RUNDU – The Rundu Town Council has threatened to arrest anyone caught damaging the banks of the town’s sewage ponds to divert water for their livestock.
The council’s manager for technical services, John Sinime, told New Era yesterday that there has been an increase in the wanton destruction of the pond’s banks due to the ongoing and desperate drought situation. “Villagers living near the town’s sewage ponds in Kaisosi, are breaking the banks of the ponds so that the sewage water can flow out, which is then used by the livestock. If you go to the floodplains next to the ponds you will see how green the grass is as a result of the sewage water which flows out of the ponds, this grass is also eaten by the livestock,” said Sinime.
The town council is worried about the health of the livestock, which drinks the contaminated water and more so graze on the grass that is watered from the sewage ponds. “We have tightened the security around the ponds, the ponds are now guarded 24 hours a day and anyone who will be caught breaking the banks of the ponds will be dealt with,” warned Sinime. “We are aware that the river is far and the cattle need grazing and water, but we do not want a situation where people lose their livestock because the animals consumed contaminated water,” said Sinime.
He informed this reporter that “the sewage pump that was broken has been fixed now so the ponds will not be filled with water, because the sewage will now be pumped to the new sewage pond a few kilometres away.” In September New Era reported the sewage pump in Rundu’s Kaisosi location has not been functioning since June this year. At the time, officials from the council’s technical department said the pump station was experiencing mechanical problems and needed repair. This resulted in an overflow of sewage water in the ponds, because water could not be pumped to the biggest sewage pond outside town. Residents living near the small ponds then took advantage of the situation by fishing in the ponds and using them as a source of water for their livestock. “With the warm weather we are experiencing now, most of the water will also evaporate, so the ponds will soon be empty,” said Sinime.
Experts say that municipal sewage effluent can be used for crop production provided that proper management practices in the use of such water and in the selection of crops are implemented in order to minimize harmful effects on soil properties and crop yields. Sewage water normally contains potentially harmful components such as heavy metals and pathogens, which can accumulate in soil and biological systems and prove hazardous to human beings and livestock. A crop scientist at the University of Namibia’s Ogongo Campus, Dr Cousins Gwanama warned that the presence of heavy metals in untreated sewage water poses a grave health hazard to both humans and livestock. Speaking to New Era yesterday, he explained the effects of sewage water on crops and the health hazards, which people are exposed to once they eat fish caught in sewage ponds or consume meat from animals that grazed on grass contaminated by sewage water. “If people eat vegetables that were grown with untreated sewage water they may contract diseases associated with this water. This goes for livestock that graze on grass contaminated by sewage water as well, since these animals may contract intestinal worms, which in the process will be transmitted to human beings once they eat the meat of the livestock,” said Gwanama.
Gwanama also said regardless of the preparation methods used to prepare such food, there will always be harmful particles remaining. He cautioned people to be aware of the presence of toxic waste in the sewage water that can impair brain development in children and unborn babies. “People who fish from sewage ponds are also in danger of contracting diseases associated with sewage water, because the fish they consume lives off the heavy metals in the ponds,” he said.
By Mathias Haufiku