Chronicle Editor
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
MATABELELAND South province needs an additional 800 boreholes to be drilled at a cost of $5,4 million in order to ease water challenges as it fights Covid-19.
In a statement on the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) situation in the province DDF Matabeleland South provincial coordinator, Mr Moment Malandu said the province has 6 400 boreholes and 1 231 broke down.
He said teams were on the ground repairing those that were not functioning but they were facing a challenge in acquiring spares.
Mr Malandu said it was crucial for communities to have access to clean water to enable communities to maintain personal hygiene as they fight Covid-19.
He said they were also working to ensure that all points that had been identified as isolation centres in the province have adequate water supply.
“We have also identified high risk areas where basic hygiene has to be maintained and these include markets, shops, isolation centres, quarantine centres, water points especially in rural areas, prisons and holding camps.
“We have to design in conjunction with local authorities a way of controlling people at market places and provide them with water and sanitation points. We also have to ensure hygiene is maintained in these high-risk areas,” he said.
Mr Malandu said their target was to repair approximately eight boreholes per day. He said district maintenance teams were however at risk as their work requires them to be close together and they do not have protective clothing.
Mr Malandu said the province also has 162 piped water schemes and 54 of them need to be repaired.
“A total of 799 boreholes are needed in the province at a total cost of about $5,4 million in order to address water challenges being faced in the province. The province is experiencing water challenges in both urban and rural areas. In rural areas, people have to walk long distances to reach the nearest water point while in some areas people are using unsafe water sources,” he said.
He said towns such as Beitbridge, Plumtree and Gwanda have water supply challenges.
Mr Malandu said the province has 736 dams and 449 of these were fairly functional, although seasonal. He said most dams in the province were silted which means their carrying capacity had dropped while others had dried up. — @DubeMatutu
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