Lilongwe — Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) will over the weekend plant 25, 000 trees as a way of controlling soil degradation which greatly affected its Kamuzu 1 and 2 dams. Speaking in an interview Friday with Malawi News Agency (Mana), LWB Publicist Trevor Phoya said the tree planting exercise will take place on Saturday, February 22, 2014.

“There was too much deforestation at Malingunde, that is why we have come up with this program to plant more trees to add to other trees we have been planting over the past years,” said Phoya. He, however said the number of trees to be planted is likely to increase as the board continues to receive donation of seedlings from organizations as well as individuals.

The Publicist said that water is life and without water life cannot be precious. Every person relies on water to perform various activities. “Kamuzu Dam 1 and 2 are the only water resources for LWB and would like the two dams have more water to supply to its catchment areas,” he explained.

Phoya said the planting of tree will enable LWB to harvest more water from the surrounding rivers. He said it was encouraging to note that several individuals and organizations have expressed interest to assist the board in this year’s tree planting exercise. Among other companies which are working together with LWB in tree planting are Carlsberg Malawi and Malawi Daily Industries (MDI).