Water shortage hits Blantyre City
Residents of the townships of Manja, Chitawira, Nkolokosa, Zingwangwa and Chirimba are among those who have been facing water shortages that have hit parts of Blantyre in the past two weeks.
Some of the concerned residents said that, even after informing Blantyre Water Board (BWB) officials about the problem nothing is happening.
Shamiso Kambwili from Manja Township on Monday wrote in the local papers about how people from the area are suffering due to water shortages.
“What pains us most is that when we go to Blantyre Water Board Soche Zone Office to draw water, guards there deny us entry, yet Manja had by then gone two days without water.
“In the past two months, the guards have twice sent me back, saying they are under strict orders not to let anyone draw water from the zonal office; hence, I had to drive to BWB head offices at Chichiri to fetch water,” Kambwili wrote in his letter.
Kenny Wako from Nkolokosa concurred with Kambwili, saying, for the past two weeks, he has had no access to potable water because the taps have been dry.
“BWB should have released a statement to tell us why we are not having water. We understand they might have problems but they should have let us know through mass media and given us assurances that they are dealing with it,” Wako said.
Responding to the concerns, BWB spokesperson, Priscilla Mateyu, said the problem has been caused by burst pipes within the distribution network due to aged infrastructure network.
“This is being addressed and, as I am speaking, the board is replacing old pipes with new ones. For instance, we have, in the last six months, replaced about 30 kilometres in areas such as Njamba, Chigumula and South Lunzu.
“Right now, we are working on replacing about 47 kilometres of pipeline and about 20 kilometres have, so far, been replaced in Chilomoni, Chimwankhunda and Chilobwe,” Mateyu said.
Mateyu added that the board has been negatively affected by power surges, which affected the pumping system.
She said the problem had been sorted out and normal pumping resumed over the weekend.
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