A Copperbelt based Non-Governmental Organization says the Environmental Council of Zambia, ECZ, can not prosecute or punish mining firms for polluting the environment due existing legal technicalities and barriers. The Citizen for a Better Environment, CBE, says unless certain clauses contained in the development agreements that government signed with mining firms are altered, mining firms will not stop polluting the environment. CBE Executive Director, Peter Sinkamba, told ZANIS in Mufulira that government should consider publicising development agreements signed with the firms to enable stakeholders ascertain to extent to which industrial effluent can be disposed into water sources. Mr. Sinkamba was reacting to concetns by the National Water and Sanitation Council, NWASCO, wover alleged unsafe water due to pollution, being consumed by residents on the Copperbelt province. Mr. Sinkamba, asserted that under the development agreements, there's a component known as the "stability agreement'' that allows the mines to pollute the environment to certain levels. He noted that because of such technicalities, it has became extremely difficult for the ECZ, to check on the operations of mining firms. Mr. Sinkamba, said unless the development agreements are abrogated, the levels of water pollution will remain unregulated. He added that local water utility companies on the Copperbelt should also come upwith frameworks of monitoring pollution levels in water instead on entirely depending on NWASCO and the ECZ. ZANIS
Share
Read more