by Henry Kane
Wetlands are being threatened by urban agriculture in Harare after people receive inputs but don’t have places to plant the maize. Wetlands help replenish and purify water naturally and also helps in harvesting and storing water before it flows away to big dams or to the sea. If people plant in the wetlands, this will strain the water table hence contributing to climate change. After receiving Pfumvudza inputs and the coming of the rains, people have just forgotten about the perennial water problems in Epworth. As much as it a good gesture from the government to help the urban people we have to be more responsible in dealing with other problems as communities.
Epworth has no water supply on it’s own and heavily relies on the City of Harare for piped water but most of the areas have to get water from underground source. Of late, the local authority and partners have been drilling boreholes and installing solar power on some of the boreholes and this is to try and try get every one water. If the local authority and the community don’t protect the wetlands will have a bigger problem in the next 7 to 10 years or even less in terms of water in Epworth.
