EDITORIAL: WHY THE FOCUS SHOULD BE ON WATER CONSERVATION
Fresh water is increasingly becoming scarcer around the globe, setting the stage for a doomsday scenario in the next few decades. Access to water is at the centre of conflicts in some parts of the continent, and this serves to underscore the magnitude of the problem and its potential to slowly but steadily spiral out of control.
Most of these conflicts are between pastoralists and small-scale farmers. This is already a common occurrence in rural Tanzania, where climate change and environmental degradation are taking their toll on the availability of clean water to burgeoning populations.
In Africa, tensions are rising over the use of River Nile water, with some countries through which the river passes complaining that they are not being allowed to get a fair share of the critical natural resource.
There are predictions that the next major global conflict will not be sparked by a dispute over oil or land, but water. No effort should be spared to avert this worst-case scenario.
Of particular importance here is water conservation. While countries such as Tanzania can do little to reverse climate change or mitigate its effects on the wider population, it is within our power to conserve water that is available.
Also every available source of clean water should be tapped. This diversification should ease the pressure on sources currently being used to supply water for domestic and other uses. One wonders, for example why only a tiny percentage of the Tanzanian population harvests rainwater when it is relatively easily and inexpensive to do so.
It is estimated that an average household can harvest up to 20,000 litres of water during the long rains season, enough to take care of the needs of a five-member family for over three months.
This gives a rough idea of how much water, that is essentially free of charge, goes to waste each year.
CHECK THEFT OF STREETLIGHTS
Reports of solar streetlights being stolen or otherwise vandalised in Dar es Salaam and other urban centres are cause for grave concern. There are instances of streetlights and their components being stolen a few days after being installed.
The stolen lights are reportedly sold to crooked electricians, who buy them at a fraction of their value, and install them at homes and business premises for tidy sums. A number of people have already been arrested and charged in Moshi Municipality in connecting with the theft of solar streetlights.
Needless to say, it is a heartening development, and we expect to see this kind of vigilance and urgency in Dar es Salaam and other areas where the theft of streetlights is becoming a widespread problem.
It should be noted that many areas where solar streetlights have been installed were previously muggers’ paradises at night when it was easy for criminals to vanish into darkness after attacking and robbing unsuspecting passersby.
If the current situation is not checked as a matter of urgency, the insecurity that plagued some residential and business areas in the past could return sooner rather than later.
