Addressing Zambia’s Water Security Challenges

This policy brief by Good Governance Africa examines Zambia's water security crisis, detailing how infrastructure deficits, climate change, and governance failures impact health, agriculture, and the environment. It recommends establishing a National Water Resources Authority, revising water legislation to include groundwater management, and investing in irrigation to reduce reliance on rain-fed farming.

• Zambia faces significant water access disparities, with only two-thirds of the population having adequate access to clean water. This deficit is most acute in rural areas and is driven by insufficient funding and poor maintenance of infrastructure, including pump stations and water treatment plants.
• Water insecurity has severe public health consequences, with contaminated water serving as the third largest cause of mortality for children under five. Since 2023, Zambia has been an epicenter for the 2024 Southern Africa cholera outbreak, recording approximately 700 deaths and nearly 20,000 infections.
• The agricultural sector is highly vulnerable to water shortages due to a heavy reliance on rain-fed farming; only about 4% of arable land is irrigated. While 523,000 hectares are suitable for irrigation, high infrastructure costs and irregular rainfall hinder productivity for staple crops like maize, rice, and wheat.
• Mining operations have caused severe environmental degradation and water contamination, specifically affecting the Mushishima Stream in the Chingola District and the Kafue River. Pollution from mines, paper mills, and fertilizer factories has turned the Kafue River murky green and threatened indigenous fish and local biodiversity.
• Water scarcity creates economic instability by reducing agricultural output, which in turn diminishes exports and foreign exchange revenues. It also drives inflation in food prices and can trigger local resource conflicts, as seen in the Namwala district where water access is often dictated by local power relations.
• Zambia's legal framework for water is insufficient; the Water Act 198 focuses only on water rights and fails to address groundwater management or shared watercourses. This has led to the unregulated exploitation of groundwater, which is frequently treated as privately owned.
• Water scarcity disproportionately affects women and girls, who are primarily responsible for household water collection in rural areas. This burden results in time lost from education and employment and increases personal safety risks.

APA

Maluleke, L. (2024). Addressing Zambia’s Water Security Challenges. Good Governance Africa. https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2024/08/Addressing-Zambias-Water-Security-Challenges-PB.pdf

Chicago

Maluleke, Leleti. Addressing Zambia’s Water Security Challenges. Good Governance Africa, 2024. https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2024/08/Addressing-Zambias-Water-Security-Challenges-PB.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Maluleke |first1=Leleti |title=Addressing Zambia’s Water Security Challenges |publisher=Good Governance Africa |date=September 2024 |url=https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2024/08/Addressing-Zambias-Water-Security-Challenges-PB.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{maluleke2024addressing, author = {Maluleke, Leleti}, title = {{Addressing Zambia’s Water Security Challenges}}, institution = {Good Governance Africa}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2024/08/Addressing-Zambias-Water-Security-Challenges-PB.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }