Chronicle Editor
Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
GWERU City Council has been posting messages on social media saying it has not been pumping water from reservoirs following a power outage.
Taps have been dry in many suburbs for the past three days.
However, the water situation is different for residents in Mkoba 20, Mambo and Senga who have automated water kiosks.
Gweru City Council, with the assistance of a non-governmental organisation, established five automated water kiosks which use a tap-card system to draw water from a borehole.
The kiosks, comprising a solar-powered borehole which has a filtration and chlorine system, use taps with sensors so that water is automatically drawn.
The five water kiosks are all solar-powered and the water is treated with chemicals.
Users fork out $10 for a 20-litre bucket of purified water, with funds generated used to maintain the borehole, buy chlorine and pay allowances to those manning the kiosk.
According to City of Gweru spokesperson Ms Vimbai Chingwaramusee, the water kiosks are meant to ensure residents access affordable, clean and safe borehole water.
She said residents are getting the water at a giveaway cost.
“We have five water kiosks in Gweru in suburbs such as Mkoba 20, Mambo, Senga which were set up with the assistance we got from Welthungerhilfe.
They ease water challenges as people do not have to struggle when they are not on the schedule to receive water.
The water is going for $10 per 20-litre bucket,” said Ms Chingwaramusee.
She said plans were underway to roll out the programme to other suburbs to mitigate water challenges.
At the Mkoba 20 water kiosk, a woman selling water to residents refused to comment.
Once one pays, they are given a tap card which they use to get the quantities they would have paid for.
There were four taps which ran concurrently meaning residents wasted no time queuing for the water as they do at other boreholes where it’s one person at a time.
The solar panels at the kiosk as well as the borehole are secured by steel poles and the kiosk is just smart.
Residents at the kiosk commended council for setting up the water kiosks that use a tap card system to draw water from the borehole.
“This is a welcome development for us residents.
Mkoba 20 used to have water challenges but now we just come here for water which is also affordable.
The move is unique as it is part of measures to ease the perennial water challenges faced by residents,” said Mrs Tariro Mashiri.
She said one of the advantages of the water kiosk is that the water is safe and clean.
“Other than that, you don’t queue for hours like we used to do at a borehole.
The machine pumps out water very fast.
There are four taps meaning we don’t wait for long at the water kiosk.
It’s 11am and I have fetched water for laundry.
“This is a luxury which some residents don’t have.
The little water they buy or get elsewhere is used for cooking and bathing and not laundry.
This water kiosk is the way to go,” said Mrs Mashiri.
Xavier Nyoni, a Form Six pupil who was fetching water said the kiosk was close to his house, adding that the service was efficient.
“I don’t have to have muscle like what is needed when one manually works on the borehole.
I just pay $20 and get my tap card. I tap it on the machine and 20 litres of water is released.
Just like that and I have my two containers to carry home,” he said.
Chairman of Gweru Residents Trust (GRT) Mr Antony Madzivanyika, said all efforts to ensure residents have continuous supply of water should be commended.
He said water should also be cheap.
“We don’t want a situation where some residents will be forced to go to open wells because they can’t afford the water from the water kiosks.
As long as it’s affordable then we are fully behind this mechanism to make water available to the residents,” he said.
Online Reporter