CHITUNGWIZA Municipality and various stakeholders in the dormitory town have implored government to declare the water crisis situation as a state of disaster as the local authority expressed concern over possible waterborne diseases occurance.
The town’s population is pegged at approximately half a million people, but the local authority has in the absence of its own water source has faced challenges in providing the precious liquid to its residents.
In August this year, the City of Harare decommissioned the Prince Edward Water Treatment Plant after Harava and Seke dams that feed the treatment plant dried up.
Speaking during a Chitungwiza water indaba recently, Chitungwiza Municipality director for works Talent Mashinga said they were engaging the government for a possible intervention and working on solutions to end the water crisis.
“We are engaging with the central government in order to control water supply efficiency. Continuous engagement is required such that we become water authority and we have a source of bulk water supply.
“Increase maintenance on council boreholes including motorising prolific ones and encourage residents to cluster community boreholes,” Mashinga said.
He also expressed concern over the insufficient water the town was receiving.
“Chitungwiza is receiving only one to three megalitres of water per day during the weekend from the city of Harare far below the required 75 megalitres per day.
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“The lack of adequate water supply has led to fear of potential water borne diseases outbreaks. Residents are often forced to rely on unsafe water sources,” he said.
Chitungwiza was also proposing a modular treatment plant system and aqueduct system which will help to end the water crisis they are currently facing.
Public works committee chairperson councillor Chamu Madya said the municipality was facing its worst water crisis in years.
“It is this dire situation that prompted the council to organise this multi stakeholder conference without delay. Our water crisis was caused by the fact that our local authority does not have a water source that it controls.
“With the rapidly growing population that is currently about half a million, it is high time for us to have our own source of water and have responsibility over Prince Edward plant,” Madya said.
Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency investment manager Pardon Nyandoro said the water crisis in Chitungwiza does not only pose a health risk, but also deters economic development.
“It requires the government at national level or the central government as well as government at local level like Chitungwiza to join hands and come up with a solution to address this problem.
“In terms of the proposed solution that we think which I want to present before the house is that Chitungwiza water crisis requires an integrated solution where we start looking at the water source,” Nyandoro said.
He said the integrated strategy for water purification in Chitungwiza requires considering the water source, such as Manyame, and ensuring the central or national government considers it before focusing on purification and distribution to the population.
“The integrated approach requires now the government at central or national level to consider the water source, the water board like for example, I can give you that we have heard about Manyame which can be also a possible water source for Chitungwiza
“Then collecting water from that source and pumping it to a treatment plant. Then the second part is also developing a pipeline that connects the water source to your treatment plant then upgrading your treatment plant so that it can meet the requirements of the current Chitungwiza residents as well as the future projection.”
