Fear amid the flow as the river trickles in
Excitement is bubbling in Maun.
Water is slowly returning to the tourist town, trickling in from the Angolan highlands as the annual flooding of streams in the Okavango Delta begins.
Abandoned gardens along Thamalakane River bank will soon come back to life.
This year, however, the anticipation is tinged with apprehension.
Petrol and diesel generators will start humming again, causing noise and air pollution, with some leaking oil into the very water that is a lifeline for many communities in the region.
“This is the same water that our livestock and wild animals consume. This is a path for elephants. This is the water that keeps fish alive, some people drink from it, while others water vegetables and cash crops with it,” notes Semi Dinyando, a worried resident of Mawana village on the outskirts of Maun.
A walk along the river bank presents an unpleasant hazard.
Empty oil containers, insecticides and mosquito repellent lie almost everywhere, trapped between tall dry grass in the river, scattered on the river bank and abandoned gardens, waiting to be washed away with the coming floods or sink deeper into the sand.
“It is sad because we all need the water to be clean but gardeners are only after money and failing to safely dispose of the empty containers, they will kill us all. No wonder people suspect their kidneys are being destroyed by this water,” warns Dinyando.
Scientifically, it has been proven that direct exposure to oil spills and chemicals in water sources is harmful to humans, with possible side effects ranging from: headaches, vomiting and diarrhea to renal failure and cancer.
People in the North West District suffer more from kidney problems than anywhere else in Botswana. While the government is planning to open a kidney specialised wing at Letsholathebe II Memorial hospital in Maun, the causes of the kidney failures in the region are still unknown.
“It is important for the river to be cleaned before the arrival of the flood to avoid contamination,” contended a Village Development Committee (VDC) member, Gaobolelwe Rammokolodi.
Nodding her head in agreement, another VDC member, Kemelo Molehele expressed concern over public health in the area.
“It is not only chemical containers and oils that are being dumped or spilled in the river, animal carcasses also rot in there. It really is an eyesore and we are hoping to get the community to clean up anytime soon.”
Recently, Letsholathebe Hospital Superintendent revealed that she suspects high consumption of Tswii to be the cause of renal problems in North West.
While some insist these comments were made in jest, unwilling to hear a word against their beloved Tswii, there is research that suggests she might have a point.
According to a Malaysian University study on ‘the environmental impact of generator spills’ published last August, people may be affected indirectly by oil spills through consuming contaminated food or water, especially by eating fish from polluted water.
“The fish that lives in a polluted environment will keep adsorbing in its body some oil components, without excretion, which may reach concentrations several orders of magnitude higher than those of the surrounding waters. Through consumption of such polluted fish meat, humans may become seriously exposed to higher concentrations of oil components than in the surrounding environment or as compared to ingestion of the polluted water or bathing in the polluted water.”
Tswii and fish, which are sourced from river water, feature heavily in diets in the North West.
The empty containers found in the river include insecticides such as chlorpirifos, doom and other harmful chemicals meant to kill insects.
According to a 2021 study by the National Library of Medicine in United States of America on Pesticides in Drinking water, excessive use of some of these insecticides can result in poisoning and potentially kill non-target animals upon exposure. This includes humans.
“Experimental studies suggest a relationship between pesticide exposure and renal impairment, but epidemiological evidence is limited,” states the study.
Another study, made in Egypt in 2014 by the country’s National Water Research Centre, pointed out that low concentration of pesticides built up in water can get magnified through the food chain and enter aquatic organisms that are hazardous for human consumption.
“Importantly, chronic exposure to pesticides through water ingestion can mimic the human body’s hormones that reduce body immunity, interrupt hormone balance, trigger reproductive-related issues, posing carcinogenic effects and reduce intelligence particularly towards the children under the body development stage.”
Reached for comment, the Regional Environment Office abruptly drove to Mawana, where they gathered the community for a river clean-up campaign last Friday.
“We visited Mawana and we saw the dangerous litter you spoke about. We did the clean up, the oil and chemical containers were picked and safely disposed off,” explained the district’s Principal Environmental Officer, Tirelo Raborophi.
He further called on farmers and community members to practice safe disposal of rubbish in order to save the environment as well as lives of the people and animals that drink water and eat plants from the river.
