THE United States government has injected US$100 000 towards provision of quality water in Harare’s Kuwadzana high-density suburbs.
The project is being coordinated by UNICEF and Harare City Council.
This gesture by the US government is in response to ongoing water quality challenges bedeviling most parts of the capital city.
UNICEF, in partnership with the City of Harare funded by the US Embassy launched a project to enhance water monitoring and treatment capabilities.
UNICEF representative Etona Ekole said the funds represent commitment to capacity building.
“UNICEF has received $100 000 with plans for an additional $50 000 to be allocated through December 2024.
“These funds are not just numbers; they represent a commitment to strengthening capacity building and monitoring related to water quality and rapid response teams.
“With this support, the City of Harare now has the capability to efficiently collect water samples and utilize the water digital platform,” Ekole said.
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The project aims to improve water quality in Harare by installing chlorinators and injectors at five reservoirs, including Kuwadzana, Marimba, Lochinvar, Kopje, and Kuwadzana Extension.
These devices will help ensure that adequate levels of free residual chlorine are maintained in the water supply, thereby reducing the risk of waterborne diseases.
US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Pamela Tremont, said these measures will help prevent another cholera outbreak.
“The US government has been instrumental in providing both financial and technical support for the implementation of measures to ensure there is access to safe water," she said.
“Chlorination of drinking water protects the health of communities from cholera and other waterborne diseases.
“Monitoring chlorine levels allows us to make sure that water remains safe for use and enables City authorities to respond rapidly if levels are too low. “
In addition to the installation of chlorinators, the project will also support the cleaning of the reservoirs and the establishment of a data management system for rapid response activities.
Harare City Council’s chief environmental health officer Varaidzo Mavetera said the system will enable the city's health department effectively monitor water quality and respond to outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera.
“Water should be safe to drink and our role as the environmental health department is to monitor the quality of water that our people use for domestic purposes.
“So we have been responding to these outbreaks by collecting water samples and in those the samples that we collect the results sometimes are not so good.
“This is why we are here today to witness this intervention which came up as a result of the monitoring, the testing of water, the results that we found out,” Mavetera said.
