The Water Resource Management Authority (WARMA) has appealed to the public to protect water sources in the country to mitigate climate change resulting from human activities.
WARMA Director General, Kenneth Nyundu says stakeholders should therefore ensure they operate within the prescribed provisions to sustain water bodies.
Mr. Nyundu was speaking when he paid a courtesy call on northern province deputy permanent secretary at his office in Kasama.
He noted that some stakeholders are involved in noble activities but still disregard the provisions related to the water resources.
“There are some bad practices going on in some areas such as tree cutting, gardening and burying along the river banks without creation of any buffer zones which has eventually resulted in pollution and the water levels going down ” he said.
He said the authority is concerned about some burial sites being close to water bodies which may result in harmful pollution with long term effects on consumers.
Mr. Nyundu has disclosed that some treatments done by water suppliers in their water treatment plants may not be able to treat such pollution arising from burial sites once water slips through them.
He further appealed to stakeholders involved in water activities to ensure they get permits from the institution to avoid being inconvenienced.
He said lack of permits presents a danger to users as they will not be considered as existing once a new client seeking for the service from that water source comes on board.
“I’m urging local people involved in water activities to get permits for water security because without this permit, once a new investor comes in, we will not consider them because they are not existing in our database,” he said.
Meanwhile, Northern Province Deputy Permanent Secretary Lewis Mwape said it is important that water bodies in the northern circuit are properly managed.
He said the environmental aspect should be considered each time economic activities are being devised to ensure sustainability of the water bodies.
He added that the leadership in the province will support the activities of Warma for the good of the nation.
“Our role as provincial administration is to provide coordination among the public and other stakeholders and we are ready to support the activities of your institution for the good of our people,” he said.
He added that tree planting through the forestry department should be embarked on to help in the preservation of water bodies.
