A plea has gone out to government to consider adding more water reservoirs at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) – Bunda Campus to help sort out water problems affecting students.

According to Member of Parliament for Lilongwe Msozi South Liana Chapota, who rose in Parliament and posed a question to the Minister, students at the school are facing serious inadequate water supply challenges due to high demand.

In her response, Minister of Forestry and Natural Resources Nancy Tembo admitted that government is quite aware of the water supply challenge and that her ministry is currently working with Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) to address the situation.

“Generally, we as Tonse Administration, are looking at supplying clean and safe water to every corner of this country but because of limitation in supply, certain communities are not getting adequate supply from the water boards.

“There is something that my Ministry is doing LWB, see if LWB can supply more water, because now they have Kamuzu Dam coming into operation very soon so hopefully that water can supplement the water that is currently being supplied to Bunda,” Tembo said.

She added that government through Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) has plans of increasing water supply to areas in Rumphi following concerns over inadequate water supply as expressed by Water Users Association in the district.

“As regards the Water Users Association I know there are plans by the NRWB for Rumphi, so the shortage in water by the Association should come to an end once these plans are infected by NRWB,” said Tembo.

Meanwhile, legislator for Ntcheu West Simion Salambula has also asked the Minister that Ntcheu West is facing acute shortage of water supply due to dilapidated system that has outlived its life span.

Salambula said his Constituency is pleading with the Ministry to address the water problem and treat it as an urgent matter.

Speaking during the State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Lazarus Chakwera told the august House that his administration will ensure increased coverage of the population with safe drinking water in urban and town centers serviced by the Water Boards from K3.4 million to K3.6 million.