Septic tanks threaten underground water, Dr Angel Mwiche

1. Competency is needed in Zambia.

2. Even boreholes need maintenance.
   Safe drinking water must be a priority for any viable govt. :-w

3. Let us put our heads together,safe drinking water is one of the MDGs Zambia should attain.

4. Pa zed ni zee!! Everythig seems to be a challange. Even things that have effective already implemented elsewhere.

5. Ya no wonder control is always needed when it comes to sewage disposal and places to sink boreholes coz of the easy trasmission of bacteria in groundwater from one access point to another,so let them come up with a well coordinated plan for this

6. Simple things seem like rocket science.:((

7. THE PROBLEM IS THE COUNCIL. IT DOES NOT SERVICE AREAS WHERE IT ASSIGNS PLOTS TO PEOPLE. SEWAGE LINES ARE BLOCKED AND THE COUNCIL CAN NOT UNBLOCK THEM. ALTERNATIVE B IS TO HAVE A SEPTIC TANK. SHAME ON YOU GUYS

8. numero uno

9. Decommission all those poorly constructed and wrongly positioned septic tanks and soakaways. Septic tanks and soakaways are a safe quick fix to sewage and wastewater disposal if competently handled. How about not allowing individuals to construct the said facilities by themselves, why not let the district and local municipalities do the construction and let the beneficiaries pay for the professionally constructed facilities. The Engineering departments in councils and water utilities attend to this issue before it gets out hand or else I wiil be left with no choice but dissolve all utility boards and work on a way forward myself.

10. Incompetencyyy in Zambian Planning. This problem is even worse in Lusaka imagine the whole new resisential areas in Lusaka, from Makeni, New Kamwala South, Libala South to Chalala and New Kasama and other places in Lusaka. Maamba township is nothing compared to Lusaka. In short the whole of Lusaka city is seating on sewer and pipo are busy sinking boreholes coz the council has done nothing. All they are interest in is to milk us to the bone through Rates, Personal Levy, Service charges and other levies. This year I will not pay any levy to LCC.There are qualified pipo in health matters at councils but they have been eaten by cancer of corruption. Their knowledge has disappeared in thin air.

11. That’s true roomie. Where is southern Water and Sewerage Company.

12. Please do something before cholera finds its way!! :o:o:o:o:o

13. No planning bafintu aba, e problem.

14. The provision of social sevices pa Zed lusengo lwa mbwa 😮

15. We dont have town planners in Zambia. No system in place.How can we pollute our ownself.

16. Holy S.H.I.T

17. We need to know if these are truly boreholes or simply wells dug to provide water.
    Septic tanks/Soakaways can pollute water in wells as they are at the same water table in most cases.
    If the report is true that the boreholes are the ones contaminated then, we have a big problem.
    The trouble we have in this country is that there has never been any additional infrastructure built since Super Ken left office. I cannot remember of any sewerage treatment plant that has been built in recent years yet we have had so many housing units built over the years. Brace yourselves for continous Cholera year in year out

18. :o:o:o AT ONCE HOW’:o:o:o:o

19. **==**==*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:)*-:):o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))

20. 18 and 19 you have nothing to do I suppose

21. #20 Spot on :d:d:d:d:d:-b:-b:-b

22. #20 You too

23. Sorry doctor Mwiche but you are trying to address a nation that depends being ordered around by donor countries. Most councils are nothing but organisations for petty crooks. Planning and record keeping is something you find in developed countries.

24. Kwasila, bazafa bantu

25. Am sure shiki uko is on the increase :((

26. Diarrhea is caused mainly by a bacteria called shigella,when nothern provice of zambia was hit by an outbreak of diarrhea,People started asking the medical personell the cause for the outbreak and they were told about shigella.Going back to their villages they told stories about this new bacteria and the chief addresed the people and i quote”mwebantu ala ati nakwisa ubulwele ati shiki”,and thats how it came to be called shiki and the name is still used as shiki for a running stomach even if it can be due to eating too many sweetpotatoes :d

27. we are all going to be in problems.why councils don’t run and service normal piped sewer lines?

28. 10. Chips Khu

    You’ve said it as it is.

29. I am glad that finally someone has woken up and spoken about the septic tank/borehole conundrum.In all countries that I know of, town planning authorities will not allow you to build a septic tank in an urban area. Septic tanks are for areas that are sparsely populated. When the density of people increases the septic tanks + borehole connection– however deep!! become useless. In fact they begin to pose a big health risk.
    Back at Unza, for one of our assignments we went around Lusaka townships to test the water.The results were a shock .That for me marked the last days I ever drank unboiled water.
    This matter is known in proffesional circles. Well done Dr Mwiche for making it public

30. LT CAN WE HAVE MORE THREADZ

31. :d

32. It’s easy to say that. However you need to look at how pathetic your water and sewerage utilites are to ever have a working sewer network for a whole township. The fact is that it is time for us to seek foreign appropriate technologies with public private partnerships and BOT schemes to resolve these sewer issues. In a town called Mongu, in Zambia a whole Township is swimming in raw sewer gushing out the streets due to lack of ideas for yours. The Barotse Royal Establishment have vandalised the sewer ponds and claimed the land for its villager squatters and hence the sewer gushes out in the township.

33. Now this scares the sh*t out of me!! Lusaka is going septic check new residential in Chalala. Solwezi 90% of households have septic system. Can the Govt come up with a position on all this, it is scaring before we start consuming 1 tonne a year of sh*t per person pa Zed. Where are the water engineers and ECZ. Asleep at least NyamaSoya has woken up!!!!

34. A WHITE CHAP DEVELOPED AND LEFT ZAMBIA A VERY ADVANCED SEWAGE SYSTEM. ARE YOU CLOSING THEM DOWN? SEWAGE SYSTEMS SUCH AS THOSE WHICH ARE IN ZAMBIA (IF AT ALL THEY ARE STILL THERE) WERE WELL DESIGN (AND ARE SHALLOW). THEREFORE, THEY CAN NEVER CONTAMINATE UNDERGROUND WATER. INFACT THEY ARE A VERY GOOD SOURCE OF NATURAL MANURE. REDEVELOP AND MAINTAIN THEM. MIND YOU MANY COUNTRIES IN AFRICA AND EVEN EUROPE DO NOT HAVE SUCH AN EXPENSIVE SYSTEM TO DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT AND THEY ONLY WISH THEY COULD VE ONE IN PLACE. ZAMBIA AS USUAL IS DESTROYING THEM.

35. A FEW YEARS AGO I HAD GONE TO MANSA ONLY TO FIND THAT THE SEWAGE DAMS WHICH WERE ALONG MANSA RIVER WERE CLOSED DOWN. I HOPE THEY JUST BUILT NEW ONES AWAY FROM THE RIVER TO REPLACE THE CLOSED DOWN ONES. OR ELSE ZAMBIA WILL REGRET FOR HER NEGLEGENCE AND LACK OF APPRECIATION FOR THINGS.

36. “SCIENCE and technology deputy minister Jonas Shakafuswa yesterday said some MMD national executive committee (NEC) members that are clinging to President Rupiah Banda are just serving their own interests.”.

    I THINK SHAKS IS JUST HIS OWN CLASS AND NOT A PUPPET OF THE SYSTEM AT ALL. HE SPEAKS HIS MIND AND SENSIBLY.

37. PF says the resignation of party’s secretary general Edward Mumbi is insignificant
    Patriotic Front (PF) Leader Michael Sata says Party Secretary General, Edward Mumbi’s resignation from the party does not leave any vacuum. Mr. Sata says Mr. Mumbi was not an active member of the party, thus his resignation from the party is insignificant. He wondered why Mr. Mumbi waited too long to resign if the allegations he has leveled against the PF were true. Asked to comment on allegations that a named donor delivered money to his house in the run up to the October 30 Presidential Election, Mr. Sata challenged Mr. Mumbi to produce evidence. Mr. Sata was speaking to MUVI TV news. Opposition Patriot

38. The country lacks Leadership,engineers,town planners,health inspectors and direction.Even asbestors as roofing material is a health hazard.I think the residents should join the inspection as feedback from residents to help identify important issues on estates. **==

39. AJ I do not think that it is lack of engineers that is the problem. it also isn’t lack of town planners. I tend to think it is lack of leadership. Maybe the engineers and town planners should speak out louder and more often. What I tended to see was that the more competent technical people do not rise as quickly in the government and Local Government circles. Maybe my statement is too strong- I would say the ones who rise are those who say what those in power want to hear and not as it is.
    The reality is that if you can not reticulate(sewer, water and electricity) an Area do not allow people to start building. Do not charge them rates. But I guess this is too much to ask.

40. I am sceptical with the statement by this so called doctor, a few details are missing in her report. she should first call for a detailed study which is going to interpret the facts correctly. Do your homework first before yapping loud

41. #40 Ndiefi, the Dr is a man and not a lady.

    This issue needs a thorough study. If confirmed true, towns like Solwezi whose poplution is growing and has no sewerage system will be in serious trouble.
    Dr thanks for bringing it to the attention of the public, but i needs more work to conclusive make a move.

42. whatever the sex of the doctor. i was concentrating on the mischief in his statement. thanks for the corctn anyway

43. The problem is not the septic tanks..carefully constructed septics and soak-aways provide for effective disposal of waste water in a country like ours where a sewerage system is non-existent. The real culprit are the municipalities who have failed to regulate the construction of these..people just build without approved building plans.. contamination will surely occur esp if guidelines are not followed e.g. the borehole needs to be at least 15 meters from the Septic tank/soakway. We should not only look at bacterial contamination but also look at heavy-metal pollution esp nitrates leaching from fertilisers..The council TAP water is no different from borehole water.

44. Hi, good post. I have been pondering this topic,so thanks for blogging. I’ll definitely be coming back to your blog. Keep up great writing

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