adminLovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
A GWERU flat, Ennerdale Court which is situated opposite City Council offices has gone for four years without running water.
Ironically, the flat is owned by the local authority.
The flat last had running water in 2009 and since then residents have been forced to buy drinking water from retail outlets.
A resident at the flat who refused to be named said residents have been forced to make contributions to sink a borehole.
The resident, however, said they could not drink the water before tests to ascertain whether the water was safe for human consumption were carried out.
“We haven’t received any water supplies from council since 2009. As tenants, we engaged council time and again to rectify the problem to no avail.
“We are now forced to buy bottled water in shops for drinking and cooking purposes. We are now relying on borehole water but we cannot drink or use the water for the purposes of cooking because we are not sure whether it is safe for human consumption,” said the resident.
Other residents said despite the fact that there had no running water, they were receiving water bills based on estimates.
The residents said they would engage council so that they are reimbursed their money.
Council’s acting director of engineering services; Praymore Mhlanga, confirmed receiving the complaint and blamed the state of affairs on old pipes which need to be replaced.
He said: “We are aware of that problem and council is doing everything within its power to rectify the situation. The problem has to do with old pipes some of which have burst or been blocked. This has resulted in the flat failing to receive water”.
Council has been failing to provide constant water supplies to high ground areas such as Mkoba 19 and some parts of Senga.
The municipality has resorted to sinking boreholes in these areas.
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