The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation ( Unesco) has pledged US$5 million to help Zimbabwe implement its groundwater sustainable utilisation projects.
Unesco representative Martiale Zebaze Kana made the pledge yesterday during commemorations of World Water Day in Harare. Kana said the US$5 million project entitled Strengthening local communities’ Adaptive capacity and Resilience to Climate Change through Sustainable Groundwater Utilisation in Zimbabwe had been approved by the Adaptation Fund.
This year’s World Water Day commemorations ran under the theme Groundwater, making the invincible visible. Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development deputy minister Douglas Karoro said government would drill 35 000 boreholes in eight provinces to ensure that citizens have adequate water.
“Leveraging on our abundant ground water resources, we have embarked on a very ambitious but highly-achievable journey to drill 35 000 boreholes in the country’s eight rural provinces by the year 2025,” Karoro said. It is estimated that groundwater provides 50% of water needs for 62% of the population in southern Africa. In Zimbabwe, groundwater is the primary source of drinking water.