CHISHIMBA BWALYA
Kafue National Park
GREATER Kafue Landscape Limited (GKLL) says it has not recorded any negative effects of the February acid spillage on marine life within the waters of the Kafue River inside the Kafue National Park.
GKLL operations manager Jed Bird said last Friday that although higher acid levels were recorded in other areas, the waters around Mapunga and neighbouring camps were spared from the environmental catastrophe.
“Where the Kafue enters the national park upstream of that, Mushingashi and further, there were certain fish species die-offs. But yeah, no ill effects of the spill in the park. Which was obviously very positive,” Bird said.
Bird attributed the minimal impact on the park’s ecosystem to timing and rainfall patterns.
“We were lucky that it happened at that particular time of the year when there was higher rainfall and there was a lot of dilution with streams and other rivers flowing into the Kafue.”
“So, by the time those waters reached the national park, they had been diluted enough not to affect the fish stocks.”
Bird, who was speaking at an international fishing competition, which brought together over 80 anglers from Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia, said the situation was evidenced by the rise in fish stocks caught at this year’s event.
Over 2,600 fish had been caught in the annual all-species catch-and-release angling event, which was higher than last year.
And Mapunga Bush Camp director Greg Geldenhuys said the team has not seen “one dead fish”, attributing the situation to Government efforts in combating the spillage.
“We have not seen one dead fish from this spill, so that is very, very good. Simply because the Government did very well by taking action very, very quickly,” he said.
“The waters here are not contaminated.”
The acid spillage happened on the Copperbelt Province after a tailings dam collapsed, spilling toxic waste into the Chambeshi and Mwambashi river, which are tributaries of the Kafue River.
The spillage raised several environmental concerns for both animal and human life depending on the Kafue River for water and agriculture.
A number of Government efforts have been instituted since February to contain the leak, including applying lime into the affected water bodies.
Last month, Government revealed at a media briefing that PH levels were beginning to normalise, following over 250 samples that had been collected between June and July.
“You may wish to know that 22 out of 23 sampled sites had pH levels within the permissible limits, representing 95.7 percent compliance for the sampled sites,” Minister of Green Economy Mike Mposha said.
