adminSituated 25km east of Harare along the highway to Mutare, Ruwa has always been considered a satellite town of Harare. The fast-growing town has more than 60 hectares of industrial area and vast swathes of residential and commercial land. Features Editor, Isdore Guvamombe (IG) talks to Ruwa Town Chairman Mr Phineas Mushayavanhu (PM) about this and other issues
IG: You are probably the second highest consumer, after Epworth, of untreated shallow well water and borehole water and the people you serve have been crying foul over the years. What are you doing to rectify the situation?
PM: Our water supply problem is historical. It is very true the water supply situation has been very critical over the years and my council has realised that if there is any measurable success factor we should record, it is the water service delivery mandate.
IG: But you are besieged by a plethora of other problems.
PM: Yes, we need to provide good, pothole-free roads, we need sound health and education delivery to the people, and we need a crime free town with tower lights and streets lights.
We need to service our housing list by servicing the waiting list and providing affordable stands and we need to do refuse collection but the success of all these will not make sense to any ordinary Ruwa ratepayer and stakeholder until the water situation is rectified. Water has to be flowing through the tap of each and every kitchen.
IG: So what are you doing about the water situation?
PM: We have been running around looking for funding and fortunately for us, the Public Service Investment Programme (PSIP) has availed to us US$13,5 million for water reticulation for all local authorities.
We have managed to get US$43,5 million from that, thanks to intensive lobbying. This is a victory for our small town, for such an amount to come our way.
IG: Is that enough?
PM: In fact, we had applied for US$3,7 million but all the same we missed by a few hundred dollars but we feel what we got is enough to take through a comprehensive water reticulation programme and even the expansion of our water treatment plant.
IG: People want to know where you were when the situation deteriorated to what it is today. Where was the town council?
PM: Ruwa’s traditional water problems started from the time when the local authority was entirely dependent on Harare’s water supply route.
We relied on Harare’s reservoirs at Donnybrook and Venterburg. It emerged that Harare had its own serious unfulfilled needs and any slight disturbance in Harare severely affected Ruwa, which would go for long periods without water.
So when it eventually emerged that Harare would not easily climb out of its water problems, that Harare was no longer meeting its local demand, much at the expense of satellite towns like Chitungwiza, Ruwa, Epworth and Norton, we went into a Public, Private Partnership to build our own water treatment plant. But such infrastructure needed a very reliable all-year-round supply of water.
IG: Do you have the water body for that kind of supply?
PM: The dam we identified for this project was Greenskyes but because it also catered for the irrigation requirements of local farmers, it could not late for a year.
By September or October its water levels got too low to meaningfully supply any water.
Ironically, that is the time when water demand in Ruwa would be at its peak. Then the ordinary Ruwa family is forced to rely on boreholes or wells.
IG: What amount of water would it supply?
PM: At its peak Greenskyes would be allowing a daily supply of 2,5 mega litres of treated water against a demand of 7,5 mega litres. That situation is far from being satisfactory. It is not even half the demand.
IG: Back to the new project, what are you doing with the money allocated to you?
PM: The nature of the current project is to pipe raw water from a newly identified, perennial water sup-ply dam 15km away – Nora Valley Dam. The project has already started with pipes being laid through a company called Waterflo.
The water will be move from Nora Valley Dam to Greenskyes Dam which will act as our reservoir throughout the year to allow the supply of in excess of 10 mega litres of water to our treatment plant. The project is moving very fast.
IG: But I am told Waterflo has suggested that you put booster pumps along the way between the two dams, because of technical problems.
PM: Waterflo is an experienced and credible water moving company which has done a lot of irrigation and water supply projects for the Government, individuals and local authorities and they have told us that they are putting up booster pumps along the way to beat the mountains, rough terrain and hills. This will ensure uninterrupted water supply to our holding dam.
IG: Even after all that there is the Zesa Holdings factor, how are you dealing with that?
PM: Yes, Zesa . . . Zesa, Zesa! Aligned to this project is a proper arrangement with Zesa so that we get a dedicated supply line to avoid interruption through load shedding.
IG: So all the US$3,5 million is going towards just a 15km pipeline?
PM: No! Out of that amount, we need to expand our water treatment plant by building new reactors to receive the increased raw water delivery.
Out of that amount we need to build a modern laboratory for quality control. We are currently treating the water manually.
We will also need to build more water reservoirs to store treated water so that even if electricity supply is interrupted, the Ruwa residence will not feel the pinch within 24 hours.
IG: Finally, when can the people of Ruwa expect water to run through their taps continuously and say, “yes, we have a local authority which delivers”?
PM: All this having been said and done, I want the people of Ruwa to give the local authority two months, at most three months and the water problem will be a thing of the past.
Our intention is to get the whole of Ruwa supplied with treated water.
Currently, only Zimre is connected to the Harare supply system and is therefore subject to Harare’s water woes. Eventually we need to pluck Zimre Park out of Harare.
Online Reporter