MALAWI: Polluted rivers pose health hazard

Industrial waste dumped illegally into some Malawi's major rivers has polluted the tributaries from which villagers draw water for human consumption and farming, government officials told IRIN on Tuesday. An official of the Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs told IRIN: "There are companies that routinely dumped untreated waste into the sewage system. This waste is then discharged into streams that flow into rivers. These businesses were identified and given a warning to cease this illegal practice." The main rivers affected by these are the Lingazi river in the administrative capital, Lilongwe, the Mudi river in the economic capital, Blantyre, and the Mzuzu and Zomba rivers. The official also told IRIN that the offending companies have stopped the practice. But he added that none of the companies involved had been fined so far under the Environmental Management Act. "The Act was only came into force in 1996 and some of its provisions, such as the establishment of an inspectorate, have not yet been implemented due to budgetary and other constraints," the official said. An official of the World Health Organisation (WHO) told IRIN that Malawi's rivers are continuously polluted by heavy rains, industrial or agricultural waste. "Since about 80 percent of Malawi's population lives in rural areas, most of them, at least 50 percent, use ground water," the WHO official said. Malawi, at the beginning of this year, experienced heavy flooding which resulted in a cholera outbreak. "Cholera and diarrhoea are endemic in Malawi," the WHO official said, adding that this can be directly linked to polluted water. More than 420 household gardens in about 90 villages, the main source of survival for rural Malawians, were washed away in the floods, along with their pit latrines. This worsened the cholera situation which claimed 260 lives.