Dzalanyama Forest could reduce water woes

Bester Matewere, 47, a driver for Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) will live to remember the month of July, 2014.

During that month, he was sent to Area 25, one of the locations that benefit from piped water supplied by LWB.

He was assigned to drive a water bowser following a dry spell that had hit the area for close to two weeks.

Little did Matewere know that the situation would end badly.

“When I took the water to the location, one guy asked me why LWB decided to distribute water at one place.

“Before I could respond, he started throwing stones at me and one hit me on my leg. I sustained a serious injury leaving me with a deformity,” Matewere explained, adding the man was arrested.

Matewere, who has served the board for 10 years, would probably not have met his fate if Dzalanyama Forest Reserve was not heavily degraded by human activities.

LWB operations engineer Ronald Gundamtengo bemoans the high level of environmental degradation of Dzalanyama Forest catchment area of Kamuzu Dam.

He says there is need for interventions such as raising Kamuzu Dam I capacity from 4.5 million cubic metres to 19 million cubic metres to serve more customers around the city.

“Diamphwe River is the only remaining reservoir for water  supply to Lilongwe residents and with environmental degradation continuing, any water resource development for the city will not be sustainable,” Gundamtengo warns.

Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Atupele Muluzi, says there is need for an immediate decisive action to address the current situation.

Muluzi adds that the country needs concerted efforts from all stakeholders to stop the alarming levels of deforestation.

“We need to save the forest now or risk a dry Capital City. No action or a business as usual attitude is disastrous,” he said this during a stakeholders’ meeting to map the way forward to address the problem.

Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica) adviser on forest conservation Kosaku Onaka, urges government to deal with charcoal burners to save the endangered forest.