LWSC SHOULD HARNESS WATER RESOURCES

NO doubt water is life and is essential for the existence of all living creatures on Earth, Zambians included.

This is so because our bodies are made up of about 60percent water and we cannot stay alive more than a few days without it.

So the reported grim water shortage picture in Lusaka’s Chelstone, Chudleigh, Ng’ombe and many others is a matter of great disquiet which our Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) should take seriously.

For Chelstone area where the situation appears to be more wobbly, residents are reported to have gone without water for a week now and that is utterly despicable.

It is hard to envisage how people with flushing toilets are coping up with the situation in the absence of water, not to talk about bathing of bodies, especially of hundreds of school going children.

Admittedly LWSC cannot stand solely guilty because the situation is out of their control following erratic rains that Zambia received in the last rainy season.

But like they say that there is no single problem in the world without a solution, LWSC should not simply accept the situation but struggle to ensure that the people in the affected areas have water or is it life.

It is all easy to guesstimate that the water disposition might get worse in the current drier months of September and October and will call for meticulous planning by our LWSC.

We are more than sure that LWSC knows even better that water is a precious substance that meets our physical needs while at the same time being of great spiritual importance to many people of Lusaka.

The company equally is aware that water is also an integral part of many ecosystems that support us and innumerable of other species. The fact that LWSC managing director Jonathan Kampata has already admitted that its boreholes which supply a number of areas in Lusaka are already fast drying up, is a matter which needs concerted efforts for lasting solutions.

Mr Kampata says LWSC is currently collecting information on the status of its ground water and later will issue a comprehensive statement on the matter.

While that is a good inventiveness by LWSC, we think that residents of Lusaka will be more interested in solutions to water challenges they daily face as opposed to cataloguing glitches in this sector.

Like Mr Kampata had earlier given word that it should be the desire of his company to ensure 24 hour water supply to all parts of Lusaka including notorious George compound. That is the way forward.

We have not forgotten also what LWSC board chairperson Mr. Paul Moonga said when Mr. Kampata was being  appointed new MD that there would be need to bring solidity to the biggest water utility firm in Zambia.

Mr. Moonga said permanence and achievement at LWSC can only be guaranteed with well experienced senior management officials.

He said the company needs people with the technical know-how and relevant experience in the water and sanitation sector to make sure that it delivers to people’s bated breath.

We strongly think that Mr Kampata should earnestly fall on the advice of Mr Moonga and get on with his work which we think he is capable of doing because he is the right man for the job.

Needless to emphasize once more that all living things, from tiny cyanobacteria, human beings to giant blue whales, need water to survive.

Without water, life as we know it would not exist because life exists wherever there is water. It is as simple as that.