By Kefiloe Kajane
The deputy minister of water, Lepota Sekola, has urged Basotho to keep water clean and ensure that the rivers are protected from manmade pollution like garbage.
Sekola said this at Ha Ntsane in Maseru next to Mohokare river where a team of experts from South Africa through Orange River Senqu Commission (ORASECOM) is currently inspecting rivers in Lesotho, Botswana, South Africa and Zambia to inspect the rivers.ve clean water. The experts were in Mohokare river.
ORASECOM is an agreement between the governments of the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia and the Republic of South Africa on the establishment of the water commission.
The commission promotes the equitable and sustainable development of the resources of the Orange-Senqu River. ORASECOM provides a forum for consultation and coordination between the riparian states to promote integrated water resources management and development within the basin.
The technical leader survey of the team, Dr Mark Graham, indicated that him and the team saw an incredible amount of sedimentation in the river system scarring and damaging the banks and removing of vegetation along the river banks. He said in some instances animals graze on the banks leading to destruction of the vegetation.
He said there was a need for land use management in river catchments area both in Lesotho and South Africa.
“We have seen that large amounts of plastic are thrown on the river banks and end up in the water systems. ORASECOM has implemented a monitoring programme for plastic now and we are measuring that in many ways. The amount of solid waste, plastic and gumboots which are coming down the river is an enormous problem. It is certainly not healthy for the river and the ecosystem.
“We are also finding many alien plants which are growing on the river banks which many of them can provide fire wood. For sure the ability to destabilise and make the banks unstable is also a big problem. I think this is something that we collectively need to attend to while managing weeds in the catchment areas,” Dr Graham said.
Lesotho’s ministry of water commissioner, Mokake Mojakisane, said the message of keeping rivers clean is important and has been communicated in many ways. He said “every water user needs to know the importance of keeping rivers clean.”
He said the Maseru City Council (MCC) has on mnay occasions warned the public against polluting the rivers with nappies and plastic. He hinted that during heavy rainfalls the garbage is swept into the rivers and taint the water resource.
“The long term to medium consequences for having dirty water streams is that water will become more and more expensive and we use water every single day. When water is dirty and no longer useable and expensive, that will affect the economy of the country because we can no longer use it. Also when the water is dirty, it means even the animals living in waters will not survive. Those that do survive will not be healthy for human consumption.
The water samples are to be taken to the laboratories for testing the cleanliness of the resource.
“This water is from Mokhotlong where most rivers have their sources. The resource passes through countries; Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia and into the Atlantic Ocean. The way our country is, that is where the catchments are. That is why as the communities we need to learn how to protect our catchments so that we can have this water for many years to come.
“I am pleading with our communities to keep the rivers clean. So that next time we are in this river again, there will be no plastics or nappies hanging on the river banks. Let us not take our garbage into the rivers but dispose them at selected places,” he urged.
The chief of Ha Ntsane, Tholang Nkabu, said now that he was aware of the importance of keeping the rivers clean, he will educate his subjects about the need to protect the rivers and their sources.
