The Southern Africa Water Wire (IPS)
IPS Inter Press Service: The Southern Africa Water Wire Feed Summary
The Africa Water Wire provides in-depth coverage of a diverse range of water-related issues in Southern Africa — from the importance of water to the environment, food security and sanitation, to the politics of water. The articles supplied here are the product of local journalists in touch with policy makers and people on the front lines of water crises, to analyse the problems confronting management of this precious commodity — and the ways around these obstacles
The Southern Africa Water Wire (IPS) (1 - 25 of about 293) (xml) (Feedlist)
Jeffrey Moyo (24.04.2013 12:51h): Villagers Become ‘Water Scavengers’
Villagers in Zimbabwe’s Mwenezi district have not had access to running water for more than a decade after more than half of the boreholes in the broke down. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPSFor the last 13 years, Trynos Mbweku, the headman of Mwenezi district in southeastern Zimbabwe, has had to use a cart to fetch water from the only remaining borehole in his area, which lies some 10 kilometres from his home. For villagers in this district, which is about 160 km southwest of Masvingo, the capital of Masvingo Province, the water crisis seems to have no end in sight. “We have ... [Link] [Cache]
Nasseem Ackbarally (18.04.2013 01:48h): Mauritians Unprepared for Effects of Climate Change
Floods devastated the Mauritian capital, Port-Louis, on Mar. 30 but locals can expect the island to be affected by more floods, landslides and cyclones in the coming years because of climate change. Credit: Nasseem Ackbarally/IPSMauritius may be one of the best-prepared countries in the world when it comes to cyclones, but recent heavy rains and flooding due to climate change have brought the country’s readiness for coping with increased rainfall into question. Ecologist Keshwar Beeharry-Panray tells IPS that he expects the island to be affected by more floods, landslides and cyclones in the coming years because of climate change. Beeharry-Panray, ... [Link] [Cache]
Ish Mafundikwa (02.04.2013 22:29h): Beitbridge Still Counting the Cost of Floods
The Beitbridge area in southern Zimbabwe was hit by serious flooding earlier this year. Those affected are still trying to get back on their feet. [Link] [Cache]
Mantoe Phakathi (27.03.2013 07:24h): /UPDATE*/Boreholes, Boreholes Everywhereâ
A woman fetches water from one of the few functioning water schemes in the rural community of Maphilingo, Swaziland. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi/IPSEvery day for the last four years, 52-year-old Tintfombi Msibi has had to walk past the borehole in her village of Ekuphakameni, one of the driest rural villages in southern Swaziland, to a dirty stream two kilometres away to collect drinking water. “We’ve been struggling to get water in this community because the borehole the government installed for us broke down,” she told IPS. The borehole was supplied to the community through the government Umtfombo Wekuphila Water Scheme on ... [Link] [Cache]
Garikai Chaunza (27.03.2013 07:24h): Opening of Kariba Dam Floodgates Not Welcomed by All
Almost every rainy season the floodgates of Kariba Dam have to be opened to relieve pressure on the dam wall. But despite warnings not to live or farm on the river banks of the Zambezi River downstream of the dam, some people do so anyway and end up losing their crops. [Link] [Cache]
Baboki Kayawe (25.03.2013 13:06h): Electricity for All but Those the Kariba Dam Displaced
Indigenous people who were displaced from the Zambezi Valley almost six decades ago for the construction of the Kariba Dam say they have not benefited from the development they made way for. Credit: Kristin Palitza/IPSIndigenous people who were displaced from the Zambezi Valley almost six decades ago for the construction of the Kariba Dam say they have not benefited from the development they made way for. The building of the Kariba hydroelectric dam was supposed to usher in a bright future for the people of Zambia and Zimbabwe who gave up their land for its construction. Unfortunately, that future was ... [Link] [Cache]
Mantoe Phakathi (21.03.2013 22:15h): Boreholes, Boreholes Everywhere….And Not a Drop to Drink
Every day for the last four years, 52-year-old Tintfombi Msibi has had to walk past the borehole in her village of Ekuphakameni, one of the driest rural villages in southern Swaziland, to a dirty stream two kilometres away to collect drinking water. “We’ve been struggling to get water in this community because the borehole the government installed for us broke down,” she told IPS. The borehole was supplied to the community through the government Umtfombo Wekuphila Water Scheme on the condition that the beneficiaries of the project set up a fund for its maintenance. However, Msibi said some community members ... [Link] [Cache]
Thembi Mutch (05.03.2013 11:35h): At the Bottom of Lake Nyasa is â
Local communities bordering Lake Nyasa or Lake Malawi are no closer to understanding what the conflict between Tanzania and Malawi is about. Credit: platours_flickr/CC-BY-2.0The local Tanzanian community bordering Lake Nyasa is no nearer to understanding what the conflict between their country and Malawi is about, nor why so much is at stake, as mediation efforts between Malawi and Tanzania are expected to begin soon. The 29,000-square-kilometre tranquil lake, known as Lake Malawi by Malawians, is a tourist spot, source of revenue and food for local populations. But since July 2012, it was discovered that the lake could potentially be a ... [Link] [Cache]
Mabvuto Banda (05.03.2013 05:11h): Two Million People Hold their Breath Over Lake Malawi Mediation
Over two million families who solely depend on Lake Malawi for their livelihoods are anxiously putting their hopes into an upcoming mediation between Malawi and Tanzania. Pictured here a Malawian fishing on Lake Malawi. Credit: Claire Ngozo/IPSOver two million families who solely depend on Lake Malawi for their livelihoods are anxiously putting their hopes into an upcoming mediation between Malawi and Tanzania intended to put an end to a longstanding ownership dispute. The mediation will start this month after both parties agreed in December to engage the assistance of the Forum for Former African Heads of State and Government, which ... [Link] [Cache]
William Mapote (28.02.2013 17:51h): Water â
Drainage systems in Mozambique’s capital Maputo struggle to cope with rivers flowing into the city and high rainfall that leave streets flooded. Credit:Johannes Myburgh/IPSAs Mozambique tries to recover from the worst flooding here since 2000, experts have called for a national discussion on water management and how to maximise its usage in favour of long-term sustainable development. “Mozambique is a downstream destination for regional rivers, but it still has much to do to maximise those potentials into national development, ” Patrício José, a member of Southern African Development Community’s water division, told IPS. Some 54 percent of Mozambique’s annual surface ... [Link] [Cache]
Mabvuto Banda (26.02.2013 12:05h): Lake Malawi Dispute Instils Fear in Fisherfolk
Fishing families on Lake Malawi, Karonga District. Many fisherfolk have said they have been beaten up and detained by Tanzanian police since the dispute over the lake began late last year. Credit: Mabvuto Banda/IPSSince he was nine years old, Martin Mhango from Karonga village in northern Malawi has known no other livelihood than fishing. And for the last 33 years he has been fishing freely on Lake Malawi – that is, until last October when he was detained and beaten by Tanzanian security forces. “They stopped me, dragged me to the beach where they beat me up and detained me. ... [Link] [Cache]
Mauro Teodori (17.02.2013 02:10h): Water, Water Everywhere â
Muzeka Muyeyekwa from Mapfekera Village in Zimbabwe’s Manicaland Province wonders what he will feed his three children for lunch. The family’s basic food supplies have run out and they cannot replenish them as the bridge that crosses the local Nyadira River, which links this village with the outside world and the Watsomba shopping centre, was washed away in January during the flash floods that spread across the country. Manicaland Province, which borders Mozambique, is among the worst hit as it has seen almost 1 metre of rain since mid-January. However, a few village daredevils have used the disaster to make ... [Link] [Cache]
Stanley Kwenda (08.02.2013 22:14h): Turning on Taps a Risky Business in Zimbabwe
For three weeks Tavonga Kwidini and his wife Maria had no tap water in their home in Glen View, one of the many dry suburbs in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. The couple was just about at the end of their tether when heavy rains came like a gift from the heavens. “We now harvest rainwater and that’s what we use to bathe, drink and flush our toilets,” Kwidini told IPS as he lined up his buckets underneath the roof of his house in anticipation of the January showers. Such has been his life since the second week of December 2012, which ... [Link] [Cache]
Orton Kiishweko (08.02.2013 22:14h): A River Runs Dry in Tanzania
Avelina Elias Mkenda, a 52-year-old small-scale farmer in the Mbarali district of Tanzania’s southwestern Mbeya region, can sense a change in her environment. A resident of the Great Ruaha River basin, she has never had trouble watering her crops and livestock. But over the last few years, the river has been delivering less and less of the precious resource; the grass that was once plentiful is now scarce, leaving cattle hungry, while production of coffee, the region’s prize crop, has plummeted. Referred to as Tanzania’s “ecological backbone”, the Great Ruaha River originates in the Kipengere mountains and stretches roughly 84,000 ... [Link] [Cache]
Mauro Teodori (18.12.2012 12:08h): Curbing Tanzaniaâ
From January 2013, Tanzania will start restricting the size of land that single large-scale foreign and local investors can “lease” for agricultural use. The decision follows both local and international criticism that major investors are grabbing large chunks of land here, often displacing small-scale farmers and local communities. The Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office Peniel Lyimo confirmed that the government would limit the amount of land leased to investors in this East African nation. Previously, there were no limits. “For a large-scale investor who wants to invest in sugar, the ceiling has been put at 10,000 hectares. The ... [Link] [Cache]
Q&A (10.12.2012 17:31h): Making Toilets Fashionable
When the founder of the World Toilet Organisation Jack Sim turned 40, he literally began counting how many more days he had to live and felt a sense of urgency to do meaningful things with the remainder of his life. “Can you imagine a person coming into this world and spending his life only helping himself? When this person dies, his life has had no meaning, so why did he bother coming here?” he asks. A successful businessman, Sim turned his attention to an area which he felt was severely neglected. “The toilet was completely neglected in Singapore his home ... [Link] [Cache]
Walter García (24.10.2012 10:00h): Nile Powers Uganda Slowly
Uganda is facing the unwelcome possibility of increased costs for building a projected 600-megawatt hydropower plant at the Karuma Falls, on the Victoria Nile, owing to construction delays. The East African nation has yet to name a contractor for the two-billion-dollar project, which is situated 220 kilometres northwest of the capital, Kampala. Construction was initially planned to start in April, with inauguration expected in four to five years. The delay to boost generation may result in future power outages as demand may surpass supply, according to Dickens Kamugisha, the chief executive of the Uganda-based NGO Africa Institute for Energy Governance. ... [Link] [Cache]
Donat Muamba (05.09.2012 18:53h): Water in DRC More Often Cause of Death than Source of Life
Despite the desperate lack of access to water for domestic use in Mwene Ditu, in the central Democratic Republic of Congo, Dieudonné Ilunga spent a good part of July blocking up residents’ wells. “They’ve dug them in old cemeteries, in newly-demarcated lots, next to toilets,” said Ilunga, head of the Water Resources Research Department in the city, the second largest in DRC’s Kasaï-Orientale province. Just ten percent of Mwene Ditu’s 600,000 residents are connected to the water supply network – and even for these lucky few, water flows through the taps only on Monday and Friday. Vianney Muadi, a mother ... [Link] [Cache]
Q&A (29.08.2012 02:43h): Smallholder Farmers Driving New Trend Against Climate Change
Small-scale irrigation schemes can provide the biggest opportunity for boosting food security in Africa, according to Meredith Giordano, the research director at the International Water Management Institute. Improving the efficiency of small pumps could contribute to making irrigation viable for smallholder farmers. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS As World Water Week began in Stockholm on Aug. 26, the institute released an international study that shows how water management innovations could boost crop yields and raise household income on the continent. According to the report, “Water for wealth and food security: Supporting farmer-driven investments in agricultural water management,” published on Aug. 24, expanding ... [Link] [Cache]
Claire Ngozo (18.08.2012 06:39h): Livelihoods Drying Up on Malawi’s Lake Chilwa
Fisherfolk and farmers living near Malawi’s second-largest water body, Lake Chilwa, are relocating en masse and scrambling for space around its shores as the lake has dried to dangerously low levels. Professor Sosten Chiotha, an expert with the Lake Chilwa Basin Climate Change Adaptation Programme LCBCCAP , said that it could dry up completely by next year if the low rainfall in the area continued. The lake dried up completely in 1995 following a drought, which saw a resultant rainfall of 775 mm and 748 mm over two consecutive years. According to the Malawi Meteorological Services, for the past two ... [Link] [Cache]
GUINEA (03.08.2012 05:12h): Working to Provide Water and Electricity For All
Guinea faces acute problems in the supply of clean water and electricity to its citizens, slowing the country’s economic development. A major project to address this is now under way, but some Guineans are sceptical of its promises. Guinea enjoys more rainfall than any other country in West Africa; the country is known as the water tower of the sub-region, with the headwaters of the Niger, Senegal and Gambia rivers all found within its borders. The country’s many rivers and tributaries should be valuable assets for the provision of fresh water, extensive irrigation agriculture, and large-scale hydroelectric power generation. But ... [Link] [Cache]
Johannes Myburgh (03.08.2012 05:12h): Mozambique Prepares for Dangerous Cyclone Giovanna
Over 100,000 people in Mozambique are still recovering from losing their homes and crops, and from being cut off from schools and shops after a tropical storm and cyclone hit the southern African country in January. But the worst may not be over as another dangerous cyclone is expected to make landfall Friday evening as emergency stocks run low. Drainage systems in Mozambique’s capital Maputo struggle to cope with rivers flowing into the city and high rainfall that leave streets flooded. Credit: Johannes Myburgh/IPS Cyclone Giovanna, equivalent to a category four hurricane – the same intensity as Hurricane Katrina, which ... [Link] [Cache]
MALAWI (03.08.2012 05:12h): Cholera in a Time of Floods
They survived floods and witnessed the horrific scenes of their houses, livestock, household items and gardens being swept away at the end of January. Now, the people of the Nsanje and Chikhwawa districts on Malawi’s southern border with Mozambique are facing another menace; a cholera outbreak, which has already killed one child and infected up to 103 people. Sewage from the latrines has contaminated water sources in Nsjane, including boreholes and dug-out wells thereby escalating the cholera incidents. Credit: Claire Ngozo/IPS Government officials have attributed the outbreak to the declining sanitation conditions compounded by the floods; up to 550 pit ... [Link] [Cache]
ZIMBABAWE (03.08.2012 05:12h): Not Prepared for Floods Amid Conflicting Weather Forecasts
Sibongile Dube knows the devastation heavy rain can leave in its wake. A villager in the lowveld area of Mberengwa in Zimbabwe’s Midlands province, Dube’s home is one of many that were washed away by flash floods last year. The Zambezi River Authority told villagers living downstream on the Zambezi pictured to evacuate their homes because of possible flooding. Credit: Zukiswa Zimela/IPS “I am still rebuilding my home,” Dube told IPS, pointing to where she has erected a hut that she says serves as her bedroom. Across the small yard stands a shaky-looking grain storage bin, which has become symbolic ... [Link] [Cache]
WEST AFRICA (03.08.2012 05:12h): Water Shortage Threatens Wildlife
The story of a pair of buffalo aggressively prowling the edges of a village in eastern Burkina Faso is a warning sign of severe water stress in the region which threatens humans and wild animals alike. Low rainfall is having disastrous effects on wildlife in W Regional Park, which stretches across Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger. Credit: Nicolas Barbier/Wikicommons People in nearly half of Burkina Faso’s administrative districts could face food shortages this year, and the the country’s environment ministry has also warned of disastrous consequences for wildlife. Water shortages are likely to cause increased conflict between people and animals, ... [Link] [Cache]
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Tags: droughts, Water, water crisis, water politics