replacement is usually a last resort, as this process is more costly
and labor intensive, particularly since it requires installing brand new pipes.
But funding this undertaking is
one of the most critical factors in addressing the infrastructure challenge. The
burden to finance the upgrades rests mainly on donors, government and
ultimately KWSC itself. But as noted before, the resources needed to upgrade
infrastructure make the cost burden more than local political structures can
sustain. And the financial resources meant to finance the company ought to come
from customers in form of revenue.
Despite customers delaying to
pay stand bills and debts in good time, KWSC embarked on installation of prepaid water
meters. This exercise extended even to public institutions including police
camps, prisons and army barracks.
KWSC has also embraced partnerships
as a solution to its challenges. This suggests that the company work hand-in-hand
with other private companies in the design, rebuilding and operation of
publicly-owned water systems. As it looks, partnerships offer one of the most
viable ways in which cities, towns and communities can access the capital and
industry expertise of the private-sector. It is believed that such partnerships
will play an increasingly critical role in helping the Ndola overcome its water
infrastructure challenges. Through partnerships and in a quest to improving
water quality and supply to its customers, KWSC has been partnering with
different stakeholders with a view to meeting customers’ expectations. So far, the
company has in the recent past partnered with the Devolution Trust Fund (DTF). It
has collaborated with the Danish government on the subject of improving water
supply in its areas of operation on the Copperbelt. The company has
collaborated with the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) and through
JICA projects, some areas have been ear marked for rehabilitation and the works
are already under-way.
As it were, water is valuable
resources thus if consumers need clean and safe water to drink, they must learn
to pay the standing bills as this is one way of supporting the water utility as
it strives to improve the water production, distribution and quality system.
It has been observed that the
water extraction point (Kafubu dam) for Southern Zone lines has many effluents that
come along with Kafubu River. Kafubu dam also receives agro-chemicals applied
by farmers whose farms are situated along Kafubu River, that are washed into
the river by the rains. Against this, the production, supply and cost
challenges require innovative water management solutions. Just as other
industries, the water industry likewise ought to develop ways to use its
resources more efficiently.
Bearing in mind also that the
city’s population is growing and the current KWSC facilities can no longer
sustain the growing demand for both domestic and commercial water use. There is
need for infrastructure to be redesigned if the water production, quality and
supply are to improve.
Overall, in order for people
to better understand the need for these water production, distribution and
quality challenges; increasing costs, it is essential to develop an
appreciation for the value of water. Understanding how the infrastructure
system works, its current challenges and how best to address these challenges,
will help to develop this appreciation.
About the Author
Winston Muleba Junior is a Digital Journalist,
Aquaculturist, Researcher, Writer and Disaster Management Practitioner who uses media and ICT to promote environmental
conservation; science, technology and innovation. He gravitates towards environment, water, aquaculture and agriculture as
he is skilled at juxtaposing the latest research and expert opinion with the
everyday lives and struggles of people on the ground.
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