Affected household owner contends that explanation of rising water levels of Lake Malawi ‘lacks in-depth analysis of what is a serious matter’

* For those that know Sunbird Nkopola Lodge, or have been to Ekhaya Resort, can testify that the water level must have risen close to 3 meters — well above the 2 meters which is being talked about 

* This begs the question as to how accurate are we measuring the water levels? These numbers given are wrong in my opinion!

By Duncan Mlanjira

Affected household owner in Mangochi, Ted Sauti-Phiri, contends that explanation of rising water levels of Lake Malawi “lacks in-depth analysis of what is a serious matter”, saying he does not believe that the level has only gone up 1 meter.

According to a memo released by the National Water Resources Authority — which Malawi News Agency (MANA) quoted as saying — that as of March 11, during the 2023/2024 hydrological year, Lake Malawi water level was at 475.95 meters above sea level (masl). 

The report said last year it was at 475.12 masl on the same date representing an 83 centimetres increase in water levels, adding that “Lake Malawi waters reach peak between the months of April and May each year”. 

“And this hydrological year, the lake levels have taken the highest trajectory since 2010,” MANA quotes the memo. “The increase has been attributed to increased rains in the Northern Region of Malawi and Tanzanian side which constitute the main catchment area of Lake Malawi.”

In his reaction to the explanation — that includes that from surface water expert, Engineer Solomon Kalima, who said that Lake Malawi has experienced high water levels before especially in 1980 — Sauti-Phiri said: “As a resident whose house is under water with my height of 1.77m, I would completely drown if I was to attempt to walk to the beach that I comfortable trekked only in January this year. 

“For those that know Sunbird Nkopola Lodge, or have been to Ekhaya Resort, can testify that the water level must have risen close to 3 meters — well above the 2 meters which is being talked about.

“This begs the question as to how accurate  are we measuring the water levels? These numbers given are wrong in my opinion!”

Sauti-Phiri further said “what remains unanswered is a clear diagnosis as to what has caused the level to go up — can we authoritatively agree that the Lake as a basin has received more water this year than any other year in the past 20 years?

“Mangochi, Dedza and Salima witnessed a lot of wash aways and flooding from incoming water sources into the lake than many years — so the question is there scientific evidence the this late rain in the north of malawi brought in more cubic meters of water that the rest of the regions brought into the lake last year? 

“On the face on it, it is difficult to believe that in the year when we have declared a disaster due to drought, we are also claiming the highest water intake into lake Malawi.”

Other experts and observers maintain that in some parts of the lakeshore, people illegally constructed their house structures mostly in wetlands and that the Lake is just reclaiming its space but Sauti-Phiri said “whilst this may be true for some, we have to take it with a pinch of salt for the vast majority of property owners, with bona fide leased sites many meters away from the shore, yet have been affected”.

“I have personally lived in Mangochi since 2009 and at no time has the water level come close to what we have seen this year. This begs for a better expert explanation than what we have since.

“In deciding what the Government should do or whether to open up the barrage, we need to count the full economic and financial impact of the damage. Most of the property is on land with title deeds and hence are bankable assets that can and have been used for collateral.

“It is one reason why Mangochi is more affluent than most districts in Malawi. I do hope somebody is watching that because of the rising lake financial institutions will now be reluctant to recognize the true value of property along the lake — more so because insurance companies in Malawi have since a couple years ago introduced exclusion clause against rising water levels.

“Given this situation, the loss of economic value of the property in Mangochi is much more that what is meeting the eye right now. The question of whether to open the barrage a bit more must take into consideration the bigger economic value of the lake districts.

“And lastly, where do we go from here? Shouldn’t we have precise input as to when the water is going to recede? Experts should know how much outtake down the Shire River and how much can we expect from evaporation? 

“With this there should be advice as to whether people can go back within weeks or months if at all. In the long term, whether in some places we can borrow — learning from the Dutch dykes — to have designs of embarkments to allow building below lake water level?” he asked.

On the issue of the Kamuzu Barrage in Liwonde, some Mangochi residents raised  an appeal, asking the government to consider increasing the volume of water which passes through it as it was believed to contribute to the high water levels.

But Commissioner for Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), Charles Kalemba assured the people that it is closely monitoring water level situation in Lake Malawi and Shire River through Kamuzu Barrage amid the heavy downpour in recent days.

A report by MANA said Kalemba had an interface meeting with stakeholders on Friday after an inspection tour of the barrage and assured that the barrage is managed to control water flow which affects upper stream of Shire River, lakeshore areas and downstream areas of Nsanje and Chikwawa.

Kalemba refuted claims that the barrage is sometimes closed or reduces its capacity to control water flow, saying: “The barrage operates using an automatic software which is computer based. So, when water levels change, the machines detect and sounds an alarm. It is not true that the barrage is sometimes closed.”

In his analysis he shared after Maravi Express contacted him, surface water expert, Engineer Kalima maintained that the rising waters on Lake Malawi and the Shire “has nothing to do with Kamuzu Barrage because the barrage is just to regulate downstream water releases to meet water demand for hydropower plants, irrigation and water supply among others”.

“It does control the lake within margins of 2m to which with the current water level of 476.3 masl, it cannot do anything. In this regard, flooding of Lake Malawi can only be declared if the water level goes above 477 masl because this is the limit for the buffer zone for the lake.”

Engineer Kalima also explained that rising water levels is due to high rainfall occurrence in the northern catchment of Lake Malawi, both in Malawi and Tanzania.

“As you are aware, we are experiencing the El Niño phenomenon, which means above normal rainfall in the northern part of Malawi and below normal rainfall in some parts of Central Region and the whole Southern Region,” Kalima said.

“The situation is likely to recede after the rainfall season and assume the El Niño phenomenon will not proceed to the next rainfall season.”

He further said the Lake Malawi has experienced this situation before especially in 1980 when it reached “the maximum water level of 477 meters above sea level (masl) and the same also concurred around 1800s”.

“This is natural phenomenon which shows that it occurs every time we have consecutive high rainfall years in the Lake Malawi catchment, especially in Tanzania.”

Of people in some parts of the lakeshore, who were assessed to have illegally constructed their house structures mostly in wetlands, Engineer Kalima seemed to agree as he further told Maravi Express that the government “put into law that nobody should settle and cultivate below the 477masl along Lake Malawi to avoid loss of lives and property”.

“Nevertheless, since 1980 the water levels receded until in 2012 when the Lake levels started picking up slowly by slowly but increased exponentially due to occurrence of back-to-back cyclones [Idai, Ana, Gombe, Freddy] with high intensity rainfall in Lake Malawi catchment.”