The country has received quite a lot of rains since the beginning of the 2016 /17 rainy season. The rains have ranged from normal to largely above normal with more rains expected to fall, according to forecasts.As a result of the rains, a good number of areas have experienced flooding, including those areas that had not witnessed floods in years. The flooding once again demonstrates the hazards that excessive water can inflict on society since property gets destroyed and in some cases life is lost.
However, a worrying development has been the breaching of small dams around the country, largely built on private land by individuals on their farms or urban properties. These dam failures have resulted in environmental hazards, infrastructure damage and dangers.
Despite all these attendant dangers associated with dam failures especially during periods of excessive rains, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has noted with serious concern the non-compliance with the law that quite a number of these private dam owners have exhibited.
The Water Act outlines procedures that should be followed when one intends to construct a dam at his private property and what such a dam owner is required to do in the event of an impending disaster.
In terms of Section 100 of the Water Act, upon completion of a small dam, the small dam owner should within, a period of 30 days from the completion, notify the Secretary for Environment, Water and Climate.
Within 120 days of completion of the dam, the owner of a small dam should submit to the Secretary and Zinwa, a report in the prescribed form, a completion certificate of adequacy, safety and completion of the dam works signed by an approved civil engineer or approved by a civil engineering technician as the case may be.
Upon receipt of these required documents, the Secretary for Environment, Water and Climate in consultation with Zinwa shall register the small dam and issue the owner with a registration certificate.
These are the legal requirements relating to the construction and registration of small dams.
Any failure to comply with these requirements constitutes a criminal offence and offenders are liable to a prison term not exceeding six months, a fine or both such a fine and imprisonment.
The Act also places certain obligations on owners of private dams, whether large or small, in cases of emergencies and it is very important that dam owners fulfil these obligations. Section 109 of the Water Act lays out the procedures that have to be put in place in the event of an emergency.
The Section compels dam owners, once they learn of any sudden or unprecedented flood or alarming or unusual circumstance or occurrence, to forthwith take all such steps as may be reasonable and practicable for dealing with the flood.
The owner is also required to “as soon as practicable notify the Secretary and Zinwa, as fully as possible, of the flood, circumstance or occurrence, as the case may be and of the action he has taken or proposes to take.
An owner who fails to adhere to these requirements is guilty of an offence and liable for a prison term not exceeding six months, a fine or both such imprisonment and a fine.
Zinwa therefore appeals to dam owners across the country to acquaint themselves with these legal provisions for purposes of dam safety.
Those whose dams are not registered should take immediate steps to regularise the registration as the long arm of the law will surely catch them.
For more information please contact the Zimbabwe National Water Authority Corporate Communications and Marketing Department on [email protected] or [email protected]. You may also visit www.zinwa.co.zw or follow us on Twitter @zinwawater