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Water shortage alert should trigger action
2007-08-11 08:36:03
By Editor
The government`s recent alert that Tanzania will have at its disposal almost half as much water suitable for human consumption by 2025 as it currently has is not a matter for future concern. It would be suicidal believing that it is.
Ours is definitely a country endowed with an abundance of large masses of fresh water, mainly lakes Victoria, Tanganyika and Nyasa – not to mention rivers like Malagarasi, Mara, Pangani, Rufiji, and Ruvuma, all of which are permanent.
Apart from serving as reliable sources of water for domestic use, some of these natural resources play a role of monumental national by supporting the generation of electricity, the development of the fishing industry, crop husbandry and the agricultural sector generally, and the protection of the environment.
It is in a way unfortunate that the Indian Ocean, to whose waters Tanzania also lays claim, is not of much utility as such as a source of drinking water although there are countries where desalination of sea water has worked miracles.
This is an option we should seriously work on before the worst comes to the worst.
But familiarity often breeds contempt, as that time-tested English saying goes.
Luckily, there is a Kiswahili proverb with a similar moral – literally, that where forests are in place there is usually no one to capitalise on the rich availability of timber by putting up decent houses and so on.
As recently as the 1970s, the lakes, rivers and ponds in Tanzania were often full to the brim even in times of drought and they were teeming with all manner of fish, plants and other marine creatures. Then, gradually, the situation began worsening.
The most vivid examples of the development include dwindling fish stocks, falling water levels and the massive pollution of some water sources.
Experts might have many perceived reasons for the mess we have ended up in.
However, it is unlikely that any reputable ones would exclude the fact that people have always tended to take the existence of the water masses for granted.
For instance, many of the communities living on the Lake Victoria shoreline have for decades wrongly believed that the lake`s waters were so plentiful that they could safely be used – even misused – indefinitely.
The catastrophic effect this has had on the environment in recent years has not spared water supply and safety.
However, it has been some blessing in disguise in that many people have begun waking up to the fact the beliefs they have held all this long were misdirected.
The government’s declaration that it will do th
e most it can to avert the calamity a raging shortage of potable water is cause for some comfort.
However, the horizon is too grim for this assurance to give the nation enough solace.
We are headed for very hard times and must all march as to war because water sustains our very lives.
We should all help in devising and implementing programmes and strategies set to avert the looming catastrophe.
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