Pollution in Lake Chivero

Strategies identified to improve water quality in Ruwa

Lake Chivero, which lies within the catchment area of Harare (Zimbabwe), is heavily polluted. This Lake serves as the source of drinking water for more than three million people including the population of Ruwa (Zimbabwe).

This pollution is a result of poor regional planning that has the city’s waste – both industrial and residential – flowing into the Lake, the growth of informal settlements on the city’s main rivers that feed into Lake Chivero, and lack of funding and an overall plan for managing the Lake’s ecology.

Solutions identified include:

• upgrades to sewage treatment facilities;
• improved management of wetlands and streambed structures; and
• enhancement of the Environmental Management Agency’s capacity to monitor and investigate industries and other polluting sectors.

Professor Ngonidzashe Moyo, formerly of the University of Zimbabwe’s Department of Biological Sciences, has stated that: “Conducting an environmental impact assessment, developing and applying water quality systems, the polluter-pays principle, self-regulation, providing economic incentives, public participation and tightening regulation and enforcement will enhance water quality management and pollution control”.

As local action is dispensable for water resources management, ICLEI’s Secretariats in Africa and Europe last year joined forces with seven other African and European organizations specializing in water issues to explore the specific role of local governments in this field. The respective project, LoGo Water, is supporting local governments in Southern Africa to actively engage in Integrated Water Resources Management. For more information on this project, please visit www.iclei-europe.org/logowater.

Harare is one of 38 local governments in Africa that are currently Members of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. For more information on ICLEI and its activities in Africa, please visit the Africa Secretariat at www.iclei.org/africa.

Source: “Zimbabwe: Lake Chivero – a Polluted Lake”, The Harare Herald, 16 January 2007.