![Chiipanthenga: To revive Mudi dam]()
Over 2000 susistence farmers who enchroached Mudi dam, the source of water for Blantyre Water Board have finally stopped cultivating around the dam after the board paid out K140m in compensation.
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![Chiipanthenga: To revive Mudi dam]()
Chiipanthenga: To revive Mudi dam[/caption]
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![BWM, Blantyre City Council officials, chiefs and councilliors]()
BWM, Blantyre City Council officials, chiefs and councilliors[/caption]
The board paid out the money to settle the matter once and for all although in real life set up, tge state was supposed to prosecute them for encroaching in a protected area.
Blantyre Water Board's Mabvuto Chiipanthenga said on Friday the board to the decision after exhausting all avenues to deal with the matter after noticing that water levels in the dam had drastically gone down from 45 million litres per day to just 6 million litres per day.
"We used to spend a lot of money to uy chemicals to purify the water of chemicals because of fertilizer in the catchment area. The water levels dwindled drastically because of wanton cutting down of trees around the catchment area," said Chiipathenga.
He said people encroached the protected area at the dawn of multiparty democracy.
A visit by journalists to the area on Friday showed all farming activities have stopped completely, thanks to the now good working relationship with local leaders around the dam.