Many raw water users have always been wondering where the money they pay in leivies go apart from financing the operations of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority and subcatchment council operations.
It is therefore imperative for these water users to know that part of the money they are obliged to pay go towards the Water Fund.
In its bid to ensure that there is funding for the general development of Zimbabwe’s water resources, Government through the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) Act (Chapter 20:25) provides for the establishment of a fund known as the Water Fund. The Minister of Environment, Water and Climate is the Fund’s trustee.
The Fund’s main purpose is to provide the much needed finance to sustain a number of initiatives aimed at developing and managing water resources in the country.
These include the construction of water infrastructure such as dams and weirs. This is to ensure that all citizens have access to affordable water all the time.
This is also in line with the principles of the Integrated Water Resources Management which recognise that water is also an economic good which can self finance its development and sustainable exploitation.
The fund consists of water levies which are charged on all non-primary water abstractors whose operations, as encapsulated by the Water Act (Chapter 20:24), are subject to possession of a valid permit or agreement. Non primary water users include irrigating farmers, agricultural estates, mines, and industry. Bulk water operators also fall into this category. Donations, loans as well as any moneys that may accrue in terms of the ZINWA Act can also contribute to the fund.
It is also essential to highlight that payments from the organisation’s various consumers remains the bedrock of the Authority’s financial source and key to the development of the country’s water resources. It can therefore not be over emphasised that the viability and sustenance of the Water Fund is dependent on what consumers of all non primary water users pay in terms of levies.
Paying levies is therefore a crucial step in contributing to the development and sustainable management of the country’s water resources and anyone who has an obligation to pay these levies must play his or her part in developing the resource.
For more information please contact the ZINWA Corporate Communications and Marketing Department on pr@zinwa.co.zw <mailto:pr@zinwa.co.zw> or visit www.zinwa.co.zw <http://www.zinwa.co.zw>. You can also like the Zimbabwe National Water Authority Facebook Page.