The erratic water supply in Lusaka Province where the nation’s capital is located is a result of climate change effects, says Zambian Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Minister Lloyd Kaziya.

The minister said water resource in the province had declined by over the years, posing challenges for the water utility company, Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (LWSC) to adequately supply water for residential, industrial and agricultural usage.

“As you may be aware, water is a strategic natural resource which has both an economic and social value but increasingly we are faced with a threat of declining water resource as a result of climate change,” Kaziya said.

According to Kaziya, Lusaka City being one of the populous cities in Africa is facing many challenges in accessing safe and clean water.
He called for urgent measures to arrest ‘extreme’ climatic developments as these were negatively affecting the natural, physical, financial and human resources in Lusaka Province and the nation as a whole.

The climatic hazards Zambia is facing are droughts, floods, and—to some extent— extreme temperatures. All of them have negative effects on agriculture.

Small-scale farmers are most vulnerable to climate hazards by the disruption of their normal farming cycles that rely heavily rainfall patterns. This increased the nation’s economic vulnerability as the agriculture sector rests on 1.6 million smallholder farmers.

Kaziya reiterated the need to step up adaptive measures to mitigate the climatic hazards and called on the private sector to join government to address the challenges confronting the water sector in Zambia.