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Zvobgo said.
He stated that revenue collection for the city stands at about 69 percent with the remaining 31 percent not being accounted for as some residents either bypass or vandalise meters.
Eng Zvobgo said in September alone, they conducted a survey and discovered that over 76 premises had no water meters.
“In September we conducted surveys on water meters so we discovered that at least 76 water meters were removed and these premises were connected to the water system directly,” he said.
Harare has 200 000-water meters and Eng Zvobgo says most of these are no longer functioning and need to be replaced for accurate readings.
The municipal authorities appear to have shelved plans for prepaid meters which they earlier on said they would introduce to solve the problem of residents who say that they are over billed.
Meanwhile, Eng Zvobgo said Harare has spent over US$8 million refurbishing the Firle Sewage Treatment Plant.
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He blamed the use of sand in cleaning dishes for most of the blockages, saying 20 tonnes of sand were being sucked out everyday from Firle.
He said the Firle plant has been dealing with an influx of other debris infiltrating the crippled pipe system, exerting further pressure on its already stressed filtering tanks.
The city spends at least US$2 million every month to buy chemicals for water treatment.
The sewage reticulation infrastructure for Harare comprises of pipe work in excess of 5 000 kilometres ranging in size from 100mm to 1 400mm with pipe materials of various types.
The city requires over US$16 million to refurbish 50 km of the system most of which have been corroded and is leaking, resulting in the city losing almost half of its 650 mega litres of treated water.
The ballooning population of Harare was overwhelming the system, which was designed for only 1,4 million people but is now servicing over 2,5 million and at least another 1,5 million people from its four satellite towns.
“We have spent more than US$8 million on repairing major leaks on the pumping mains for Morton Jaffray to Warren Control. We have also replaced 18 kilometres of big problematic outflows sewer from our own resources,” he said.
On Firle, he said, currently they have increased pumping by 54 mega litres per day since the upgrading of the sewage plant.
“We hope to increase our pumping capacity by another 36 mega litres by end of November this year making it 96 mega litres per day,” he said.
The Firle plant has a total capacity of 144 mega litres per day when at full throttle.
Eng Zvobgo said once the plant was fully operational, it would reduce upstream pollution and the quality of the city’s water would improve, as Morton Jaffray Waterworks would use fewer chemicals to treat water.
In the city centre, Eng Zvobgo said they had completed replacing most old pipes and only 15 to 20km were still to be refurbished.
“Over 30 kilometres of pipes have been replaced to date in the central business district that is why we have less pipe bursts and we are able to supply the city with water,” he said urging residents to pay their water bills.
Eng Zvobgo said ratepayers owed the city over US$40 million in unpaid water and sewage charges.
Online Reporter