Parks Authority Acts to Improve Water Supplies

Source: The Herald (Harare)

Date: 25 November,, 2005

Author: Tawanda Kanhema

In a move prompted by the increasing deaths from thirst of elephants in Hwange National Park, the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has begun to scoop dams and dig trenches to improve water supplies.

Hwange - which is home to over 70 000 elephants - has been facing critical water shortages that have seen elephants and other game species dying of thirst over the past months.

"We are digging trenches that will connect to the Zinwa (Zimbabwe National Water Authority) network and bring supplies to the park," said Mr Tawanda Gotosa, the authority's principal warden.

He said Hwange Colliery Company had already offered earth-moving equipment that would be used in dam scooping.

Natural drinking pans in Hwange National Park dry up rapidly because the park is located on a watershed - a higher ground that divides two adjacent river systems. As a result, there is a faster rate of seepage as water runs off into either system on lower ground.

Artificial watering holes dug in 1936 have dried up following a decrease in underground water as a result of three consecutive droughts since 2002.

The park, which requires 1 200 cubic metres of water daily, currently has 48 boreholes with a capacity of pumping 2 400 cubic metres, but less than 20 boreholes are operational due to diesel shortages and pump breakdowns.

The situation has been exacerbated by declining budget resources, poor management and infighting which was threatening to throw the wildlife authority into administrative chaos.

These man-made problems besetting the parks authority, which is tasked with safeguarding the country's wildlife heritage, combined with an increasing elephant population, have had a negative impact on its capacity to maintain water supplies in the country's major animal sanctuary.

At least 700 youths from the surrounding communities have pledged to assist in scooping dams and other water sources to improve supply in the park.

Elephants make up 70 percent of the total number of herbivores (grass and plant-eating animals) in the park and guzzle 90 percent of the available water.

The boreholes are currently pumping less than 1 000 cubic metres a day, falling much short of the optimum level of 2 400 cubic metres.