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Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Senior Reporter
BULAWAYO City Council’s reticulated water ranks among the safest for consumption in the country, with a majority of the city’s residents using safe sources of drinking water, the Environmental Management Agency has said.
In an interview last week, EMA spokesperson Mr Steady Kangata said Bulawayo and Mutare had the safest water in the country. Mr Kangata said the two cities are drawing their water upstream where there was little pollution activity happening, making the two cities’ water safer to drink.
He said cities like Harare which had their main water sources downstream where they were prone to pollution from the metropolis needed to rigorously purify the water before reticulating it for consumption.
“Bulawayo’s reticulated water is good. Bulawayo draws its water upstream such that all the ills that happen in the city don’t end up in the water sources. There is little pollution activity happening upstream. Mutare too draws its water upstream and their water is safe. In Harare the water sources are downstream and the city is upstream. Everything that happens in the city ends up in the water sources and the local authority needs eight to nine chemicals to purify the water first,” he said.
Mr Kangata added that a majority of Bulawayo residents use council reticulated water and were thus free from diseases associated with drinking dirty water. He said the city had few illegal settlements compared to Harare where a great number of people rely on shallow wells and other unsafe sources of water.
“Bulawayo is different from Harare. There are few illegal settlements sprouting in Bulawayo. Settlement is regulated such that most residents have access to clean tap water. In Harare people are settling on ecological sites such as wetlands. There are a lot of illegal settlements where people rely on shallow wells. A great number of residents rely on boreholes which are not safe as well,” he said.
Mr Kangata said borehole water was unsafe for consumption without precautions as it was contaminated due to transposition of matter by rain water. He said residents should boil all drinking water regardless of its source, adding that only certified purified water could do without boiling.
“Our advice has always been that people should boil water before consumption with the exception of certified purified water.
“Ground water is not safe for consumption without precautions because of a number of factors. There is illegal dumping in cities, septic tanks and so on and due to rain water matter from those areas can be transported to the water sources,” he said.
Bulawayo senior public relations officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu concurred with Mr Kangata that the city’s council reticulated water was safe for consumption.
She said borehole water was not safe for consumption as it was susceptible to contamination.
“The City of Bulawayo water is very safe and its quality is monitored 24 hours, seven days a week. Borehole water is not treated and therefore not safe for human consumption as it is subject to contamination at any time due to environmental factors such as seepage of sewerage or contaminated runoff. The City of Bulawayo advises residents to consume municipal water and if ever they are forced to drink borehole water they should boil it,” she said.
A survey by ZimStat in 2015 showed that 98,1 percent of the people in Bulawayo used piped water compared to 29 percent in Harare. Recently the Minister of Health and Child Care Dr David Parirenyatwa revealed that most boreholes in the capital’s low-density suburbs were contaminated.
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