Kariba dam water level increase welcome
Published On February 16, 2016 » 2539 Views» By Bennet Simbeye » Opinion
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IT is heartening to note that water levels at the Kariba Dam will soon improve because of increased inflows from Mwinilunga and the Barotse plains. This would ultimately generate enough water to earn the expected high levels at the power plant and in turn generate electricity power. With this good news, we will see what some people using social media to peddle false information about the water levels at the dam will talk about. Since water levels at Kariba dam, which is the world’s largest, went down, some irresponsible Zambians have been politicising this normal environmental occurrence. Even some educated politicians who know that the cause was poor rainfall and over use of water by Zambia and Zimbabwe, who share the reservoir that led to water levels dropping, have been unfair to blame Government for the drop. These unpatriotic Zambians relished the sad news that adversely affected mining companies whose copper production reduced triggering more than 10,000 job cuts. The drop also affected households and businesses which suffered since they had to endure power cuts as long as 14 hours a day. Little did the prophets of doom understand that Zambia, like other sub-Saharan countries, was among other vulnerable countries hit by the El Nino weather system. Even some opposition leaders who include economists have been feasting on the energy crisis, Zambia has been going through and only choose to focus on the negative aspects of the turn of events. This is sad since even before the noticeable increase of water levels, the Zambian Government has put several measures in place, including setting up emergency thermal power plants due to produce 250 megawatts by early March, as well as a 200-megawatt power-ship to be docked off the coast of neighboring Mozambique and erecting a 300-megawatt coal power station to start operations in June this year. Apart from addressing dropping water levels, the two governments sharing the dam acted promptly when reports surfaced in 2014 that the Kariba Dam, could collapse after it developed cracks in some areas, that called for repairs. Rehabilitation works commenced despite the current low water levels at the dam with about 275 million US dollars secured from the cooperation partners, like the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the Swedish government for the project. Here we are being favoured by God who gives rain by having water levels flowing from upstream in Mwinilunga and the Baroste plains, which is expected to be absorbed in the Kariba Dam in two months. The divine intervention is being supplemented by the Government’s effort of constructing two upstream reservoirs, the Devil’s Gorge and the Batoka Basin to stretch the water inflows to Kariba Dam for later reuse. Also commendable is Government’s effort of power generation, which is at 500 megawatts and is good for power production although power was generated at 1,050 megawatts at full capacity when the water levels were normal. As William Shakespeare wrote, all is well that ends well, the Kariba low water level story will soon be a thing of the past as things normalise. The prophets of doom who politicise negative news will be shamed when water starts flowing normally.

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