Minister of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection, Lloyd Kaziya has said government will continue to provide free water services in cholera prone areas.
Speaking in Lusaka today during the daily cholera brief, Mr. Kaziya clarified that Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) is not providing contaminated water as earlier reported in the media.
He said LWSC water is safe and clean for use adding that the commodity being provided to various parts of the city is treated from the Lumumba treatment plant.
He has since appealed to residents living in cholera prone areas to stop using water from shallow wells even if it is just for washing.
Mr. Kaziya said in order for the country to successfully fight cholera, there was need for change of mindsets and practicing of good hygiene.
And Deputy Minister in the Office of the Vice President Sylvia Chalikosa said government was working hard to ensure that the cholera epidemic is halted.
Ms. Chalikosa has meanwhile commended the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) and the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) for donating assorted items valued at K100, 000 towards fighting cholera.
She said the donation, which consists of work suits, wheelbarrows, gloves and spades, will help in cleaning up the city and rid it of cholera.
Ms. Chalikosa said those that are willing to donate towards the cholera fight and are outside Lusaka should do so through provincial centres.
I believe Edith Nawakwi version of the story, it sounds more credible. We have the most useless Health Minister who doesn’t seem to understand what is going on. Just announcing Cholera figures is not going to buy you sympathy when you are clueless of what you supposed to do.
Totally agree with you. The fact is that LWSC is not providing piped to most of the townships. Water kiosks are also not enough hence people resolting to shallow wells. Even individual boreholes are risk water points as ground water abstration near septic tanks would highly be source of cholera. Let Government test individual boreholes and they will be shocked with the results. Piped water in all areas is the long term solution.
Water provided by LWSC is contaminated, In some areas, the water pipes are inside the sower line and they leak. In Rhodespark, we report a leaking water pipe placed inside the sower line but it has not been fixed, it has been 2 weeks now.
Today in Zambia there is no one to turn to for the truth …not even Environment Council of Zambia or Zambia environmental management agency can be trusted under PF…no wonder even islands are being sold under their watch and they do not even know it…its a total mess!!
What a mess, so there is a ministry of sanitation too? So where was minister of cleaning during military cleaning action, only so minister of ceremonial mayors Vincent Mwale, and minister of healing.
Water is certified clean at the point of use. don’t listen to LWSC they treat water at the point of extraction from whatever source, the water still has to get into all sorts of pipe work whose safety cannot be guaranteed.
Never heard of such a ministry. If they are truly responsible for Sanitation and environment, they should have been at the fore front of cleaning up the environment and making sure that Sanity “Sanitation” is a reality.
Lazy Lungu and his corrupt ministers can not be trusted with anything…very few people drink tap water anyway!!
When did water last run from those taps Bwana minister? Kaziya Lloyd, first time to hear about this name. He must be very dull
THE TRUTH IS THAT OUT OF 900 SAMPLES FROM DRINKING WATER IN KANYAMA 800 TESTED POSITIVE FOR CHOLERA. WHAT IS THIS MAN TALKING ABOUT? IS THIS YEAR’S CHOLERA OUTBREAK A STATE SPONSORED TERROR? ONLY TIME WILL TELL!
MUZANYA MU MA CABINET MEETING YANU
I NO LONGER TRUST ANY CABINET MINISTER. THOSE WHO ARE QUIET ARE BETTER. KAMPAMBA CAN’T EVEN TALK AND AMOS CHANDA IS NOW GOVT SPOKESPERSON AND NOT PRESIDENT LUNGU SPOKESMAN. #DISORDER N MEDIOCRITY CANNOT BE ALLOWED FOR A LONG TIME
Change of mindsets must go hand in hand with proper facilities. What do you expect people to do if you don’t provide clean water? One can only hope that this minister’s statement is reliable .
Why didnt govt use the millions od donated money for upgrade of sanitation, thats whatvusaid gave it to them for where has the $600 million gone, disappeared down a sewer pipe or rat hole. Accountability then we might see action.
Yesterday tgere was a plea forv ngoccs to lobby for forgiveness of debt. I think this has been govt strategy all along
Ba minister please provide water to the community 24/7. We have plenty of water in our country. What is the problem with African leadership? If a white man was in charge I bet everyone could be accessing clean water for drinking for 24 hours like before our infrastructure collapsed built from our colonial rulers. We must be ashamed.
With trashy gulleys full of toxic raw sewer in Lusaka ,some corroded water pipes are bound to let in contamination.Even in USA where we get quarterly water quality report they never lie they indicate miniscule amounts of particles .Its total BS that Lusaka water is 100% clean.
@enka you are right,china has better facilities than zambia but it is prohibited to drink tap water in homes and hotel rooms have a sign above faucets ‘do not drink’ so bwana minister is hallucinating,kanyama is riddled with latrines dug everywhere people dont even have a clue where not to dig and somehow the possibility of building on an old rusty pipe grow exponentially.
If LWSC was a serious outfit they’d be at the forefront of banning open sewers at public markets to gain more users and fees and to prevent garbage + flood waters clogging their sewer lines.Even street vendors should pay for use of public assets yet they leave it trashy for taxpayers to bear the costs of cleanup.
What will be helpful is is you can give us results of independent tests conducted at various points of the LWSC water distribution lines
People drink water contaminated by septic tanks and pit latrines. That’s why at my small plot in meanwood I waited for piped water from millennium challenge account project. I avoided drilling a borehole after noticing that almost everybody had drilled a borehole in the area where plots are small.
LWSC does not supply clean water to most of the town ships in lusaka. Garden, George, Misiss and Ngombe are examples and other new areas where residents resort to water wells for survival. its incumbent on the residents to learn how to treat their water with chlorine and other conventional ways of sterilizing the water. unplanned settlements are one notorious habits that spoil all efforts of servicing these areas.