According to a report by Bloomberg, Zambia will accept a $50 million loan from the World Bank which will help to level damage that has resulted from droughts and floods. About 100 small dams, the report said, will be repaired under funding from the loan.

Over the next ten years, upwards of one million rural area residents will experience improved access and cleanliness of water.

“Mitigating the impact of droughts and floods through development of a sound infrastructure platform to secure the productive use of water resources is central to continued economic development,” Kundhavi Kadiresan, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia country director told Bloomberg.

Had the loan agreement not been established, the country would be on track to lose $4.3 billion, also over the course of ten years, if droughts and the harsh effects of global warming were to persist.

According to Bloomberg, 300,000 people will be able to avoid slipping below the poverty line now that the water development loan will be issued.

In Gweru, a city in central Zimbabwe, council members have agreed to implement door-to-door water service now that the area’s water access has nearly dried up. According to All Africa, the Gwenhoro Dam’s water levels — now at 1.2 percent — have reached a point where extraction is nearly impossible. The city’s Amaphongokwe Dam, however, is holding up at 41 percent capacity.

“We are now drawing water from Amapongokwe Dam which is supplying 90 percent of the city’s daily consumption. However, its capacity can only sustain the city for only two months,” said Tapiwa Marerwa, assistant to the head of PR in Gweru.

“We have acquired a vehicle which will move around with a 5,000-liter tanker distributing water to residents in areas where there are acute water shortages due to water shedding,” he said.

The tanker, which fits on the truck and holds the water has yet to be fitted. The city is in the process of raising $138,000 in funds which will support the drilling of 31 boreholes.