Paramount Chief Kyungu asks NWRA to clearly indicate boundaries between the water bodies and public land

* The problem is that most Malawians misunderstood democracy and they think they can do anything including wanton cutting of trees and cultivating along river banks

* I would like to urge the NWRA to properly instruct citizens on how best they can make use of this water

By George Mponda, MANA

Paramount Chief Kyungu of Karonga has urged National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) to clearly instruct Malawians the boundaries between water bodies and public land.

He said this on Wednesday when NWRA engaged with traditional leaders in Karonga for the chiefs to advise community members to prepare for the next hydrological cycle, which is expected to register higher levels of water in the country’s water bodies.

Many community members along Lake Malawi and Shire River were affected from high water levels in which their households were damaged after being submerging having being built from restricted boundaries between water bodies and public land.

In the meeting with the traditional leaders at Karonga District Council, NWRA’s senior civic education & public relations officer, Masozi Kasambara emphasised that chiefs need to warn people against construction or undertaking any activities along lakes and rivers.

“With this projection, it means the area along the lakes and rivers is not safe for any development and it belongs to the state,” he said. “Therefore, chiefs need to help in warning people against settling and farming to avoid the risk of flooding which might lead to loss of lives.”

He added that adhering to the best practices in preserving water resources is very crucial to achieving MW2063 national vision since water is a vital resource in industrialisation, urbanisation and agricultural production.

“However, the fact that water levels will be higher is not bad news since this means that the country will have adequate water to be used for domestic and industrial purposes,” Kasambara said.

In his contribution, Paramount Chief Kyungu thus urged NWRA to clearly indicate the restricted boundaries, saying: “As chiefs, we have a crucial role to sensitise people on the do’s and dont’s on sustainable water use.

“The problem is that most Malawians misunderstood democracy and they think they can do anything including wanton cutting of trees and cultivating along river banks.

“I would like to urge the NWRA to properly instruct citizens on how best they can make use of this water which they say will be higher in the next hydrological cycle,” Kyungu said.

In August, when NRWA announced of increased water levels of Lake Malawi and Shire River in the coming 2024/25 hydrological (rainfall) year from December 1, 2024, the Authority reiterated that “it is against the law to carry out any activity like construction or cultivation below 477 masl contour line along Lake Malawi”.

“Any would-be developer along the shores of Lake Malawi should consult NWRA for technical guidance on the matter,” said the Authority while assuring the general public and all stakeholders that it will continue to sustainably manage, protect and monitor the Lake Malawi-Shire River system “to its best for the socio-economic benefit of the country”.

Last month, NWRA also conducted stakeholder engagement meetings with area development committees (ADC’s) in Nkhata Bay and Nkhotakota districts in line with its strategic plan on public advocacy and stakeholder engagements as one key result area in a bid to raise awareness regarding water resources management.

The engagement meeting served as a platform for sensitising people to take care of the water catchments and avoid constructing along buffer zones of Lake Malawi and rivers.

At the meeting, Kasambala said people must conform to acceptable practices, and no borehole drilling and that construction companies should not carry out duties without certification from NWRA.

The Authority, which is mandated by Malawi’s Water Resources Act (2016) to regulate, manage, conserve, use, develop and control water resources in Malawi, informed the public that Lake Malawi’s levels as at August 26, 2024 were 475.70 metres above the sea level (masl).

The levels were 475.28 masl on the same dates last year — representing an increase of 42cm higher while the highest recorded level this year was 476.38 masl, that was attained from April 21-25, 2024.

From April 26, NRWA reported that the levels have been going down, hence the current level 475.77 masl, saying: “The Lake Malawi levels this year are the recorded second highest to the 1989 levels which reached 477.22 masl since 1900.

“The increase had been attributed to increased rains in the Northern Region of Malawi as well as the Tanzanian side which are the main catchment of Lake Malawi.

“The increase has been accelerated by the previous year’s adequate stored water in the lakes,” said NWRA in a statement issued on August 31 as an alert of lakeshore residents since the Authority “is aware that the increase in Lake Malawi levels resulted in some infrastructure being submerged in water along the lake”.

“In response to the increased lake levels, NRWA increased the water release at Kamuzu Barrage at Liwonde to 1,000m3/s,” said the public notice. “This release is very high against the normal of 350m3/s.

“At this release, some of the infrastructure downstream the barrage also got affected. NRWA operates Kamuzu Barrage through the use of the model called Kamuzu Barrage Operational Model and the predictions from the model show that the lake level will be at 475.22 masl come 1st December, 2024 — which is generally the onset of the rainy season.

“Last year on the same December 1, the lake level was 475 masl. This entails that the lake level by December 2024 will be 22cm higher than the previous year.

“It is, therefore, very likely that in the 2024/25 hydrological year, the water levels of Lake Malawi will increase even higher than what was experienced this season. This would be exacerbated by the La Niña climatic prediction that the country would experience in the 2024/25 rainfall year.”

From last year, Malawi experienced El Niño climate phenomenon that emerges from variations in winds and sea surface temperatures over the tropical Pacific Ocean.

The warming phase of the sea surface temperature is known as El Niño while the cooling phase is La Niña, as according to National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.

La Niña (Spanish for Little Girl) has the opposite effect of El Niño and during La Niña events, trade winds are even stronger than usual, pushing more warm water toward Asia and National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration indicates that during a La Niña year, winter temperatures are warmer than normal in the South and cooler than normal in the North. La Niña can also lead to a severe hurricane season.

When the Lake Malawi water levels increased, many people who constructed on the  lakeshore and Shire River banks were ill-informed that NRWA had closed the Kamuzu Barrage — to which the Authority clarified at that time that it increased the water release at the barrage.

Some 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.—Additional reporting by Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express