By ‘Majirata Latela
There are mounting calls for communities to take advantage of the current rains and build small dams at village to fall back on and use for irrigation purposes during any future dry spells.
According to the United Nations Climate Action (UNCA), global and regional studies reveal that climate change will adversely affect the availability of surface water resources in the sub-Saharan region. The anticipated impacts of climate change include severe droughts and overall drying in most parts
UNCA shows that such impacts are already evident in the region, and include the drying of small streams. This not only negatively affects the livelihoods of communities, but also harms aquatic life dependent on the ecosystems.
A Lesotho World Bank report on the other hand says the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) involves the capture and storage of water in Lesotho’s mountain highlands. The water is transferred to South Africa’s Gauteng Province and in turn that country pays royalties for the resource. The LHWP contributes significantly to the economy of Lesotho for water security and economic development in South Africa.
While South Africa’s economy continues to grow, Lesotho on the other hand needs to find other ways of growing its economy despite the changes in climate patterns.
According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development Lesotho cannot produce enough food to feed its growing population. The agriculture sector accounts for about 17 percent of gross domestic product.
Although the country has been constructing big dams for transferring the water to SA, various climate change experts indicate the need for small communities to harness water during rainy seasons. They wonder whether communities consider construction of small and safe dams as important,
According to UNCA there is an urgent need for building additional small-purpose dams in the hard hit communities by climate change. The increasing hydro-climatic variability due to climate change has intensified water stress, particularly in the drought-prone areas.
theReporter approached some Basotho who advise that communities should consider constructing small and safe dams. They explain that the dams help to sustain the lives and livelihoods of local communities through multiple uses, by securing access to water. The harnessed water will be used for domestic use, for agriculture, with the aim of increasing the agriculture yields of smallholder farming, fish farming and livestock, they say.
Heavily hit by climate change, Lesotho’s community councillors tell theReporter about the importance of small dams within their communities. They bring about the challenges and successes of building the dams.
One community councillor for Kanana Council, Mahlehlenyane Moletsane points out that as councillors and chiefs in that area they are aware of the importance of building dams. He says they together even made an initiative to dig dams with the help of some community members. Unfortunately, he says, the dams were destroyed and covered fearing that children would drown.
“Some people started complaining that the dams are too risky as children may end up drowning dams. Some complained that the dams were close to their houses and made their houses mould.
“We then proposed that the small dams be protected for safety but some people insisted that they be closed. Very unfortunately some of the people who complained about the dams used the same dam waters to build houses. For the longest time the Ha Foso community did not have running water and some people who could not afford water tanks when building their houses used water from the manmade dams.
“Dams are important in that they help the community during dry seasons to use the harnessed water to provide irrigation to their gardens or for animals to drink. Some people can even use the water for washing and bathing,” Moletsane said.
On the one hand, councillor for Semonkong, Senekeng,Lekhula Ntai said the communities around Senekeng understand perfectly the need for building of dams. He encouraged inhabitants to volunteer to construct dams.
He said during El-nino in the years 2018-19 some dams still contained water and it was used for animal drinking and domestic purposes,
He further said in other villages such as Koeneng in Semonkong where there is no access to running water, dwellers drew water for drinking and household use.
“People living in the Koeneng village are sometimes walk long distance to the springs and for that opt to drink water from the dams. We have old and disabled people in that village who use the dam water for drinking because they cannot get to the springs and carry water containers.
“Since the water is not clean we still advise them to boil it before drinking to avoid waterborne diseases,” he said.
As a farmer, Ntai said during dry seasons when streams run out of water, communities that have dams sometimes use the water for animal drinking. He warned that communities around Semonkong depend on agriculture, and use the resource for irrigation purposes.
According to him, the recent droughts have taught Semonkong communities that they need to implement dam projects. He said other communities should be aware that drought is real and is meant to negatively affect food production.
Climate change expert, Theletsa Mpholle of the Lesotho Meteorological Services, says building micro-dams in communities is part of the adaptation projects. He said dam water can be kept and used during dry seasons when water is scares.
“We always advise communities during our engagements to make sure they dig dams so that they do not find themselves vulnerable during drought. Even though during El-Nino many small dams dried out, they were still useful for keeping water. When small rains came the dams were able to harness the water.
“The factors that contributed to the drying up of the small dams include very high temperatures and the fact that they are not developed or improved.
“Developed or improved ways of building dams is when they are concretely built and covered so that the water cannot dry out quickly or even get polluted. Such dams can be built by communities with the help of ministries such as the ministry of water and the ministry of forestry and soil conservation,” Mpholle said.
He added that climate change reports have indicated that the global temperatures are increasing and precipitation is also increasing. There may be a lot of rains but the challenge is that it might not be possible to predict the amount of rainfall. If the rain is accompanied by heavy storms it will cause damage, he said.
There is also a need to educate the community that while construction of dams was of paramount importance, they also need to implement conservation agriculture. It is a method of faming which saves a lot of water while still getting a good harvest, he observed.
He noted that improper dam water use would make communities susceptible to drought.
