More than 40,000 additional people will be supplied with drinking water in the border towns of Lomahasha and Namaacha, in Eswatini and Mozambique respectively. This is the ambition of a new cross-border drinking water supply project launched on 6 June 2024 by the authorities of the two countries. The launch was attended by the Managing Director of the Eswatini Water Services Corporation, Jabulile Mashwama, a representative of the Mozambican Ministry of Water Supply and Sanitation, Chuene Ramphele and Michael Feiner, Chargé d’Affaires at the German Embassy in Mozambique, as well as the Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Water Fund.
The water project, which aims to ensure access to drinking water and strengthen climate resilience through the development of shared infrastructure, will be financed to the tune of €16 million by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and integrated into the SADC-Germany regional development cooperation, itself supported by German cooperation via the German development agency (KfW).
Shared facilities to help combat drought
According to the technical details of the cross-border Lomahasha/Namaacha (LoNa) drinking water supply project, water from the Mbuluzi river, which rises in Swaziland at an altitude of 1,600 m above sea level and drains an area of 2,986 km2 before entering Mozambique, will be harnessed through new infrastructure.
Magnificent waterfall along the Mbuluzi River in Eswatini ©OHlungwani/Shutterstock
The raw water from the Mbuluzi will be pumped through new pumping stations, stored in reservoirs and then sent to a drinking water treatment plant. The drinking water will be distributed to the 40,000 people targeted via bulk water distribution points. “This joint effort by all the partners is all the more important as the border towns of Lomahasha (eSwatini) and Namaacha (Mozambique) have been facing a water shortage due to the effects of climate change, forcing the population to draw water 34 km from the Mbuluzi river that they share”, says SADC.
In addition to improving the supply of drinking water, the LoNa project aims to strengthen regional integration and economic development through shared infrastructure. This is the second cross-border piped water supply project under the SADC Regional Fund for Water Infrastructure and Basic Sanitation, the SADC Water Fund, which aims to promote a secure water future for a resilient (Southern Africa), peaceful and prosperous sub-region.
Inès Magoum