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Implications of water quality and its management in Zimbabwe
By
Edward Chipodzana
Posted to the web: 25/03/2009 15:31:57
WATER
constitutes 70% of the human body, it is an essential fluid of life.
It is well known that a person can survive for a long time without food,
but not as long without water.
Water, its availability, quality and quantity have a strong bearing on the very existence of life. In Zimbabwe, we have a life that is very symptomatic to the hydrological cycle. Absence of rainfall has often spelt a disastrous agricultural season and more so abundance of it.
Water, like fire, is a good servant but a very hostile master. People have taken time and effort trying to control and tame this important element of nature.
Availability of water alone does not spell the abundance of life. Water has to be available in the right amount and quality.
For the purposes of this article, we will focus on water quality. Water that is of an acceptable quality has to be availed in an effort to make life sustainable. Water has to be aesthetically, chemically and biologically pure if it to be of any purpose to the human being.
Years ago, when vast tracts of land were uninhabited, there was not much mining and industrial activity; it was quite easy for people to trust any of the water sources which they came across. However, with modernised industrialisation and the employment of modern methods of agriculture in the quest to feed nations, something has happened.
It is no longer possible to tap into any water source and assume it will be fit for human consumption. Streams of waste are coming from various activities and are all being concentrated in our rivers and dams. Chemical wastes which can end up with catastrophic effects are finding their ways into our dams, faecal contamination of water sources is going on through sewer bursts and unreliable overloaded sewage treatment works.
The continuous rise in the cost of treating water is definitely compromising the efficiency of treatment. Rapid urbanisation that has not been matched with an equal increase in provision of water ancillary services has stretched the availability quantity.
World-wide, the realisation of these events has led communities to rise up and demand better services and quality. Standards on the quality of water have been raised and maintained.
However, awareness of what one is having and what one can have has been missing. Awareness of where to go and what to do as citizens in order to ensure that we continue receiving water that is of a good and acceptable standard has been lacking.
What is it that which is within our water that we should expect? What are the implications of this standard not being met? What action can we take to ensure the safety of our communities and that of our families? In a step-by-step approach, this article seeks to unravel this for the common man to understand.
In Zimbabwe we have drinking water standards that are kept in hold by the SAZ (Standard Association in Zimbabwe). Water that is of a good standard has to be aesthetically clean. It should be clear and odorless. The task should be neutral. If a consumer comes upon dirty and muddy water, all efforts should be taken to contact the relevant authorities so that they can quickly attend to it.
Muddy water, usually comes out of the taps after there has been a broken water pipe within the region and it had been repaired. This usually happens because the plumbers would not have adequately flushed but the muddy water. Dirty water can also come out due to a process that is known as posfloculation in which the water has chemically induced sediments after having passed through the treatment process.
Water can also stink as a result of algal growths at the water treatment works. Such growth of odor-producing algae is often connected to a eutrophic lake. It is important to note that such is the case in Harare water and Beitbridge water.
In advanced countries, there have been technologies in which water is deodorised. However, when this is not available, heavy use of carbon for adoption purposes has been employed.
Water that fails to meet the required aesthetic standards is usually treated with caution and suspicion by consumers. In this age, it is the consumer’s right to do so.
Water for human consumption also has to be free from chemical contamination. Chemical contamination usually comes as a result of industrial waste flowing into dams and other reservoirs. Wastes from mining have also been known to be very lethal once released into the environment. These chemical loads come in types: organic contaminants, organometalic contaminants and finally metallic and inorganic contaminants.
Water cannot be diagnosed by the naked eye to be free of chemical or biological contaminants. It is the consumer’s right to know what he is drinking. Food labeling standards have been developed the whole world over. Water s a result is no exception, hence it is in the interests of the consumer that the authorities should adequately address and assure them that the water they are taking is of the appropriate quality by releasing chemical results of analysis to consumers who would have requested for such.
A heavy load for nitrates in the water has been known to cause what is known as the blue baby syndrome in which young babies turn blue due to lack of oxygen. Loading of water with organometalic chemicals has been known to affect the entire food chain as was the case in the mercury poisoning at Minamata in Japan. In this respect, citizens should view law enforcement agents, especially those from the Environmental Protection Agency, favorably when they do the duties as they are ought to protect the general public in their quest for no pollution.
Water that is heavily loaded by organic chemicals is also a fertile breeding ground for bacteriological contamination. Bacteriological and viral contamination of water usually takes place when water comes into contact with either human or animal faeces.
Bacteriological contamination of water again needs the techniques of a specialist to detect in the form of a bacteriological family known as Coli form bacteria and Ecoli. Presence of these organisms has been known to confirm the existence of a host of other diseases causing bacteria. It is against this background that a few interventions are recommended so as to ensure the continued safety of citizens.
NATIONAL LEVEL
• Development policies should take into consideration the water quantity and quality requirements of communities that are expected.
• An understanding of the meaning and significance of environmental hazards disseminated in an effort to empower communities.
• A requirement should be in place to make the water treatment authorities accountable to the general citizens and consumers.
COMMUNITY LEVEL
• Consumers should be made aware on where to report such things as sewer bursts and piped water bursts.
• Consumers should be made aware of what quality to expect and also where to report if such quality is not met.
• A modernisation should be in place just like the fire brigade to respond rapidly to water contamination issues.
HOUSEHOLD LEVEL
• People should be made aware of the possible reminder measure that they should take such as the use of Jik (Sodium Hypochlorite) to disinfect water within the home. The use of boiling water so as to disinfect some home water can be of advantage. The need to desist from using borehole water in areas where there are lots of septic tanks.
Edward Chipodzana
is an environmentalist and researcher based in Bulawayo
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