Senga Bay water woes over

Water shortages which were the order of the day around Senga Bay in Salima are now a thing of the past following successful completion of the Salima-Lakeshore Water Supply Project, The Nation has learnt.

Central Region Water Board (CRWB) identified Lilongwe based company Aquabor International to carry out the work which started in November 2014 and ended in March, costing the  board over  K2.7 billion ($5.4 million).

CRWB Projects Implementation Unit manager John Makwenda said in interview that water woes, especially at the Malawi Armed Forces College (Mafco), Senga Bay and Parachute Battalion are now a thing of the past and customers are happy.

SaidMakwenda. “We used to experience serious water problems around this area because we were supplying Parachute Battalion with water from two boreholes.

“We also had problems at Mafco especially during the rainy season when quality of water was compromised. Following the successful completion of the project, Senga Bay residents should be proud.”

Makwenda said Aquabor has planted three big pumps in the lake with suction pipes which are 300 metres long and have also installed screens to protect acquatic life to make sure that even the smallest fish are not sucked into the water system.

Said Makwenda: “We have a water treatment plant near Safari Lodge fitted with water filtration and disinfection system. Apart from that, there is also a pumping system with a capacity of 490 cubic metres and we have also laid a distribution pipe line throughout Senga Bay.”

Makweda said that they have also installed two concrete storage tanks with a capacity  of 1 000 and 500 cubic metres respectively, making the whole storage capacity for Senga Bay rise to 4 000 cubic metres.

He said the new water system has the capacity to supply water to the whole of Salima, but they do not yet have funds to pump adequate water to meet that demand.