admincomes at a time the city’s sanitation coverage has plummeted from 95 percent to around 60 percent, a development that can explain the outbreak of diseases like cholera and typhoid.
Efforts to raise capital to construct new water sources seem to be failing hence the thrust on conservation.
More so, 60 percent of the water produced by the city is lost either through leakages, thefts or faulty meters.
Council yesterday convened a roundtable meeting to discuss the city’s water challenges and to draw the roadmap for a zero littering campaign.
The meeting agreed that stringent conservation methods should be employed such as the use of buckets to bathe, recycling of bath water to irrigate gardens and lawns.
Water conservation methods at household, commercial and industrial levels will help extend the supply coverage.
The city has a programme to install 45 000 water meters after realising that the majority of meters were not giving correct readings of water usage.
A pilot programme has seen the installation of 5 000 meters in Mabvuku and Tafara.
Harare produces on average 620 million litres of water every day against a demand of 1 200 million litres, implying that half of the city population will be without water if no strict water demand management scheme is in place.
Of that water 60 percent is lost in the reticulation system, implying that only 215 million litres are billed and paid for by consumers.
Harare Water distribution and customer service manager Engineer Hosea Chisango said millions of litres in treated water were lost through leaks because the water infrastructure is old and succumbing to the dictates of time.
He said some residents were by-passing water meters hence the city was failing to account for used water.
Executive director of the Institute for Water and Sanitation Development Mrs Noma Neseni said people should stop the habit of flushing their toilets each time they urinate.
She said the sanitation coverage in Harare had drastically fallen to 60 percent from about 95 percent prior 2000.
She said some households in Harare were using “flying toilets”, which explains why at dumpsites one can find human waste wrapped in papers.
Mrs Neseni said the use of pampers was having a negative impact on water supply as pampers and other solid waste always find their way into water bodies. Pampers might have human waste which can cause cholera.
She said water bodies were full of used condoms, pampers and sanitary pads, suggesting that such waste should be sorted out at household level.
Mr Steady Kangata of the Environmental Management Agency said vending contributed much to the pollution of water bodies.
Mr George Chimanikire of MBCA said banking institutions were worried that Harare’s water pricing does not allow the city to recoup its investment in supplying water.
The meeting was attended by the secretary to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Mr Ian Makone, who emphasised the need for the city and residents to take responsibility in water conservation. He said the water conservation and zero littering campaign will be launched on July 6 in Budiriro.
Online Reporter