Zambia: Some residents of Lufwanyama’s Lwamisamba area on the Copperbelt Province are reportedly drinking contaminated water. The members of the community who shared that they are worried about the health and wellbeing of their own and the people in the community.
The major reason for the contamination of the water in the community is that the community boreholes have started to produce with some black elements. The contamination of the waters sources can lead to many health issues for the people who have to consume this water.
The boreholes in the community were sunk for them by Chibuluma Mine. The residents told the media in an interview that they now fear drinking the said water.
They claimed that the residents of the community do not  know if it is safe for human consumption. One of the residents Reuben Chitambala explained that their water had a bad taste and black elements.
“The water we are drinking has some thick black stuff which we suspect to be copper and they become more visible when we put it in containers or cups,” claimed Mr Chitambala.
Mervi’s Malakata, also said each time they use the same water for cooking nshima, the colour turns into brown with some oil stuff on top.
“Most of our buckets and containers we use for storing water have since changed their colours to black, while others are brown due to the same water,” said Malakata.
Meanwhile, Sokontwe Ward Councillor Lenox Kaseka who visited the affected residents has since appealed for quick interventions by the relevant authorities in order to establish the cause and content of the said commodity.
Kaseka feared that the life of about 42 households in his Ward is at risk.
He said the affected people are the ones that were relocated from Nkana area to Lwamisamba by the former Chibuluma mine last year.
He added that this was after the mine was directed to build houses for them by the government following concerns of harmful pollutants from the mine’s damp site mountain.