The pollution that has taken place on the Copperbelt after a Sino Metals dam containing acidic mine busted, releasing acidic effluent into the Mwambashi Dam and Kafue River, is not a small thing.
This is such an important thing that must command the attention and full force of the government coming in to meaningfully address the situation.
The crisis has affected five towns on the Copperbelt Province and over 200 farmers in Chambishi alone. The five towns affected include Chambishi, Kalulushi, Kitwe, Luanshya, Masaiti, and Mpongwe districts, with effluent destroying crops and killing fish in nearby dams and major water bodies such as the Kafue River, which worrying on account of the situation at hand, also spans across several provinces.
Several government institutions have been affected, with workers told to stay at home until the situation normalises, on account of lack of water being pumped to institutions because of the contamination. One of the country’s highest learning institutions, the Copperbelt University, has since been closed until the situation normalises.
The damage caused is simply immeasurable, and Sino Metals must be made to pay heavily over the same. The compensation should cater not only for the short term damages but also the long term effects this will have on the environment and health of the citizens, as more after-effects will only become apparent much, much later, as usually happens with pollution.
And since the effluent has been released into a major body like the Kafue River, which spans across several provinces, there is a higher chance that the problem will not only be localised to the Copperbelt alone, but a huge chunk of the country actually.
Word has already gone out urging people against consuming fish caught from the Kafue and other contaminated water bodies. It is not known when it will actually become safe to consume the same fish from the same bodies. This therefore means that even those whose livelihood is dependent on fishing, their main source of income will be unavailable for the foreseeable future. We don’t know if it’s even safe to drink the water being pumped from the Kafue River right now, not only for the residents on the Copperbelt, but all the people who depend on that river, including where it deposits into.
Environment and Green economy Mike Mposha said the government through the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) has ordered the mining company to cease operations until it met the government’s demands. That is a decision in the right direction, but a lot more is needed actually.
Zambians will wait to hear the penalties ZEMA is going to levy on the mining company, including the other demands, to ensure that the same does not happen in the future again. ZEMA should actually come up with demands so stiff that will not only affect Sino, but all the other mining companies in the country to prioritise safety standards, by guarding against a reoccurrence of the same in future.
By Daily Revelation Editor
The pollution that has taken place on the Copperbelt after a Sino Metals dam containing acidic mine busted, releasing acidic effluent into the Mwambashi Dam and Kafue River, is not a small thing.
This is such an important thing that must command the attention and full force of the government coming in to meaningfully address the situation.
The crisis has affected five towns on the Copperbelt Province and over 200 farmers in Chambishi alone. The five towns affected include Chambishi, Kalulushi, Kitwe, Luanshya, Masaiti, and Mpongwe districts, with effluent destroying crops and killing fish in nearby dams and major water bodies such as the Kafue River, which worrying on account of the situation at hand, also spans across several provinces.
Several government institutions have been affected, with workers told to stay at home until the situation normalises, on account of lack of water being pumped to institutions because of the contamination. One of the country’s highest learning institutions, the Copperbelt University, has since been closed until the situation normalises.
The damage caused is simply immeasurable, and Sino Metals must be made to pay heavily over the same. The compensation should cater not only for the short term damages but also the long term effects this will have on the environment and health of the citizens, as more after-effects will only become apparent much, much later, as usually happens with pollution.
And since the effluent has been released into a major body like the Kafue River, which spans across several provinces, there is a higher chance that the problem will not only be localised to the Copperbelt alone, but a huge chunk of the country actually.
Word has already gone out urging people against consuming fish caught from the Kafue and other contaminated water bodies. It is not known when it will actually become safe to consume the same fish from the same bodies. This therefore means that even those whose livelihood is dependent on fishing, their main source of income will be unavailable for the foreseeable future. We don’t know if it’s even safe to drink the water being pumped from the Kafue River right now, not only for the residents on the Copperbelt, but all the people who depend on that river, including where it deposits into.
Environment and Green economy Mike Mposha said the government through the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) has ordered the mining company to cease operations until it met the government’s demands. That is a decision in the right direction, but a lot more is needed actually.
Zambians will wait to hear the penalties ZEMA is going to levy on the mining company, including the other demands, to ensure that the same does not happen in the future again. ZEMA should actually come up with demands so stiff that will not only affect Sino, but all the other mining companies in the country to prioritise safety standards, by guarding against a reoccurrence of the same in future.
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