Yomisi was speaking during the EMA Laboratory Accreditation Certificate handover ceremony in Harare recently. She would not disclose how widespread the problem was and what measures were being taken to arrest the crisis.
The EMA laboratory, which was established in 2007, received the ISO International Electro-Technical Standards 1702 five certification, which will see the results from the laboratory being accepted globally.
EMA Board chairperson, Sheunesu Mpepereki, said Zimbabwe was moving from speculation to fact regarding substances that were endangering the environment.
“It is about moving from qualitative to quantitative descriptions. We must measure exactly how much substances are endangering the environment. It has been a long road but we are happy now that our capacity to measure environmental pollutants is now matching world standards,” he said.
He said while EMA fully supported the exploitation of mineral wealth in the country and commercial farming, it expected people to do it in a manner that would not harm the environment. ‘We are not out to make life difficult but we are preventing you from making us extinct,” he said.
The laboratory currently has 40, 000 chemicals for analysis for water sources scattered across the country, including boreholes, rivers and streams.
“This is so that we can trace back pollution to its source, especially in rural areas where people are unsuspecting. They need to be protected, they need to have confidence in their water,” said EMA Director General, Mutsa Chasi.
She said tests made so far had indicated there was a heavy metal contamination in the country’s underground water.
The EMAL becomes only the second environmental laboratory to be accredited by SADCAS.
Post published in: Agriculture