By Beatific Gumbwanda
A stillage pond at Triangle Section 6 in the lowveld collapsed last week, releasing 16 megaliters of chemical-laden liquid waste into the Cheche and Mtirikwi rivers, prompting a critical public health and environmental alert across the Lowveld region.
Officials fear the toxic plume has already reached the Runde River, one of the district’s largest waterways.
The 16 megaliter stillage tank collapsed, instantaneously injecting a substantial volume of liquid stillage, a waste product often containing harmful chemicals directly into the natural river system.
The immediate environmental consequences were confirmed by reports of dead fish sighted upstream of the Runde River, strongly suggesting that the contamination had already progressed downstream.
Chiredzi District Development Coordinator (DDC), Lovemore Chisema who chairs the Civil Protection Unit (CPU) together with Environmental Management Authority (EMA) issued an urgent public advisory to safeguard human health.
“Residents are strictly warned NOT to consume fish from the Cheche, Mtirikwi, or Runde rivers until further notice due to the confirmed chemical contamination.
“Also the use of water from these rivers for domestic purposes (including drinking, cooking, or bathing) must be avoided entirely until water quality tests confirm safety,” said Chisema.
Chisema also indicated that emergency response teams had been deployed to execute immediate dilution efforts in a bid to mitigate severe environmental damage.
“Authorities are actively diverting large volumes of clean water from three separate sources, the Gungwa Weir, Off Take 18, and Christine Water, into the affected rivers. The goal of this emergency action is to dilute the concentration of the toxic waste as quickly as possible and minimize the spread of the plume,” added Chisema.
Affected communities were advised to follow official updates from the Environmental Management Agency and local authorities for ongoing guidance and official water-quality test results
