Nokuthaba Dlamini
Lupane—At dawn in Lubimbi and Gwayi in Matabeleland North’s Lupane district, the sound of donkey hooves on dusty roads and creaking scotch carts is all too familiar.
Families hitch the scotch carts and begin the long journey—sometimes up to 13 kilometres—to fetch water from the few available wells in their neighbourhoods.
The water is not the best they wish for, though, but do they have a choice?
It is salty, bitter to the taste, and is widely suspected that it is so corrosive that it stains children’s teeth to a permanent brown.
For villagers here, the water crisis is not new. And, as villagers testify, it is getting worse as increasing aridity due to climate change is sucking up shallow wells and pressing water tables deeper underground.
The remaining boreholes, the villagers say, are also producing saline water that is unfit for drinking or cooking.
“We have quite a number of villages without water where they walk over five kilometers to access it,” says Doctor Ncube, the headman for Chimwara village.
Even though the boreholes are a distasteful option, the village head resignedly sees them as the saviour.
After all, the water from shallow sources in other areas they are relying on is equally bad.
“Those on higher ground suffer the most. What is needed is for boreholes to be drilled and water piped to the villages, powered by solar. People tried to raise funds themselves, but they can’t manage. Most are unemployed,” he added.
At Gwayi Pottery and other surrounding villages, hundreds of families share a single borehole drilled years ago by a conservationist. For many, the only alternative is untreated water from the Gwayi springs.
“People use scotch carts to fetch water from far away,” explains villager Coster Nyoni, a villager.
“The water from the Gwayi spring is salty. Children’s teeth are turning brown, and the stains are permanent. It is only us the elderly who seem not to be affected.
“We wish that the government or NGOs (non-governmental organisations) could step in with pipes to bring clean water closer to the people because others travel as far as seven kilometers or more to get water for drinking,” he told NewsHub.
In Lubimbi, a 52-year-old widow, Esther Moyo, says her family spends more hours fetching water than tending fields.
“We leave at five in the morning and return around midday. By the time we get back, there is no energy to work in the garden. The little water we bring, we have to share between drinking, cooking, and washing. Even the cattle suffer,” she says.
Experts say Lupane’s crisis reflects a broader pattern across Zimbabwe’s semi-arid regions.
Decreasing rainfall, recurring droughts, and higher evaporation rates are lowering groundwater recharge, leaving aquifers depleted or contaminated with saline water.
A 2024 study published in Science of the Total Environment found that groundwater salinisation is becoming more common in drought-prone rural areas, threatening both health and food security.
In Lupane, the effects are visible. Parents say children complain of stomach aches, and many households have stopped boiling water to make it safer because it is time consuming.
Some boreholes have been completely abandoned because the water is simply undrinkable, the water table is unreachable or the machines have broken down.
According to a Kusile Rural District Council report, the problem is especially severe in Matabeleland North.
About 405 boreholes had dried up in the province by 2019. The remaining few still functioning face frequent breakdowns.
The government has acknowledged the crisis.
In its 2025 national budget, it allocated funds to accelerate the long-delayed Lake Gwayi-Shangani project and its pipeline, which is expected to supply water to much of Matabeleland North and Bulawayo, albeit after decades of unfulfilled promises.
The government also launched the “Build Back Better” strategy after successive droughts, pledging to drill 7 000 boreholes nationwide, many of them solar-powered, to boost water access in rural areas.
Development partners have also stepped in. The World Bank-supported Lupane Water Supply Project recently upgraded the local treatment plant, connecting 1 500 households to clean water and benefiting over 12 000 people.
Some boreholes in the area were previously non-functional or rusted but water supplies have now improved even though shortages have persisted as more people in the hinterland have not been able to benefit from the project.
“We are too many people relying on too few boreholes,” says Nyoni. “If nothing is done, the problem will only get worse. Water is life, and we are losing it.”
Village leaders are calling for groundwater mapping to identify reliable sources.
They are also urging the expansion of solar-powered schemes and piped distribution systems to link distant boreholes to scattered homesteads.
As climate forecasts point to continued erratic rainfall in southern Africa, and with Matabeleland North being among the hardest hit regions, the need for action has become urgent.
The Meteorological Services Department MSD has warned that early rains for the 2025-2026 main farming season may fail, extending the dry season for many households.