Water conservation a worthy goal for all

Severe drought has adversely affected water resources, especially in the arid and semi-arid areas of the country.

This has led to reduced river recharge systems, causing severe water scarcity amidst the ever-increasing demand.

I am not sure there is any living creature that does not feel the twinge of water scarcity, ranging from that snake whose thirst has led it out of the bush into someone’s hut to urban dwellers, who have to adhere to water and power rationing schedules.

Besides farmers, who have lost a good fraction of their expected bumper harvests, the most affected are pastoralists who have resorted to slaughtering their emaciated animals before they die.

I won’t even mention the game reserve invasions pastoralists are resorting to in order to save their treasured possessions.

PRODUCTION STRAINED

The business sector will also tell you that their production is strained.

That everyone is affected by this clearly shows why the scarce resource must be conserved. Unfortunately this is not the case.

Man, in his self-gratifying ambitions, withdraws but struggles to plough back. And now, we have to pay with our livestock and sadly, human lives.

There is the biblical story of Joseph, who was sold by his brothers and ended up becoming the prime minister in Egypt, the land of his slavery.

Joseph bought produce from the natives of Egypt and stored it in granaries. There was a very severe famine and the natives consumed their subsistence yields and bought back what they had sold to the “government’’, and ran out of money.

MORTGAGE LAND

They had to go back to Joseph for more food and this time round they mortgaged their land. Eventually Joseph gave them seeds and made them pledge to commit a fifth to the government.

I want to believe that by the time seeds were being issued, the drought was over and they were in a new season and could till the land. These are interesting lessons we learn from this story for application to our situation.

First is about reserves that had supplies throughout the drought season.

We need massive water reservoirs in all the arid and semi-arid areas with the capacity that will sustain the population throughout the dry season. The reservoirs can be for human consumption, agriculture, livestock and industrial use.

This is the best time to finalise construction of the reservoirs because the floods begin.

FEEDS RESERVOIRS

We don’t only need water reservoirs; we need food and feeds reservoirs for livestock to sustain us until more food is harvested.

Secondly, Joseph never gave out relief food. Desperate natives had to part with something of value to them for the grains. By the end of the season they had mortgaged their land.

Joseph gave them seed and made them commit to submitting a fifth of their harvest to the government. We may be tempted to see Joseph as a hardliner administrator.

But his concept did not only sustain the natives throughout the season but has been passed on to their descendants Israel – the world’s leading nation in water conservation.

WATER RECYCLING

Israel is in a desert, but specialises in water reuse, recycling, treatment, desalination, energy efficiency and drip technology and even exports water technology.

Let us all take individual responsibility to conserve water. Store water tanks in our urban houses and massive ones in our rural homes; and let us construct gutters to trap rain water. Let us recycle soapy water and use it to water our plants and flush toilets. Let’s embrace the culture of storage even in schools. Let’s embrace a green culture as individuals. This way, the harsh impact of climate change will be manageable.

Ms Luvonga is the chief corporate communications officer at Water Resources Management Authority. [email protected]