National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) has directed the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) to take corrective measures to address the contamination situation within the city residential areas.
NWASCO Acting Director, Eng Peter Mutale stated that LWSC must flush the two boreholes and the system where the contamination has occurred until the source and the network are safe during the period of flushing.
Eng. Mutale said that the water company should also with immediate effect take charge of the operations of the boreholes within the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) housing complex and install a chlorination system.
“LWSC should ensure that a satellite or production point has onsite testing equipment such as comparators, turbid and PH meters and keep records of the tests of the water quality which will be reported to NWASCO weekly and not quarterly as stipulated in the water quality monitoring guidelines,” Eng. Mutale said.
He added that NWASCO will continue to monitor the situation until the issue is satisfactory resolved and that the quality of results issued yesterday showed a great improvement.
The sanitation council which was created by the water supply and sanitation Act No. 28 of 1997 is aimed at regulating the water providers and the services offered .
The council says the preliminary finding of the investigations that have been going on have unearthed microbial contamination recorded in two boreholes which are located in the periphery of the NAPSA housing complex and surrounding areas.
“The boreholes supply water to Nyumba Yanga, parts of Ibex Hill and Malata areas including the Housing complex and the investigations of the contamination is suspected to have been caused by the sewage overflow that was reported from a housing block in the proximity to the boreholes,” Eng. Mutale said.
Furthermore, he stated that the sporadic cases of sewage overflows were reported in the period preceding the start of the new year as the conditions aforementioned could have potentially propelled to diffuse water contamination.
Eng. Mutale said the initial response from LWSC was less proactive and lacked a clear strategy addressing the issue but improved later on.