adminBlessings Chidakwa Municipal Correspondent
Large swathes of Chitungwiza have gone without piped water for seven months, while the sewage treatment plant is overburdened and under maintained, and the sewer network is in need of urgent repairs, sending residents and health workers into panic mode.
Enterprising residents in the town are now selling borehole or well water at $3 for a 20-litre bucket, which people are having to pay, but at that price are not buying as much as they should for good health.
But a fair quantity of this supposedly safe water is in fact drawn from the Manyame River and would not be considered safe.
Rivulets of raw sewage on the streets, from blocked or broken sewers, have become the norm in the town, and children can be seen jumping into the puddles as a pastime, oblivious of the attendant health implications.
Chitungwiza’s sewage treatment works on the Nyatsime River is discharging poorly treated effluent directly into the river which feeds into Lake Chivero.
But Harare is doing the same from its overloaded and poorly maintained plants.
Lake Chivero is presently Harare’s major source of water, and it probably explains why City of Harare requires more chemicals to treat water compared to other councils.
Speaking on the sidelines of a full council meeting last week, Chitungwiza Mayor Lovemore Maiko said Harare was supplying just 20 percent of Chitungwiza’s water needs.
“All things being equal, we are supposed to be getting 70 megalitres on a daily basis so that each and every tap can actually have running water. But currently we are getting only around 24 to 25 megalitres of water per week, which is a drop in an ocean,” he said.
On the banks of the Manyame River as it skirts the northern edge of Chitungwiza, there is a thriving water business with pushcart operators drawing raw water from one of Zimbabwe’s most polluted rivers.
The water merchants buy the water for $1 a bucket and sell it for $3.
A six-month pregnant woman from St Mary’s , near Chigovanyika area, Mrs Vimbai Tavatya recently narrated her daily ordeal in accessing water.
“I came here at around 9am and it’s now 4pm, but still I haven’t managed to fetch even a bucket,” she said. “I can’t stand being shoved in the queue. Fighting is the order of the day here.
“It’s either you drink this water or part with your hard-earned cash to buy from selected individuals who have protected wells at their houses.”
Mr Maiko said the infrastructure could no longer cope with Chitungwiza’s growing population that has increased 10-fold from the its official carrying capacity of 50 000 people.
Areas of Chitungwiza with collapsed sewers include Seke Unit M, L, N, O, P, part of D and St Mary’s.
Mr Maiko said sprouting illegal settlements contributed immensely to sewer network collapse, leading to raw sewage being discharged into the Nyatsime River.
“We called for Government and other stakeholders to assist,” he said. “This is a ticking time bomb, we have more lives which are in danger. As you are aware, the Constitution of Zimbabwe is very clear in terms of making sure that the right to life is sacrosanct and needs to be protected at all costs.
“So, the sewer problem is giving us headaches. The network systems need to be revamped if we are to deal or to manage the sewer crisis in Chitungwiza.”
Online Reporter