By Staff Reporter

In a stark revelation, Johnson Mikuku, a lead planner in the Zibagwe Rural District Council master plan , has sounded the alarm on the perilous state of Zhombe’s underground water reservoirs.

Mikuku’s statements come as a grim confirmation of widespread pollution plaguing the region’s vital water sources, primarily attributed to rampant mining activities.

“At Empress, Zhombe underground water sources are heavily polluted,” Mikuku said, highlighting a dire situation that imperils the local populace.

Disturbingly, the contamination extends beyond Empress, infiltrating neighboring areas like Colombina. He said borehole water stands tainted, mirroring the alarming trend observed across various private boreholes in Empress. “All of them are hitting polluted water,” Mikuku revealed, painting a bleak picture of the pervasive pollution.

Mikuku said the situation is exacerbated by the degradation of water bodies in Somalala, where a once brown hue has transformed into a disconcerting shade of blue, indicative of severe pollution. Mikuku attributed this distressing shift to the unabated discharge of waste from nearby mining operations directly into a dam, underscoring a systemic failure in environmental oversight.

“We also have water bodies in Somalala which are heavily polluted, the water is no longer brown  its now blue. We have mines ijn the area disposing waste directly into a dam and seems no one is noticing that. At Totororo Dam we have artisanal miners operating right in the dam contributing to silting and pollution,” he said.

Moreover, Mikuku shed light on the precarious state of Totororo Dam, where artisanal miners operate within its confines, exacerbating silting and pollution.

“Totororo Dam is completely silted. The dam is gone completely and we have artisanal mining right inside the dam,” he said.