Look: Fuel spill in Umbeluzi does not threaten Maputo wtater – AIM report

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Look: Fuel spill in Umbeluzi does not threaten Maputo wtater – AIM report

11:02 CAT | 12 Feb 2021

All photos: Miramar

A train carrying fuel from the port of Maputo to Eswatini derailed on Wednesday night, about one kilometer inside Eswatini, and eight tanker wagons fell into the Umbeluzi river, spilling about 360,000 litres of diesel.

Since the Umbeluzi flows into the reservoir behind the Pequenos Libombos dam, which is the main source of drinking water for Greater Maputo, there were fears that the Maputo water supply could be contaminated.

However, the Southern Regional Water Board (ARA-Sul) has assured consumers that all the Pequenos Libombos floodgates have been closed. The dam is not discharging any water into the Umbeluzi, and so the Maputo water supply cannot be compromised.

The Umbeluzi treatment and pumping station is currently being supplied by the Movene river, a tributary that enters the Umbeluzi downstream from the Pequenos Libombos dam. Thanks to the heavy rains this month in Maputo province, there is plenty of water in the Movene.

The ARA-Sul general director, Edgar Chongo, advised anyone living near the fuel spill not to drink Umbeluzi water.

The Mozambican publicly-owned rail and port company, CFM, and Eswatini Railways have set up a Commission of Inquiry to ascertain the causes of the accident, and put a figure on the damage.

According to CFM Executive Manager Abubacar Mussa, CFM has hired a company specialized in dealing with spills. Its team has already mapped the areas affected by the spill, and drawn up a plan to clean up the diesel, and, where possible, collect it from the river banks.