Water Aid Zambia says vandalism of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) infrastructure is greatly affecting service delivery by commercial utilities.
Water Aid Zambia, Head of Policy, Eddy Chikuta says commercial utilities struggle to replace damaged infrastructure, owing to financial constraints, making it difficult for the firms to provide quality service to consumers.
Speaking in an interview with the media, Mr Chikuta said commercial utilities already struggle with old infrastructure, hence vandalism worsens the situation.
ZANIS reports that Mr Chikuta said vandalism of infrastructure is also a danger to public health.
“This infrastructure is very critical in supporting public health. As they get more water in the communities, we actually do away with waterborne disease, but also the quality of service will be enhanced,” Mr Chikuta noted.
Speaking in a separate interview, National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) Chief Inspector, Peter Mutale said strengthening enforcement of the law will deter would be offenders from vandalising facilities owned by commercial utilities.
Mr Mutale said the Water Supply and Sanitation Act is in the process of being revised, stating that NWASCO is eager to make the penalties stiffer for offenders.
He said vandalism affects the quality of the water that reaches consumers, hence those guilty of perpetrating the vice deserve to face stiffer penalties.
“One of the aspects being considered is pushing up fines of vandalism so that all those who vandalise going forward, will go to prison and they will pay quite a lot so, we will have a lot of that happening once we have this law revised,” He said.
