As one of the initiatives to ensure that residents of Mchinji District, particularly those in the areas of Senior Chief Nyoka and Zulu, have access to clean and safe drinking water, the Mchinji District Council has launched a project to channel water from Mchinji Mountain through pipelines to various communities.
The project to extract water from Mchinji Mountain was halted in the year 2000 due to the breakdown of essential equipment used in pumping the water.
Since then, residents in Senior Chief Nyoka and Zulu’s areas have been relying on water from unprotected wells, which exposes them to waterborne diseases such as diarrhea.
According to Martin Pindankono, the district’s Director of Development, the council has reintroduced the initiative after observing the challenges communities face in accessing clean water.
“We realized that the lack of clean water in these areas has been a major health concern, contributing to the spread of various diseases. This project is a direct response to that problem,” said Pindankono.
However, he urged the beneficiaries of the project to take good care of the infrastructure to ensure its sustainability.
“This is a significant development for the people of Mchinji, and we appeal to them to safeguard the equipment so that this water supply system remains operational for a long time,” he added.
The Mchinji Mountain water project is part of broader development initiatives under the Government to Enable Service Delivery (GSED) project, which has been allocated a budget of 1.1 billion Malawian Kwacha.
