Dr Hanjahanja says the board is currently discussing with Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) to spare sites of the board from loadshedding to allow consistent water supply in the city.

"Our pumping stations in Chigumula, Chichiri, Soche, Ndirande and Nyambadwe were not receiving power since last week. And because of this we are not able to distribute water into the city, communities and also tanks that store our water," Hanjahanja said.

Meanwhile, health expert professor Adamson Muula thinks the Blantyre Water Board should work hand-in-hand with relevant bodies to achieve continuous flow of water in order to contain the cholera outbreak.

"I think the time has come where we should not play with human life. We link up the Southern Region Water Board to Blantyre Water Board so that they should supplement each other when one does not have water flows," Muula suggested.

Blantyre Water Board recently announced plans to install solar water pumps to minimize frequent water supply cuts due to power outages.

(By Mathias Mkupasha-ZBS)