Borehole registration
Okay so up there with the new vehicle license registration requirements has to be the new directive from the Ministry of Water about borehole registration.
Earlier this year, catchment offices around the country started leaving notes in people’s post boxes, telling them to come and pay $100 or more to register their boreholes. Whoa. At the time, in Harare at least, the City Council stepped in and reminded people that, no, they were the ones who handled borehole registration – for a one-off $35 fee.
Anyway, it would appear the Ministry of Water Resources and Development Management got wind of this and realised that they were missing out on an income stream here. So they’ve jumped into the fray and have issued a directive requiring the registration of boreholes – for a fee of $40 per year. They’ve given the public until 30 June to get registered, after which you pay a $60 fine on top of the $40 annual registration fee (sound familiar . . .).
Find the press release about registration and download the registration form here
Since the form isn’t exactly straightforward, I phoned their offices for some clarification. The conversation went something like this:
Me: What if I don’t know my borehole number?
Her: Leave it off
Me: What if I don’t know the borehole depth?
Her: You don’t know the depth?
Me: Nope.
Her: Okay leave it blank.
Me: What if I don’t know my GPS reading?
Her: The GPS reading is required. If you don’t know it, you can come to our office, pay $20, and we will send someone to read the GPS location of the borehole.
Me: What about abstraction rate?
Her: If your borehole is for domestic use we can estimate that.
Me: What do you mean by potential pollution sources?
Her: You know, a soak away, septic tank or asymmetry nearby.
Me: Asymmetry? What is that?
Her: Where people are buried.
Me: Ah! Oh. Thanks. Or pets? Like if I’ve buried my dog in the garden?
Her: Yes. Or pets.
For interest sake, a number of online sites let you zoom in on a map (including road, satellite or hybrid view) which you can use to pinpoint your GPS coordinates pretty well. For example try: http://www.getlatlon.com
Note you’re meant to get the form signed before a Commissioner of Oaths, and you’re meant to submit 4 copies (these can be photocopies, they don’t have to all be registered copies).
It would be great if this process actually goes somewhere – e.g. to the monitoring and regulation of borehole usage, and assessment of our country’s water table, usage and vulnerabilities in terms of water. But unfortunately, it’s really hard to feel like this isn’t just one more exercise in creating work for people in order to get money out of them.