Water Reforms In Zimbabwe

1. Water Reforms In Zimbabwe The triger of the reforms

2. The trigger of the reforms • The drought of 1991/92 • Increased conflict • Delays in conflict resolution • Delays in processing water rights • degradation of water due to pollution • recognition of groundwater as a public resource • The need to protect people in urban area vs agricultural activities

3. The drought of 1991/92 • Problem • fish and animal death • water shortages in most urban centres • conflict between farmers and urban • conflict among farmers

4. The drought of 1991/92 • Measures • Water rationing • water shortage area declared • Groundwater shortage areas declared • Water redistribution • emergency schemes started • dippening of borehole in rural areas

5. Major areas heavily affected • Harare • Bulawayo • Mutare • Chegutu • Mupfure Catchment

6. Harare • Concentrations of pollution in Chivero were greatly increased • fish died in the lake • The hycnth weed went wild in the lake • It was realized that pollution of river degraded the resource

7. Bulawayo • There was a serious water shortage • Are was declared a groundwater control area • severe water rationing introduced • boreholes were drilled in the City • water supply was erratic • Nyamadhlovu project was started

8. Mutare • There was a serious water shortage • Area was declared a groundwater control area • severe water rationing introduced • boreholes were drilled in the City • water supply was erratic • Odzi project was started (but not finished up to now)

9. Chegutu • There was a serious water shortage • Area was declared a groundwater control area • severe water rationing introduced • boreholes were drilled in the City • water supply was erratic • Manyame-Chegutu canal project was started (but not finished)

10. Mupfure catchment • Conflict between Chegutu and farmers peaked • Mupfure catchment was declared a water shortage area • committee was set up to produce a status report • it was realized that the process was lengthy

11. Increased conflict • Conflict among users increased tremedously • the administrative court was flooded with court cases • reports of illegal water abstraction increased

12. Delays in conflict resolution • Conflict resolution mechanisms took a long time to be dealt with • many cases were concluded after the period of drought • the water shortage declaration in Mupfure was only realized after the drought period • plans to alleviate drought should form an integral part of the long term plan of a city by involving the local authorities

13. Delays in processing water rights • The years flowing the drought saw a marked increase in water right applications • The administrative court failed to clear the back log in applications • and many smaller ones

14. Lessons learnt • Groundwater was a valuable resources for combating drought • the existing conflict resolution institution could not cope with water cases • the declaration of water shortage areas was cumbersome • primary uses in urban areas were not protected against other uses • It was realized that pollution of river degraded the water resource • many ilegal structures were being erected eg Masembura dam, Arcadia dam (in Mazoe)